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I Have Seen the World Begin: Travels through China, Cambodia, and Vietnam
When Carsten Jensen set out by train from Denmark on a journey to the East, he expected to find lands of rich history and culture, and people undergoing radical change at the end of the twentieth century. In this illuminating narrative of his travels, there is this and much, much more.
Fusing social commentary and history with vibrant descriptions of people and places, Jensen brilliantly evokes the sights, sounds, and smells of these venerable civilizations. He examines the reverberations of the Tiananmen Square massacre in China, always attuned to the restless air of expectancy in the country, but also finds time for remote concerts of ancient Chinese music. He renders the pervasive sense of destruction, despair, and loss in Cambodia with particular sensitivity, wondering at the specter of death that still hovers over the landscape. And it is in Vietnam, with its palpable legacy of colonialism and war, that Jensen ultimately loses himself in an extraordinary love affair.
At once compelling and richly informative, I Have Seen the World Begin is an incredible journey.
Fusing social commentary and history with vibrant descriptions of people and places, Jensen brilliantly evokes the sights, sounds, and smells of these venerable civilizations. He examines the reverberations of the Tiananmen Square massacre in China, always attuned to the restless air of expectancy in the country, but also finds time for remote concerts of ancient Chinese music. He renders the pervasive sense of destruction, despair, and loss in Cambodia with particular sensitivity, wondering at the specter of death that still hovers over the landscape. And it is in Vietnam, with its palpable legacy of colonialism and war, that Jensen ultimately loses himself in an extraordinary love affair.
At once compelling and richly informative, I Have Seen the World Begin is an incredible journey.
337 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1996
25 people are currently reading
489 people want to read
About the author
Carsten Jensen
46 books306 followersCarsten Jensen was born 1952. He first made his name as a columnist and literary critic for the Copenhagen daily Politiken, and has written novels, essays and travel books.
Jensen was awarded the Golden Laurels for "I Have Seen the World Begin" and the Danske Banks Litteraturpris, Denmark’s most prestigious literary award, for "We, the Drowned."
Jensen was awarded the Golden Laurels for "I Have Seen the World Begin" and the Danske Banks Litteraturpris, Denmark’s most prestigious literary award, for "We, the Drowned."
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Displaying 1 - 29 of 29 reviews
March 6, 2014
I HAVE SEEN THE WORLD BEGIN
1860465846
9781860465840
hardcover
paper
cover love
spring 2012
translated
pub 1996
57 ratings
travel
non-fiction
China
Translated by Barbara Haveland
Quote:
"And who are you?" he asked.
"A common traveller," I replied, "a traveller who pays his way. And who are you?" HANS CHRISTIAN ANDERSON, 'In Sweden'
Dedication:
to Vibeke Emilie
who taught me
to believe in miracles.
and to Laura
our joint miracle.
Maps:
China
Cambodia
Vietnam
Opening - It was a day of glass, I, too, Was made of glass. Handle, with care!
page 27: If no-one understands you, it is you who are dumb, not they who are deaf.
--------------------------
Also by Carsten Jensen:
5* - We The Drowned
1860465846
9781860465840
hardcover
paper
cover love
spring 2012
translated
pub 1996
57 ratings
travel
non-fiction
China
Translated by Barbara Haveland
Quote:
"And who are you?" he asked.
"A common traveller," I replied, "a traveller who pays his way. And who are you?" HANS CHRISTIAN ANDERSON, 'In Sweden'
Dedication:
to Vibeke Emilie
who taught me
to believe in miracles.
and to Laura
our joint miracle.
Maps:
China
Cambodia
Vietnam
Opening - It was a day of glass, I, too, Was made of glass. Handle, with care!
page 27: If no-one understands you, it is you who are dumb, not they who are deaf.
--------------------------
Also by Carsten Jensen:
5* - We The Drowned
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
June 2, 2015
This book is VERY frustrating! There is so much in this book that I really want to read, but every time Jensen says something interesting, he follows it up with 6 very clever but needless descriptions, which just get in the way of the book.
Yes, Jensen, you're a good writer, I get it. You're smart. I get it. You're good with words, I get it. Now stop trying to show off.
I wanted to read this book because the idea fascinated me- learning about a country's history by traveling through it. But I just get the feeling that Jensen loves to hear himself talk, and so much of this needless talk just takes up space in the book. I don't know if I'd call it pretentious, but it's damn close.
There is no doubt, Jensen is a talented writer. No one can deny that. But so much of his good writing is needless, and gets in the way of what I really care about - what the book claims to be about - China, Vietnam, and Cambodia.
Yes, Jensen, you're a good writer, I get it. You're smart. I get it. You're good with words, I get it. Now stop trying to show off.
I wanted to read this book because the idea fascinated me- learning about a country's history by traveling through it. But I just get the feeling that Jensen loves to hear himself talk, and so much of this needless talk just takes up space in the book. I don't know if I'd call it pretentious, but it's damn close.
There is no doubt, Jensen is a talented writer. No one can deny that. But so much of his good writing is needless, and gets in the way of what I really care about - what the book claims to be about - China, Vietnam, and Cambodia.
January 10, 2025
My first Danish book in a long while
Not a travel guide, but more personal reflections on the culture and history of the countries, written in 1996 some of the political reflections feels outdated, but the people and the scenery are as vibrant and living now as then.
From the onset its presented as a escape journey, following a divorce, but from the many literary sources he quotes about the area and his deep knowledge of the history, it’s clear that this is a meticulously planned journey in a part of the world that clearly fascinates him and through his writing us as well.
3 observations
Incredible how events that seemed fundamental at the time, like the massacre at Tiananmen Square, are more or less forgotten here 35 years later. Makes you think how much of what we find important at present, really matter in a few years time ( maybe no one will recall who Trump was in 30 years time).
The section about Khmer Rouge is probably the most depressing I have read in long while, how could it be otherwise ?, but even there CJ manages to add some reflection and dignity to the people.
Other reviews are very critical of CJ’s description of an affair with a Vietnamese woman and the near erotic way he describes many of the women there, but given his clear infatuation with the country and the people, which he openly declares, I found it sober and honest.
Not a travel guide, but more personal reflections on the culture and history of the countries, written in 1996 some of the political reflections feels outdated, but the people and the scenery are as vibrant and living now as then.
From the onset its presented as a escape journey, following a divorce, but from the many literary sources he quotes about the area and his deep knowledge of the history, it’s clear that this is a meticulously planned journey in a part of the world that clearly fascinates him and through his writing us as well.
3 observations
Incredible how events that seemed fundamental at the time, like the massacre at Tiananmen Square, are more or less forgotten here 35 years later. Makes you think how much of what we find important at present, really matter in a few years time ( maybe no one will recall who Trump was in 30 years time).
The section about Khmer Rouge is probably the most depressing I have read in long while, how could it be otherwise ?, but even there CJ manages to add some reflection and dignity to the people.
Other reviews are very critical of CJ’s description of an affair with a Vietnamese woman and the near erotic way he describes many of the women there, but given his clear infatuation with the country and the people, which he openly declares, I found it sober and honest.
May 10, 2019
Politiken-skribent og forfatter Carsten Jensen leverer her en bok som både er morsom, lærerik og inspirerende, samtidig som han selv frastøter meg til tider ganske kraftig.
Alle gode reisebøker makter å dra leseren inn i de fremmede landene de beskriver. I denne boka besøker Jensen Russland, Mongolia, Kina, Kambodsja, Vietnam og Hong Kong. Og hvert eneste sted beskrives på en måte som gir meg lyst til å selv oppdage disse stedene. Med unntak av Hong Kong, som taler meg midt imot. Jensen beskriver folk og landskap med humor og svulstige ord, og til tider er det en noenlunde britisk egg på språket som jeg setter pris på.
Dessverre føler han også behovet for å beskrive grundig ikke bare den flere uker lange flirten sin med en vietnamesisk jente, men også alle kvinnene og femtenåringene som flørter med ham, og som han flørter tilbake med. Han virker nesten som om han synes det er synd når han må avslutte en kveld med leken klyping med en tiendeklassing fordi "han visste for mye, og hun for lite. Han var mann og hun enda ikke kvinne." Slike avsnitt gir meg lyst til å spy av vemmelse, og jeg grøsser ved tanken på hva slags andre krumspring denne nå sekstisju år gamle mannen har gjort.
Oversettelsen er helt fin, men bærer preg av å være oversatt fra pretensiøs dansk prosa.
Alle gode reisebøker makter å dra leseren inn i de fremmede landene de beskriver. I denne boka besøker Jensen Russland, Mongolia, Kina, Kambodsja, Vietnam og Hong Kong. Og hvert eneste sted beskrives på en måte som gir meg lyst til å selv oppdage disse stedene. Med unntak av Hong Kong, som taler meg midt imot. Jensen beskriver folk og landskap med humor og svulstige ord, og til tider er det en noenlunde britisk egg på språket som jeg setter pris på.
Dessverre føler han også behovet for å beskrive grundig ikke bare den flere uker lange flirten sin med en vietnamesisk jente, men også alle kvinnene og femtenåringene som flørter med ham, og som han flørter tilbake med. Han virker nesten som om han synes det er synd når han må avslutte en kveld med leken klyping med en tiendeklassing fordi "han visste for mye, og hun for lite. Han var mann og hun enda ikke kvinne." Slike avsnitt gir meg lyst til å spy av vemmelse, og jeg grøsser ved tanken på hva slags andre krumspring denne nå sekstisju år gamle mannen har gjort.
Oversettelsen er helt fin, men bærer preg av å være oversatt fra pretensiøs dansk prosa.
Read
February 7, 2010One of the rare modern travel books that aspires to something beyond just being a travel book, I Have Seen the World Begin is in the tradition of those travel essays that are as much about the narrator's personal philosophy as a description of place. Jensen is a fine writer, even in translation (consider how many travel books by unknown writers get translated and published in the U.S.). He can be faulted for seeing Vietnam too much in light of the American war and Cambodia too much as solely the product of the Khmer Rouge fiasco - there's a lot of European horror and outrage in those sections of the book - but calls it like he sees it and calls it well. He's got a good eye and intelligence, and not shy when it comes to criticism. He sees the damage done by Western tourism and describes it with not an undue amount of sarcasm; he has little love for the milieu of the backpacker crowd, and barbed little gems abound (such as his loathing for the common diet of banana pancakes and similar "children's food" that make up the staples along the trail). All in all a fine book, one very much worth reading for anyone traveling to the region. It should be noted, however, for those interested in reading the book, that in a recent interview concerning his latest novel We, the Drowned Jensen let fall the following comment concerning I Have Seen:
The English volume is only the first of two and has been drastically shortened, and I had to put up a real fight to feel it was still my book.
How unfortunate.
The English volume is only the first of two and has been drastically shortened, and I had to put up a real fight to feel it was still my book.
How unfortunate.
October 14, 2016
Jeg lest Carstein Jensens «Vi de drukne» for ikke så lenge siden med stor glede. Jeg gledet meg til å lese hans første roman: Jeg har sett verdenen begynne. Jeg må dessverre melde en stor skuffelse. For det første boka er ikke «roman», snarere en reisebeskrivelse eller reisejournal på steroider. Det er noe som er interessant, men veldige mye lange sidesprang som er langt mindre så. Jensen beskriver seg selv som en «profesjonell nysgjerrig». Jeg kan forestille kan meg at han oppfattes som en pest og en plage av mange han møtte. Han stiller umulige spørsmål om politikk i den nøye kontrollert Kina og Vietnam (tror han som utlending og ukjent at han vil få et ærlig svar av noen?) og deretter klager han at han ikke får noen svar. Det samme kan sies av hans tid i Kambodsja. «Hva gjorde du under Røde Khmer tid?» spør han ca 15 år etter massakrene. Hva for et svar tror han at han ville få?
Boka startet nokså bra i Russland, dalte noe i Kina, ble verre i Kambodsja og for meg mistet nesten all interessen i Vietnam. Jeg må innrømme at etter ca 450 sider lest, med omtrent 100 sider igjen, har jeg gitt opp.
Boka startet nokså bra i Russland, dalte noe i Kina, ble verre i Kambodsja og for meg mistet nesten all interessen i Vietnam. Jeg må innrømme at etter ca 450 sider lest, med omtrent 100 sider igjen, har jeg gitt opp.
March 23, 2007
Having traveled to Cambodian and Vietnam I thought that I would really enjoy this one... instead I found the author pretentious and to be a bit of an asshole... as a result I couldn't identify with any of his experiences and most of what he wrote jsut made me mad.
April 3, 2007
I don't remember it being pretentious, just very colorful, but it's been awhile...
February 21, 2008
i read this book slowly, a bit at a time, mostly at meals.
i thought it was amazing
i thought it was amazing
June 9, 2014
Jeg har tidligere læst Vi de Druknede og da jeg gik og savnede lidt inspiration til sommerens rejsedagbog tænkte jeg at det ville være relevant at læse en rejsebog. Jeg kunne have valgt en hvilken som helst men da jeg nu havde syntes god om hans sidste bog og fandt denne billigt på nette, ja så var valgte nemt.
Jeg er ikke vildt imponeret og syntes at bogen bliver lidt lang i spyttet. men for at være ærlig kan det skyldes at Kina ikke rigtig siger mig noget og derfor var første halvdel lidt spildt på mig. Jeg var dog vældig glad for anden del der omhandler Cambodia og hvor Carsten giver et godt indblik i samtiden, men han roller deres noget plettet historie ud. Det er her bogen og Carsten kan noget man bliver fanget af det havet land der forsøger at gennemfør sit første valg efter Pol Pot. Sidste del af bogen forgå i Vietnam og her taber Carsten helt tråden jo vi få lidt historie og lidt indblik i det politiske spil. men mest af alt høre vi om Carstens erobringer og kvinder han omgås det bliver en noget tynd oplevelse oven på Cambodia og lidt trist for bogen har som sådan potentiale.
Carsten er en godt betragter og har forstand på at finde det finurlige og lidt sære i hans møder med østen. Men han har dog en tendens til at banalisere og derved gør det svære for læseren at finde perlerne frem for det banale.
Jeg er ikke vildt imponeret og syntes at bogen bliver lidt lang i spyttet. men for at være ærlig kan det skyldes at Kina ikke rigtig siger mig noget og derfor var første halvdel lidt spildt på mig. Jeg var dog vældig glad for anden del der omhandler Cambodia og hvor Carsten giver et godt indblik i samtiden, men han roller deres noget plettet historie ud. Det er her bogen og Carsten kan noget man bliver fanget af det havet land der forsøger at gennemfør sit første valg efter Pol Pot. Sidste del af bogen forgå i Vietnam og her taber Carsten helt tråden jo vi få lidt historie og lidt indblik i det politiske spil. men mest af alt høre vi om Carstens erobringer og kvinder han omgås det bliver en noget tynd oplevelse oven på Cambodia og lidt trist for bogen har som sådan potentiale.
Carsten er en godt betragter og har forstand på at finde det finurlige og lidt sære i hans møder med østen. Men han har dog en tendens til at banalisere og derved gør det svære for læseren at finde perlerne frem for det banale.
July 21, 2014
Det er mange år siden, jeg læste bogen første gang. Jeg anede knapt hvad den var om, men jeg syntes titlen var så poetisk. Bogen, og dens efterfølger " Jeg har hørt et stjerneskud", står stadig blandt mine yndlingsbøger i bogreolen, og jeg holder stadig meget af den.
"jeg har set verden begynde" er først og fremmest at kategorisere som et rejseessay, men CJ er ikke blot på rejse for turistens adspredelse, han er på jagt efter sandheden. Han søger hærgede, krigsramte lande, han søger personer som alle har noget på hjertet hvad enten det er CJs dybere filosofiske overvejelser om mennesket evne til ondskab eller tilgivelse eller man fornemmer hans egen personlige søgen efter at hele sine egne sår . Han giver sig tid til sine overvejelser, og det er ikke alt let læst, man inviteres til også selv at overveje de spørgsmål CJ stiller.
"jeg har set verden begynde" er først og fremmest at kategorisere som et rejseessay, men CJ er ikke blot på rejse for turistens adspredelse, han er på jagt efter sandheden. Han søger hærgede, krigsramte lande, han søger personer som alle har noget på hjertet hvad enten det er CJs dybere filosofiske overvejelser om mennesket evne til ondskab eller tilgivelse eller man fornemmer hans egen personlige søgen efter at hele sine egne sår . Han giver sig tid til sine overvejelser, og det er ikke alt let læst, man inviteres til også selv at overveje de spørgsmål CJ stiller.
February 7, 2017
This book received my first 5-star rating of 2017. It's fantastic. If you're interested in travel, Asia, history, Communism, or what motivates humans to do inhuman things, please check it out.
Carsten Jensen is a Danish writer who traveled through China, Cambodia, and Vietnam in 1994.He shows a snapshot of people suffering or barely starting to recover from severe oppression. It's one part travelogue, one part humor, and one part philosophy.
It is so, so beautifully written. Poetic, poignant, stunning.
Carsten Jensen is a Danish writer who traveled through China, Cambodia, and Vietnam in 1994.He shows a snapshot of people suffering or barely starting to recover from severe oppression. It's one part travelogue, one part humor, and one part philosophy.
It is so, so beautifully written. Poetic, poignant, stunning.
April 6, 2016
Mit første møde med Carsten Jensen - og bestemt ikke det sidste. Bogen består af rejseskildringer fra en vaskeægte rejse, hvor der er tid til at komme ind under huden på lokalsamfundene og de fremmede. Hertil kommer essays om alt fra historie og politik til religion og retfærdighed. Carsten Jensen kan skrive så det batter, og det er virkelig en fornøjelse at læse. Til tider bliver bogen alligevel lidt lang. Den kunne simpelthen godt trænge til en lidt mere kritisk redaktør.
August 9, 2011
like a travel journal and historical, anthropological study of Asia! Unfortunately they cut out the first part, about Russia, when they translated from Danish.
September 4, 2013
Riveting! He is an awesome writer.
Read
March 12, 2015WOnderful.
December 27, 2016
20-year-old insights on travels through China, Cambodia, and Vietnam - interesting, unique perspective off the beaten path.
July 29, 2018
En reflekteret fortælling, der dog bliver en anelse selvretfærdig og navlepillende.
August 24, 2018
very interesting and very easy to read, a journey through three countries I knew very little about but now my inquisitiveness is piqued.. fascinating
December 8, 2020
Book review of Carsten Jensen's I Have Seen the World Begin: Travels through China, Cambodia, and Vietnam (1996 Danish original, 2000 English translation)
Translated from the Danish by Barbara Haveland, I also have somewhat travelled with Carsten Jensen's book in the weeks it took to see the world begin, in this time, as it were, in the midst of a global pandemic, when such a world could actually begin and have begun. The travelling writer is perhaps bound to encounter several surprises to his or her particular keenness for both the spectacular and the subtle in the exercise of sharpening a maybe too-dulled acuity for observation and remembrance but also for encountering a new edge that was never there before. So, on travelling then, which many before the border lockdowns and restrictions on going great distances for leisure and adventure have not so much the opportunity to do is still the privilege of a certain few who can go it alone, to satisfy a wanderlust or a sense of discovering what else the world hides as much as leaving the home, itself undiscovered, only to be a home encountered again on returning. And so, on writing also, which the writer travelling really is up to rather than not writing nor travelling at all, is a place of departure. The book itself is a journey limited in scope and scale, allowing there perhaps the closer intimacies of a sense of momentarily belonging to a place too foreign and strange on the pilgrim's progress towards some land's end. Carsten here writes fondly of his encounters with various figures, whether they be landscape, people, feelings, insights, food delights, rides on motorcycles, sounds of birds, matters of fact of war and revolution, by way of a remembering how it had been through a region of the world drastically undergoing changes, either forced from outside or exploding from within, yet also still somewhat still amid all that stirring, resisting in the centripetal of their containment, their bubble, the forces which even a solo traveler can bring to the place at once receptive yet also unyielding. "Il più grande spettacolo dopo il Big Bang" as an Italian song has it, comes along often and always in this writer's preoccupations and worries and also lack of cares, to absorb the force of the beast in the jungle, but only. Could Carsten Jensen's book have been written more in the style of a travelogue, maybe crisper for the erstwhile jet set, too nearly the memoirist's stamp on a yet too fresh adventure too quickly resolved, or a window through which the vivid abroad is too impossible to put into words and so only the more familiar writer's introversions become the crutch to limp into and out of that grandeur?
Translated from the Danish by Barbara Haveland, I also have somewhat travelled with Carsten Jensen's book in the weeks it took to see the world begin, in this time, as it were, in the midst of a global pandemic, when such a world could actually begin and have begun. The travelling writer is perhaps bound to encounter several surprises to his or her particular keenness for both the spectacular and the subtle in the exercise of sharpening a maybe too-dulled acuity for observation and remembrance but also for encountering a new edge that was never there before. So, on travelling then, which many before the border lockdowns and restrictions on going great distances for leisure and adventure have not so much the opportunity to do is still the privilege of a certain few who can go it alone, to satisfy a wanderlust or a sense of discovering what else the world hides as much as leaving the home, itself undiscovered, only to be a home encountered again on returning. And so, on writing also, which the writer travelling really is up to rather than not writing nor travelling at all, is a place of departure. The book itself is a journey limited in scope and scale, allowing there perhaps the closer intimacies of a sense of momentarily belonging to a place too foreign and strange on the pilgrim's progress towards some land's end. Carsten here writes fondly of his encounters with various figures, whether they be landscape, people, feelings, insights, food delights, rides on motorcycles, sounds of birds, matters of fact of war and revolution, by way of a remembering how it had been through a region of the world drastically undergoing changes, either forced from outside or exploding from within, yet also still somewhat still amid all that stirring, resisting in the centripetal of their containment, their bubble, the forces which even a solo traveler can bring to the place at once receptive yet also unyielding. "Il più grande spettacolo dopo il Big Bang" as an Italian song has it, comes along often and always in this writer's preoccupations and worries and also lack of cares, to absorb the force of the beast in the jungle, but only. Could Carsten Jensen's book have been written more in the style of a travelogue, maybe crisper for the erstwhile jet set, too nearly the memoirist's stamp on a yet too fresh adventure too quickly resolved, or a window through which the vivid abroad is too impossible to put into words and so only the more familiar writer's introversions become the crutch to limp into and out of that grandeur?
May 28, 2019
Certainly would want to experience the sights and sounds of his travels through China, Cambodia and Vietnam, but aware that time has passed and the experiences would probably be quite different in some respects. A book about how tradition and economic change meet, but also about his personal growth seeking the meaning of freedom. Not sure if he missed the connections between his experiences and "The Quiet American" when in his love story in Vietnam. Otherwise this reads like many intellectual texts with common themes and conclusions where the narrator vacillates between his feelings about himself and the other, uses American (US) examples to show that he is not thinking along racial lines and feels better about himself by making the politically correct conclusions and returning home. His ability to know what other people think is impressive.
March 10, 2021
Some interesting sections. I didn't finish this book though. It wasn't coherent somehow and didn't maintain my interest. I decided I couldn't read about the Khmer Rouge...at least not right now in the detail this book appeared to be offering, so I left it there.
August 1, 2020
Med de lande der besøges bør en rejsebog være interessant, men jeg finder den voldsomt uinteressant pga måden den er skrevet på.
January 11, 2021
I’ve read Jensen’s “We, the Drowned” which I highly recommend. Fact-based fiction. “I have Seen the World Begin” is more fiction-based fact if you will.
July 31, 2021
Read this slowly, cherishing each word.
October 9, 2025
Great insight into China.
April 15, 2020
Jeg er begejstret for den her bog og dens efterfølger. Carsten Jensen beskriver en verden og en tid og sin egen søgen heri. Det er sjovt selv at have besøgt stederne, da beskrivelserne bliver yderligere nærværende. Det er dog en biting. Sproget er malende og i flere perioder er det ikke en let læserejse, som man bliver budt. En krævende bog, der kræver sin læser. Det er det hele værd.
“Om et øjeblik landede jeg” er bogens lokkende udtoning mod del to “Jeg har hørt et stjerneskud”....
“Om et øjeblik landede jeg” er bogens lokkende udtoning mod del to “Jeg har hørt et stjerneskud”....
October 14, 2012
Fantasiske skildringer
Displaying 1 - 29 of 29 reviews