Norman Lewis Omnibus: A Dragon Apparent; Golden Earth; & A Goddess in the Stones

by Norman Lewis

Omnibus containing

A Dragon Apparent - Travels in Laos, Cambodia & Vietnam
Golden Earth - Travels in Burma (Myanmar)
A Goddess in the Stones - Travels in India

Genres: Travel, Nonfiction, India

844 pages, Paperback

First published November 1, 1985

About the author

Norman Lewis was a British writer renowned for his richly detailed travel writing, though his literary output also included twelve novels and several volumes of autobiography. Born in Enfield, Middlesex in 1908 to a Welsh family, Lewis was raised in a household steeped in spiritualism, a belief system embraced by his grieving parents following the deaths of his elder brothers. Despite these early influences, Lewis grew into a skeptic with a deeply observant eye, fascinated by cultures on the margins of the modern world.
His early adulthood was marked by various professions—including wedding photographer, umbrella wholesaler, and even motorcycle racer—before he served in the British Army during World War II. His wartime experiences in Algiers, Tunisia, and especially Naples provided the basis for one of his most celebrated books, Naples '44, widely praised as one of the finest firsthand accounts of the war. His writing blended keen observation with empathy and dry wit, traits that defined all of his travel works.
Lewis had a deep affinity for threatened cultures and traditional ways of life. His travels took him across Southeast Asia, Latin America, and the Mediterranean. Among his most important books are A Dragon Apparent, an evocative portrait of French Indochina before the Vietnam War; Golden Earth, on postwar Burma; An Empire of the East, set in Indonesia; and A Goddess in the Stones, about the tribal communities of India. In Sicily, he explored the culture and reach of the Mafia in The Honoured Society and In Sicily, offering insight without sensationalism.
In 1969, his article “Genocide in Brazil,” detailing atrocities committed against Indigenous tribes, led directly to the formation of Survival International, an organization committed to protecting tribal peoples worldwide. Lewis often cited this as the most meaningful achievement of his career, expressing lifelong concern for the destructive influence of missionary activity and modernization on indigenous societies.
Though Lewis also wrote fiction, his literary reputation rests primarily on his travel writing, which was widely admired for its moral clarity, understated style, and commitment to giving voice to overlooked communities. He remained an unshakable realist throughout his life, famously stating, “I do not believe in belief,” though he found deep joy in simply being alive.
Lewis died in 2003 in Essex, survived by his third wife Lesley and their son Gawaine, as well as five other children from previous marriages.

Reviews

[Daren · Rating 3 out of 5]

A Dragon Apparent Review Here 2**

Golden Earth Review Here 4****

A Goddess in the Stones Review Here 3***

Average 3 stars

[Keen Reader · Rating 2 out of 5]

REVIEW FOR "A DRAGON APPARENT" ONLY!

“Laos from ten thousand feet was a grey-green frothing seen through a heat-mist that was like a pane of dirty glass.”

Aaaagh! this suffers from that maddeningly presumptuous and pretentious affliction of his class and era, assuming that anyone who reads this must be fluent in French. Originally published way back in 1951 this reveals an almost prelapsarian Indochina. Although the region had clearly gone through much terror and turbulence thanks largely to French colonisation, Chinese oppression, as well as Japanese occupation in the 1940s, but this would feel almost tame compared to what the Americans and the Khmer Rouge were about to inflict upon the wider region in the coming decades.

I spent some time in this region back in the day, so I was intrigued to see how different it would look only a few years after WWII. With this being the early 50s Vietnam the spectre of the Viet Minh was never too far away, it would be a few years yet when they would eventually become victorious at Dien Bien Phu and drive the last of the French oppressors from their land. Its genuinely really sad that this often captures a largely lost and forgotten world and series of civilizations, not only because of its diminishment or absence, but the fact that this was largely precipitated by wide-scale lies, greed, terror and killing by western nations willing to do anything to get what they wanted.

But also let’s not forget that one of the unfortunate aspects to tradition is that all too often it comes shackled with ignorance and idiocy hemmed in to backward anti-scientific ways of thinking that cannot or will not see beyond their parochial origins. Some of the examples Lewis cites in here reflect this maddening contrariness. Where tradition can become a self-sabotaging life threatening or ending farcical exercise in dangerous madness.

I usually enjoy Lewis's work and this opened up with much promise, but it soon became pretty tedious and boring and by the end this really started to drag and to be honest I was glad when it was all over - easily the weakest of his books I've encountered so far.