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Arabesques
One Sunday afternoon in a secluded valley in Normandy, France, Robert Dessaix chanced upon the castle where the famous French writer Andre Gide spent his childhood. Recalling the excitement Robert felt when he first read Gide as a teenager, he set off to recapture what it was that once drew him so strongly to this enigmatic figure.
On a magic carpet ride from Lisbon to the edge of the Sahara, from Paris to the south of France and Algiers, Robert takes us to the places where the Nobel Prize-winning author, in ways still scandalous to modern sensibilities, lived out his unconventional ideas about love, marriage, sexuality and religion.
Featuring meditations and conversations with fellow-travellers on such diverse subjects as why we travel, growing old, illicit passions, and the essence of Protestantism, Arabesques is Robert Dessaix and travel memoir at their finest.
On a magic carpet ride from Lisbon to the edge of the Sahara, from Paris to the south of France and Algiers, Robert takes us to the places where the Nobel Prize-winning author, in ways still scandalous to modern sensibilities, lived out his unconventional ideas about love, marriage, sexuality and religion.
Featuring meditations and conversations with fellow-travellers on such diverse subjects as why we travel, growing old, illicit passions, and the essence of Protestantism, Arabesques is Robert Dessaix and travel memoir at their finest.
320 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 2008
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Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews
January 15, 2015
Normally I'm a huge fan of Dessaix, but this wasn't my favorite of his. A lot of the time as I read this book the feeling was ‘so what?’ I think this is due to a combination of factors. Firstly, I seem not to like travel writing as a genre just as I get bored looking through other people’s travel photos or reading about places I never visited. More importantly, I couldn't detect any sense of urgency in the book; Dessaix might as well have simply written a series of essays on subjects that interest him, such as religion. The book didn't feel whole. Still, I was, as always, interested in his ideas about love, travel, what constitutes a good aging and more.
November 17, 2010
Its a lovely book in the physical sense, good size, quality paper, some images - photos and water colour paintings. Even has a piece of ribbon attached to use as a place mark.
Well written, character-ful travelogue.
Well written, character-ful travelogue.
January 2, 2016
I really like this book about the life of a famous, gay author who was a friend of Oscar Wilde and his time spent in Morocco, Albania and Andalucia. Very interesting
April 11, 2020
This is the only book that I have read three times. It has such personal resonance, but more importantly, it is a wonder of erudition and observance of the human condition. It is as if the author allows you to join him at cafe tables and simply sit and observe and reflect on ones own life. The writing is beautiful, deeply literary and full of wry humour. The hard back edition is one of the best in terms of production that I have ever encountered. The illustration, paper quality, font, and design absolutely support and enhance the travel and literary experience. A wonderful book. I am in awe.
February 11, 2023
obviously there is contention about whether dessaix is a “pederast” or not… perhaps his use of the term puts a nail in the coffin. however when i read this book back in 2015 (??!) i remember thinking it was a nice examination of the way bodies and identities move in colonised landscapes and the ways in which colonisers deal with guilt and desire. certainly very compelling and with beautiful prose.
July 11, 2020
Fairly typical currently that I only connected with the author at the very end. Mainly because most of the book was about Andre Gide, who I've never heard of and didn't look into. I loved revisiting Morocco, Portugal, Spain and Tunisia through him but it reminded me of why I love to travel and made me mournful.
February 12, 2017
Arabesques
by Robert Dessaix
Published in 2008 by Picador, Pan Macmillan Australia, Sydney
Arabesques, is a change of pace for Robert Dessaix. His previous travel memoir - Twilight of Love took the reader along the trail Turgenev trod. Arabesques however, is a tale about double lives, an inner journey where our author merely shadows Gide.
Andre Gide, Nobel Prize winner for Literature, 1947, mentioned in previous works by Dessaix, takes a prominent role in this book. Set in a more conservative age, we presume it is Gide’s unusual marriage arrangement that enables him to travel extensively throughout Northern Africa. Gide befriends Oscar Wilde in Algiers, where unfettered, they both indulge in every carnal desire. This is where Gide met his young lover - Marc Allegret, the subject of his book ‘If It Die’. The very book that a young impressionable fourteen year old Robert Dessaix came upon purely through happenstance. Robert confesses that it made a lasting impact on him, but I wonder if it also influenced his future path?
Dessaix doesn’t mimic Gide's sojourns abroad, but rather recaptures them to tease out their twin experiences, and to then plot a course between their parallel paths. Could it have been different if he had not picked up Gide’s book all those years ago?
Arabesques, is very much about the present. Dessaix tells us he prefers the company of young people because he derives much pleasure from watching their interpretation of new experiences and reaction to exotic places. He takes the reader on a journey from Lisbon to Algiers, from Paris to the South of France and Morocco. We ride on his shoulder eavesdropping on his conversations and participating in his many ruminations encountered along the way, about profound matters like religion, and growing old. Just like voyeurs, we become privy to illicit passions laid bare.
With some books I confess to skipping bits, but not with Dessaix's Arabesques,, where the reader can delight in every sentence, every turn of phrase and masterful analogy. Then suddenly out of the blue he catches you unprepared and you literally laugh out loud, much to the chagrin of fellow readers with you in the 'quiet carriage' of the commuter train.
This one got me (he attributes it to Victor Hugo) – ‘the flame in the eyes of the young turns the old man’s eyes into pure light. In fact the milkiness is just as likely to be cataracts.’
It probably struck a chord with me following my own recent cataract surgery. Just 291 pages of enjoyably crafted writing, to enthral and to inform. At times profound, but not heavy. It took me ages to finally track down a copy and I'm glad I did. If you haven't read it, then don’t delay your enjoyment a moment longer.
by Robert Dessaix
Published in 2008 by Picador, Pan Macmillan Australia, Sydney
Arabesques, is a change of pace for Robert Dessaix. His previous travel memoir - Twilight of Love took the reader along the trail Turgenev trod. Arabesques however, is a tale about double lives, an inner journey where our author merely shadows Gide.
Andre Gide, Nobel Prize winner for Literature, 1947, mentioned in previous works by Dessaix, takes a prominent role in this book. Set in a more conservative age, we presume it is Gide’s unusual marriage arrangement that enables him to travel extensively throughout Northern Africa. Gide befriends Oscar Wilde in Algiers, where unfettered, they both indulge in every carnal desire. This is where Gide met his young lover - Marc Allegret, the subject of his book ‘If It Die’. The very book that a young impressionable fourteen year old Robert Dessaix came upon purely through happenstance. Robert confesses that it made a lasting impact on him, but I wonder if it also influenced his future path?
Dessaix doesn’t mimic Gide's sojourns abroad, but rather recaptures them to tease out their twin experiences, and to then plot a course between their parallel paths. Could it have been different if he had not picked up Gide’s book all those years ago?
Arabesques, is very much about the present. Dessaix tells us he prefers the company of young people because he derives much pleasure from watching their interpretation of new experiences and reaction to exotic places. He takes the reader on a journey from Lisbon to Algiers, from Paris to the South of France and Morocco. We ride on his shoulder eavesdropping on his conversations and participating in his many ruminations encountered along the way, about profound matters like religion, and growing old. Just like voyeurs, we become privy to illicit passions laid bare.
With some books I confess to skipping bits, but not with Dessaix's Arabesques,, where the reader can delight in every sentence, every turn of phrase and masterful analogy. Then suddenly out of the blue he catches you unprepared and you literally laugh out loud, much to the chagrin of fellow readers with you in the 'quiet carriage' of the commuter train.
This one got me (he attributes it to Victor Hugo) – ‘the flame in the eyes of the young turns the old man’s eyes into pure light. In fact the milkiness is just as likely to be cataracts.’
It probably struck a chord with me following my own recent cataract surgery. Just 291 pages of enjoyably crafted writing, to enthral and to inform. At times profound, but not heavy. It took me ages to finally track down a copy and I'm glad I did. If you haven't read it, then don’t delay your enjoyment a moment longer.
January 27, 2015
Two and a half stars
January 10, 2015
An interesting, thoughtful book on travel, youth, aging, being gay, Andre Gide, North Africa and France. Definitely not a book for homophobes.
June 19, 2015
Will try this again one day.
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews