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Navigatio
Navigatio tells the story of Saint Brendan of Clonfert, a sixth century monk and adventurer, and his legendary quest for the Isle of the Blessed via a gauntlet of monsters, devils, angels, prophets and beautiful maidens. Brendan's battles with the sea and the cosmos bear out what William Faulkner once called ‘the human heart in conflict with itself’. This haunting parable of darkness and light, of temptation and belief, of voice and silence, is told with the utmost economy of words, making it a small masterpiece of compassionate perception
224 pages, Hardcover
First published November 1, 2014
2 people are currently reading
120 people want to read
About the author
Patrick Holland
21 books44 followersPatrick Holland grew up in outback Queensland, Australia. He worked as a stockman until taking up literary studies at Griffith University. He has studied Chinese and Vietnamese at universities in Beijing, Qingdao and Saigon.
His work attempts a strict minimalism inspired by Arvo Pärt and takes up geographical and theological themes, focussing on life’s simplest elements: light and dark; noise, sound and silence; wind and water.
His work attempts a strict minimalism inspired by Arvo Pärt and takes up geographical and theological themes, focussing on life’s simplest elements: light and dark; noise, sound and silence; wind and water.
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Displaying 1 - 19 of 19 reviews
February 17, 2015
Reading this book feels like trying to make sense of a recurring dream as every detail but the theme slips away from you.
Our protagonist sets out with his crew to find a distant land, but does not know where it is, how to get there, or what it is like at all.
Their journey is presented in the form of tattered, fragmented impressions of places, people, and conversations. Several encounters (or encounters close enough to them) occur multiple times, and on one occasion Brendan himself is aware of a sense of having done it all before. His story fades in and out like the delirious workings of a fevered brain about to die, which is possibly the point.
In any other book, the lack of any identifiable character development, the constantly changing details and scenes, and even chapters with only titles to convey meaning to the larger narrative would fail miserably.
I really enjoyed this book, probably because of the unconventional narrative, which surprised me.
Our protagonist sets out with his crew to find a distant land, but does not know where it is, how to get there, or what it is like at all.
Their journey is presented in the form of tattered, fragmented impressions of places, people, and conversations. Several encounters (or encounters close enough to them) occur multiple times, and on one occasion Brendan himself is aware of a sense of having done it all before. His story fades in and out like the delirious workings of a fevered brain about to die, which is possibly the point.
In any other book, the lack of any identifiable character development, the constantly changing details and scenes, and even chapters with only titles to convey meaning to the larger narrative would fail miserably.
I really enjoyed this book, probably because of the unconventional narrative, which surprised me.
February 28, 2017
The grammar made it quite hard to read and I still have absolutely no idea what happened. I do like the use of different mediums though.
November 19, 2015
A review on the back describes it as "a beautiful meditation on losing one way and finding another." I agree. And I relate. Thank you Patrick Holland - your combination of text and insights into human nature, fused with the glorious illustrations of Junko Azukawa, is fantastic. And it is an even more precious gem in the jewels on my bookshelf because you have now signed it.
July 2, 2020
A really fascinating work of experimental fiction that meditats on a life of travel and grappling with death. I know first and foremost, the pilgrims appear to be of a Christian faith, but they seem to grapple with aspects of all religions. Buddhist reincarnation and ideas around the cyclical nature of life is explored, as well as polytheism in the amorphous nature of 'Satan', 'angels' and the women.
I found that the random switch to modernity in the middle was jarring. I can see what Holland was doing, drawing attention to the fluidity of time and calling Bredan's reality into question. Placing further emphasis on the theme of travel and the uncertain momentum the plot takes. The 'fourth wall' beakage was also probably intentional, bringing some self-consciousness to the reader. However, I felt the otherworldliness of the novel faltered after this, intentionally or not.
The ethereal writing really placed me in the mindeset of Brendan and cetred his perspective in an otherwise de-centred world. Reacting to the unknown forces of the spiritual realm with both uncertainty and courage, and surety in his faith. I can see the basis of this novel on the pilgrammages of monks gone to discover the world and really enjoyed this journal. ( Navigatio Sancti Brendan , c. 900.)
Because of this basis, it is quite dichotomous in the way it portrays gender. Men are the conquerors and are guided by the divine. Women exist to tempt them or to be immortalised in a romanticised memory. The book really took me away, though, so it kind of made it acceptable. This is a really great travel novel for escapism!
I found that the random switch to modernity in the middle was jarring. I can see what Holland was doing, drawing attention to the fluidity of time and calling Bredan's reality into question. Placing further emphasis on the theme of travel and the uncertain momentum the plot takes. The 'fourth wall' beakage was also probably intentional, bringing some self-consciousness to the reader. However, I felt the otherworldliness of the novel faltered after this, intentionally or not.
The ethereal writing really placed me in the mindeset of Brendan and cetred his perspective in an otherwise de-centred world. Reacting to the unknown forces of the spiritual realm with both uncertainty and courage, and surety in his faith. I can see the basis of this novel on the pilgrammages of monks gone to discover the world and really enjoyed this journal. ( Navigatio Sancti Brendan , c. 900.)
Because of this basis, it is quite dichotomous in the way it portrays gender. Men are the conquerors and are guided by the divine. Women exist to tempt them or to be immortalised in a romanticised memory. The book really took me away, though, so it kind of made it acceptable. This is a really great travel novel for escapism!
August 21, 2019
It's a beautifully crafted and quaint little thing, and I appreciated the references to books like Invisible Cities, but you can't help be put off by the religious undertones here. Holland lays it on thick as hollander sauce. I mean, at the end of the day books about saints just don't cut the mustard like books about sinners do.
December 31, 2019
Serene, beautiful and somewhat like a fever dream
Picked it up on a pure whim, almost to “cleanse the palate” and am glad I did
Picked it up on a pure whim, almost to “cleanse the palate” and am glad I did
Read
May 9, 2021Beautiful object as well. Sized to fit into a coat pocket. Paper feels toothy. Ink illustrations almost abstract.
Circular or spiral.
Circular or spiral.
December 25, 2024
Holland Hopes #1
Really well told tale, that takes you into its world and doesn't let you go, no padding around the edges, just a finely told tale and one that makes you think and wish for more.
Really well told tale, that takes you into its world and doesn't let you go, no padding around the edges, just a finely told tale and one that makes you think and wish for more.
March 6, 2015
I'm tired of advocating for this bloke. He's Australia's greatest living writer. And this is his best book since The Mary Smokes Boys. Consider, you're dealing with the man who can write this:
"In the heart of the black woods Brendan cried out.
Cailleach!
And the white witch came. This time in the shape of a crone draped in grey rags, white-haired and white-eyed and three feet taller than the tip of Brendan's spear.
You brewed storms that forced us here, Cailleach.
Yes.
To what end?
To the end at which all my deeds aim. You have met me before Brendan of Clonfert. I run counter to every created thing. I am the frost that kills the summer grass. The voice in the ear of the betrayer. The rust in the sword’s iron. I am that contrary force without which no good would ever be done. I am necessary. I am what your poets imagine heaven without. But you know my snows are what make the summer. That my dark is all that gives the flickering candle beauty. That without my chill there is nothing to call warmth. I am the lope of the bear stalking its victim in the dawn. I am the narrowing eyes of the wolves at dusk. I am the squall that rips the sails. Therefore I will have blood!
Aye, said the boatwright who stood behind Brendan with spear raised. So ye shall, Queen!
And just as he would drive the spear home into Brendan’s heart the boatwright fell dead on the snow.
Suibhne put his foot on the man’s back and pulled out his own spear.
Aye, necessary, he said. But they who serve her rather than fight her are doomed.
Then to Cailleach, who could not be killed.
There is your blood, witch."
This is an extraordinary mediation on the voyage of St Brendan, that ultimately asks, is the thing we seek in life, a thing we have lost, even in the seeking?
A book that will last as long as there is a language to convey it and readers to hear.
"In the heart of the black woods Brendan cried out.
Cailleach!
And the white witch came. This time in the shape of a crone draped in grey rags, white-haired and white-eyed and three feet taller than the tip of Brendan's spear.
You brewed storms that forced us here, Cailleach.
Yes.
To what end?
To the end at which all my deeds aim. You have met me before Brendan of Clonfert. I run counter to every created thing. I am the frost that kills the summer grass. The voice in the ear of the betrayer. The rust in the sword’s iron. I am that contrary force without which no good would ever be done. I am necessary. I am what your poets imagine heaven without. But you know my snows are what make the summer. That my dark is all that gives the flickering candle beauty. That without my chill there is nothing to call warmth. I am the lope of the bear stalking its victim in the dawn. I am the narrowing eyes of the wolves at dusk. I am the squall that rips the sails. Therefore I will have blood!
Aye, said the boatwright who stood behind Brendan with spear raised. So ye shall, Queen!
And just as he would drive the spear home into Brendan’s heart the boatwright fell dead on the snow.
Suibhne put his foot on the man’s back and pulled out his own spear.
Aye, necessary, he said. But they who serve her rather than fight her are doomed.
Then to Cailleach, who could not be killed.
There is your blood, witch."
This is an extraordinary mediation on the voyage of St Brendan, that ultimately asks, is the thing we seek in life, a thing we have lost, even in the seeking?
A book that will last as long as there is a language to convey it and readers to hear.
January 20, 2016
Navigatio is an enchanting book. Derived from an ancient text called the Navigatio, Patrick Holland’s novella is a retelling of the legendary voyage of St Brendan of Clonfert, and it follows the form of the Irish immram:
Irish immram flourished during the seventh and eighth centuries. Typically, an immram was a sea-voyage in which a hero, with a few companions, often monks, wanders from island to island, meets other-world wonders, and finally returns home. The story of Brendan’s voyage, developed during this time, shares some characteristics with immram. Like an immram, the Navigatio tells the story of Brendan, who, with some companion monks, sets out to find the terra repromissionis sanctorum, the Promised Land of the Saints or the Earthly Paradise. (See Wikipedia).
*chuckle* I can almost see some readers thinking, ‘um, why would I want to read that?’ Trust me, it’s gorgeous. It’s a quiet, contemplative meditation on a spiritual quest that takes a temporal form, and I loved reading it in the frantic rush up to the end of the year when work overwhelms and the pressure to do stuff for Christmas wreaks its inexorable hold on everything. Holland’s writing is sublime, and he takes you away from all that chaos into a dream world of myth where simplicity reigns...
To read more of my review please visit http://anzlitlovers.com/2014/12/07/na...
Irish immram flourished during the seventh and eighth centuries. Typically, an immram was a sea-voyage in which a hero, with a few companions, often monks, wanders from island to island, meets other-world wonders, and finally returns home. The story of Brendan’s voyage, developed during this time, shares some characteristics with immram. Like an immram, the Navigatio tells the story of Brendan, who, with some companion monks, sets out to find the terra repromissionis sanctorum, the Promised Land of the Saints or the Earthly Paradise. (See Wikipedia).
*chuckle* I can almost see some readers thinking, ‘um, why would I want to read that?’ Trust me, it’s gorgeous. It’s a quiet, contemplative meditation on a spiritual quest that takes a temporal form, and I loved reading it in the frantic rush up to the end of the year when work overwhelms and the pressure to do stuff for Christmas wreaks its inexorable hold on everything. Holland’s writing is sublime, and he takes you away from all that chaos into a dream world of myth where simplicity reigns...
To read more of my review please visit http://anzlitlovers.com/2014/12/07/na...
January 5, 2015
What an extraordinary book. More a meditation than a novel, and even less like the rest of Australian literature than his previous books. It is supposed to be 'ambient', immersive. It certainly is that. It reminds me most of the Thatgamecompany video game 'Journey'. It's similarly minimalistic, makes similar use of silence, and is similarly beautiful in treating the idea of journey, home and transience. On Asian minimalism, 'Navigatio' also makes me think of those medieval Japanese meditations by Sei Shonagon and Sarashina. Holland is the most Asian of Australian writers, yet, in addition, even while invoking the spirit of European medievalism here (there's a touch of Calvino and Milorad Pavic about it, and that can be no bad thing!). What a strange and wonderful nexus point of traditions this book is. The best he's written since The Mary Smokes Boys. Can there be any other living Australian author so firmly possessed by genius? Also, the illustrations are exquisite.
October 7, 2015
‘The song was not what Brendan had expected. No bold air was this, but a spare and fragile thing, high and half whispered, always threatening to wreck like a boat upon the maighdean mhara’s rocks...
The song dropped into low hushing, like a deep pool in a forest where the light never goes. Now faded into nothing like a file of birds in the distance. And in the moments of silence Brendan heard the notes resound, but in absentia they touched different parts of his soul, meant different things, and bore him to other shores than before, and just as the notes and the memory of the notes alike seemed about to fade into tranquil nothing the song began again, perfect for a time, and then uncertain, as though it were a boat finding its way upon a vast and uncharitable ocean, and then even the flaws, the misadventures and misdirections seemed inevitable and made the song more perfect than if they had not been.’ (60-61)
The song dropped into low hushing, like a deep pool in a forest where the light never goes. Now faded into nothing like a file of birds in the distance. And in the moments of silence Brendan heard the notes resound, but in absentia they touched different parts of his soul, meant different things, and bore him to other shores than before, and just as the notes and the memory of the notes alike seemed about to fade into tranquil nothing the song began again, perfect for a time, and then uncertain, as though it were a boat finding its way upon a vast and uncharitable ocean, and then even the flaws, the misadventures and misdirections seemed inevitable and made the song more perfect than if they had not been.’ (60-61)
March 23, 2016
A modern retelling of the 9th century fictionalized romance Navigato Sancti Brendani (Brendan's Voyage) documenting St Brendan's 6th century seven year voyage. Covers the meetings with Satan, dragons, ghosts, spirits, mermaids, witches. A book of dreams and a very minimalist use of words. Surreal in most of the work. Highly original style and use of illustrations makes the book read like it was written originally in Japanese.
Brendan's debates with the devil covers temptation, faith, belief and the values you live your life by. The modern world is visited - which is a bit in the book I did not get.
Brendan's debates with the devil covers temptation, faith, belief and the values you live your life by. The modern world is visited - which is a bit in the book I did not get.
January 2, 2015
The play on a modern mythology is admirable but it fell short for me, for want of some essential elements.
Starkly absent are interpersonal relationships, the very stuff of evolving consciousness.
There are many strange places described most eloquently but they do not carry the weight they should in relation to what is experienced.
I did expect that the approach of the repetitive narrative would lead to a more defined resolution that would be evident. Obviously the author was aware of the symbology of the content but something was lost on this reader.
I also found the text to have a staccato effect, somewhat jarring.
I loved the illustrations. They spoke volumes.
Starkly absent are interpersonal relationships, the very stuff of evolving consciousness.
There are many strange places described most eloquently but they do not carry the weight they should in relation to what is experienced.
I did expect that the approach of the repetitive narrative would lead to a more defined resolution that would be evident. Obviously the author was aware of the symbology of the content but something was lost on this reader.
I also found the text to have a staccato effect, somewhat jarring.
I loved the illustrations. They spoke volumes.
September 15, 2015
This book will be whatever metaphor you need.
This book takes you to the nowhere between places.
This book is a different kind of time.
This book is the edge of drowsiness you feel while sitting in the sun.
This book is an endless meadow.
This book is the crevice between silence and cacophony.
This book is the floaters in your eyes.
This book is the crackle of an old record, skipping in its tracks.
This book is the purgatory you cannot not leave.
This book.
You will not read the same book twice.
This book takes you to the nowhere between places.
This book is a different kind of time.
This book is the edge of drowsiness you feel while sitting in the sun.
This book is an endless meadow.
This book is the crevice between silence and cacophony.
This book is the floaters in your eyes.
This book is the crackle of an old record, skipping in its tracks.
This book is the purgatory you cannot not leave.
This book.
You will not read the same book twice.
March 31, 2015
This is beautifully written with gorgeous illustrations, and I wanted to enjoy it a lot more than I did. The story is a bit opaque and lyrically symbolic, and I don't think I was quite in the mood for it. Maybe because I read it late at night before bed and tended to fall asleep. I hope others enjoy it though.
October 15, 2016
The very best of all his books. This retelling of the story of St Brendan's journey to the borders of paradise is a masterpiece. Like Arvo Part or Giya Kancheli, this occupies that strang space that the very modern and the medieval sometimes share.
February 15, 2016
So beautiful! He is a master!
August 4, 2017
Well-written literary fantasy, on the voyage of Saint Brendan. It's main appeal to me was the interesting structure, and the truly beautiful illustrations by Junko Azukawa.
Displaying 1 - 19 of 19 reviews