Saudade: The Possibilities of Place

by Anik See

The Portuguese word saudade has no direct English translation. In its simplest sense, it describes a feeling of longing for something that is now gone, and may yet return, but in all likelihood can never be recaptured. In The Possibilities of Place , traveller Anik See traces her attempts to reclaim this loss in a series of informal essays that take us from the salt plains of Wood Buffalo National Park and the mountains of British Columbia to the fishing ports of Sri Lanka and the rough roads of the former Soviet republic of Georgia. Whether at a fishfry in the Northwest Territories, at the post-9/11 Canada-US border, on the ultimate road trip through Australia or at a summer carnival in Santiago de Cuba, See is on a continual quest for simplicity, interrogating the perceived distance between privilege and want. Quietly, insistently, these thoughtful essays ask what we might accomplish if we said no to entitlement; if, instead, we used our privilege to help us better understand human nature. By examining a multitude of landscapes, and by uncovering characters whose most important possession is the landscape around them, these essays examine what it takes for us to feel alive in a time when we can have everything, when our needs seem limitless. Throughout this psychogeographic diary, crowded with rituals of faith, death and renewal, See asks, again and again, 'How much will be enough?'

Genres: Nonfiction, Travel, Essays

288 pages, Paperback

First published October 14, 2004

Reviews

[Ryan Murdock · Rating 4 out of 5]

In the words of the author, the untranslatable Portuguese notion of saudade represents “the feeling of yearning for something impossible to regain because it never quite existed.” It’s a sense of longing rather than a variety of homesickness or wistfulness. That vague, not-unpleasant feeling pervades each essay in this thought provoking collection.

The book is a psychogeographical exploration of human nature tinged with faith, death, renewal, and the perceived distance between privilege and want, set amidst the sort of exotic backdrops which prompt careful soul searching. As the author journeys from a fishing village in Sri Lanka to a booze-soaked bar at the fringes of Australia, from the Canadian Rockies to a potholed country road in the Republic of Georgia, she journeys deeper into this elusive feeling and deeper into our collective soul. It is only in the simplicity and silence of those places, while sitting still, that we can overcome the manic speed of our forever rushed society and seek the meaning in everyday moments. The book’s structure further reinforces the processes at play - that gradual deepening of awareness which calls up the feeling of saudade in the first place.

Anik See, a former contributing editor of Outpost, has produced a book that is impeccably written, carefully observed, and vividly detailed. She manages to lure the reader into her mental state while setting up a resonance that summons that same feeling with each turn of the page. A mesmerizing read. Highly recommended.

[Correy Baldwin · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed returning to this collection of insightful, rather loosely structured essays — rooted in travel, ruminating on privilege.

Some quotes:

“Slowness is a way to something beyond privilege. It is a way to grace. … Slowness is more penetrating, but wilfully so, and in a kinder fashion.”

“I felt … suspended between history and possibility, between definition and evolution. I felt housed between reflections, and I understood why we need and how we are defined not merely by places of strange and isolated beauty but by the distance between them, whether they are pinpoints or unending ribbons.”

[Sanjay Carter-rau · Rating 3 out of 5]

I resonated sonorously with Anik See's writing, especially as I was traveling while reading this and grappling with some of the same questions she takes on in this book. Some of her cross-border experiences are familiar and I like he description of slow living and honoring a certain, uncertain way of being human, which may be partly imagined and lived into being.

[R.J. Gilmour · Rating 5 out of 5]

Normally I order most of my books online after reading a review about them (usually in The New York Review of Books) or if I encounter the author somewhere in cyberspace or even more rarely if recommended by a friend. I only resort to the new acquisition shelf when I have little else to read and it is lovely to be pleasantly surprised by a discovery like Anik See. The book is a lovely collection of short travel pieces inspired by her own travels and I found myself absorbed in her beautiful, but clipped writing style. I had to stop myself from finishing the book in one evening as I was enchanted by her word paintings. She has a style that is best described as thick description with text that reaches out and sticks to the reader drawing them into the places she evokes. Not only was her writing a revelation but the book itself is lovingly set, designed and bound as a pocket-travel journal that shows an attention.

[amy · Rating 4 out of 5]

The strength of Saudade--as I see it--is how invited, how welcome it's possible to feel in these borrowed memories. It's an ambitious though uneven book (almost jarringly so in places), but the good parts are really good. Yes, really, truly good.

It's a portal--does that make sense?

[Koula · Rating 4 out of 5]

Beautiful to look at... lovely stories - good read. Made me think and then think some more.
Loved it!