Journey into the Mind's Eye: Fragments of an Autobiography

by Lesley Blanch

A woman travels to Siberia to find a lover from her youth who told her Russian fairytales.

Genres: Memoir, Travel, Nonfiction, Russia, Biography, Female Authors, Ebooks

340 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1968

About the author

A scholarly romantic, Lesley Blanch influenced and inspired generations of writers, readers and critics. Her first book, The Wilder Shores of Love — the stories of four ninteenth-century women who followed the beckoning Eastern star — pioneered a new kind of group biography focusing on women escaping the boredom of convention. An instant classic, it has remained in print in English since first publication in 1954. Lesley Blanch was ahead of her time and prescient in the way she attempted to bridge West and East.

Savvy, self-possessed and talented, Blanch did what she wanted and earned a good living at a time when women were expected to stay at home and be subservient to the needs of husband and children. She was glamorous and stylish and, in her own unique way, distinctly powerful.

She knew something of the Middle East as it once was, before conflict and turmoil became the essence of relations between the Arab World and the West. The places she travelled to and which obsessed her are still newsworthy today: Russia, The Balkans, The Middle East, Turkey, Afghanistan.

Reviews

[Eric Byrd · Rating 5 out of 5]

Blanch does that thing where the revelations of the last pages get their pathos not just from the revealed information but from the small sad details observed on the stranger who unknowingly delivers the epilogue.

[Pillsonista · Rating 5 out of 5]

A wonderfully moving and compulsively readable "autobiography" about how fragmentary memories echo throughout our lives, ineluctable and inescapable.

[Christine · Rating 4 out of 5]

It is a beautifully written memoir of the author's look at why she loves Russia, or to be possibly discovering why she loved Russia.

[James Murphy · Rating 3 out of 5]

A journey into the mind's eye simply means traveling into a region long imagined. As a child Lesley Blanch is captivated by a family friend who frequently visits and inspires her with his stories of Russia and trips along the Trans-Siberian Railway. He's referred to by Blanch as the Traveller, but Georgia de Chamberet in her "Introduction" strongly hints he was the Russian/British theater director Theodore Komisarjevsky. He and the Russia he tells her about as she's growing up become alluring. They become lovers while she's still quite young, though he's 20+ years her senior. Filtered through each other, Russia and the Traveller continue to fascinate Blanch even after, as she complains to her secretary de Chamberet, the actress Peggy Ashcroft stole him from her.

The book records many of her travels. She does get to Russia eventually, if only to St. Petersburg and Moscow and never her dreamscape Siberia. She has a life as a writer and as one of the editors of Vogue, and as the wife of the French novelist Romain Gary. It's not until their marriage breaks up that she's able to pursue her grail of travel in Siberia on the fabled train. That trip along the Trans-Siberian Railway forms the climactic events of her book as she describes her journey through that vast landscape. She hopes to run into the Traveller somewhere along the way but has to be content with writing about the other equally fascinating people she encounters.

I struggled a little with this book. I had difficulty relating to it, for one thing, to the many Russian references without explanations, particularly the use of untranslated words. I would have liked it better had it been a true travelogue of Russia, but it's only near the end that she moves out of her heated inspiration and into descriptive passages that began to engage me. I would've liked to read more about her life with Gary.

And, seriously, this is a book that could have used a good map.

[NancyKay · Rating 5 out of 5]

This more than a five star book. It came to me at random, as a selection of the New York Review Books monthly subscription, and seeing it had to do with Russia, I started in on it at once, and couldn't put it down. The story of a romantic obsession with a place (Russia in the 19th century) that really only exists in literature, and a man Blanch calls The Traveler, who is her guide and collaborator in feeding that obsession, I'd never come any other book like this one. Blanch, whose fascination with Russia and Russians, the Orthodox religion, and Russian culture, was lifelong, tells the story of her remarkable through this lens. Her prose, full of humorous anecdote and brilliant visualizations, is a pleasure to read, and the love story in this book -- even for me who feels very "over" love stories -- was full of sympathy and excitement.

[Rebecca · Rating 5 out of 5]

This reads like an ode to pre revolutionary Russia. Blanch grew up in awe of the stories about Russia that she learned from a mysterious ‘traveller’ who was a friend of her parents. The book charts her attempts to try and get to know that Russia, and in particular Siberia - although by the time she is able to do this, tsarist Russia is long gone and has been replaced by the Soviet Union. Sometimes her romantic visions can get a bit frustrating but she does just enough in admitting this herself to get away with it. Alongside this it is also a real love story and coming of age story - Blanch led an amazing life through tumultuous times, and if you have ever loved anything about Russia and its culture this is highly recommended.

[talia ♡]

"A woman travels to Siberia to find a lover from her youth who told her Russian fairytales."

sounds like my life's dream

[Brian · Rating 3 out of 5]

The departure of The Traveller took much of my interest in this autobiography away with him. The information about Russian history and Siberian life continued to have some interest, but I felt that an autobiography was not really the best source for it. I sympathized with the woman, but I can't say I liked her that much.

[Sydney E · Rating 4 out of 5]

enjoyed this a lot :) so romantic and interesting, but not mushy. i’d read another memoir of hers in an instant

[Bobbie Darbyshire · Rating 3 out of 5]

Published in the 60s, an autobiographical account of a young girl’s actual and metaphorical seduction by old, vanished Russia and her subsequent lifelong obsession with rediscovering it via the Trans-Siberian express. This isn’t a book I would normally try, but after an inconsequential conversation, an acquaintance somewhat inexplicably lent it to me, so I felt obliged. It’s evocative, strange and potentially fascinating to anyone (not me) who is versed in Russian history. Despite droll self-deprecation, the intention however seems romantic, and I couldn’t help being repelled by and furious with ‘The Traveller’ who stole Lesley Blanch’s girlhood and groomed her habit of substituting fantasy for the real life she might otherwise have led. A cautionary tale.

[Kelsey · Rating 2 out of 5]

Blanch includes some interesting history and culture in her memoirs, but mostly paints ethnic groups in broad swathes. One is forced over and over again to read sentences like, "Such veiled, yet vital tones only issues from Slav throats," "There is an unaccountable element which lies below the surface in all Russians...Perhaps it is the Asiatic in their blood..." and musings on the apparently innate French love of order and logic. It gets grating very quickly, as does her repeated reference to "slit eyes" and "slant eyes."

There are undoubtedly better memoirs to read which focus on the same geographical and cultural landscapes and are a bit more self-aware.

[Banuta · Rating 2 out of 5]

Lesley Blanch writes with gusto about her seduction and grooming by a man nearly three times her age. That part throbs with her excitement but once the Traveller is gone, the book falls flat. I did a survey course in Russian history as an undergrad and her tone took me back to the plastic seats of the lecture hall
Didnt finish it.

[Tom Wascoe · Rating 4 out of 5]

An interesting autobiography. Clearly the author has an obsession with "the Traveler" and with Russia even though she was English. The author pretty much defines obsession. An unique story that is well written.

[Ella · Rating 4 out of 5]

This will appeal to a very particular kind of person, and if you’re that kind of person, definitely read it.(Also, the prose is lovely)

[scarlettraces · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ok yes some problematic stuff here, and I'm not just talking about the key plot point. But fuck I loved it.

[David · Rating 5 out of 5]

Since I started reading seriously many years ago I have been drawn to Russian and French literature. However, while I've wanted to travel to France, I have not wanted to visit Russia, especially Siberia. On the other hand, Lesley because of an enigmatic character she refers to as The Traveler, a frequent visitor to her parents house in Britain, and who describes the wonders of Siberia to her, she becomes obsessed to visit Russia.

It seems The Traveler was part of the Czarist government, and quite privileged. Lesley is not yet ten when he visited, while he is in his thirties. A few years on. he takes her on a trip to Corsica, when she is a teenager, then in spite of traveling with a chaperon, who is easily dumped, he seduces Lesley. This part I didn't understand. Why her parents who were British upper-class, would allow their daughter to travel with a man much older who boasted about his womanizing is not explained. Blanch only in passing, mentions the that the relationship was inappropriate. After the Russian revolution he disappears.

At the end of the book she gives an account of finally traveling to Siberia. However, the Soviets have taken control of Russia and a lot of the Czarist glory is gone. Also, they assign a minder to travel with her. Still, she describes the vastness of the country and the people quite well.

[Agustina]

I was pretty invested in the first half, which is more of a love story (and I always enjoy a good seduction) but then the second half was too descriptive and I started to get a bit tired of Blanch’s Russian obsession (yes, I know that’s the whole premise of the plot, but I underestimated how much it would shape every single sentence)

I refrain from rating it because I WOULD recommend it to people who share Blanch’s level of obsession with Russia, but I haven’t quite reached that level of Russophilia yet to be entertained for the full length of almost 400 pages of Russia-specific descriptions and references.

[Dvora Treisman · Rating 5 out of 5]

This touches on the USSR, but it is really about Russia -- the Russia that is part western, and much more so eastern. It's about Russian history and folklore, about love, about being passionate, and about living life with a longing that never stops, and that feeling of longing is evoked in the reader -- at least in this one. It's a wonderful and unusual book.
An interesting profile on Blanch: https://www.theguardian.com/books/200...

[Paul · Rating 3 out of 5]

The author (English) writes about her love for all things Russian and her Russian lovers in this autobiographical novel. I am not sure what to make of an author who extols the virtues of her first lover, a family friend, who grooms her even as a child, and has sex with her when she is 17 years old. That is downright creepy. Still, her descriptions of Russia are exquisite and enlightening.

[Isolde Feron · Rating 4 out of 5]

Yes, this is a book that can be boring at times - that lacks narrative talent from the writer, but well, not everyone is her husband, the great Romain Gary. Yet I find, when you don’t read it in order (chapters here and there), when you really dive in Lesley Blanch’s universe (and I mean, what a woman!), this book is a delight. Can’t wait to read more from her.

[Juliette Boström]

The bitch who wrote this is WEIRD

[Kate · Rating 5 out of 5]

A fantastic travelogue, a Fermor-like window into a vanished world, and a poignant story of the dreams we construct around those whom we love, even long after they have vanished from our lives.

[Michelle Phoenix · Rating 3 out of 5]

Found this a really hard read. A huge amount of historical references but at its core an uncomfortable love story which the writer didn’t really address as inappropriate

[Mabel · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read Lesley Blanch's wonderful book The Wilder Shores of Love years ago. I don't know why it has taken me so long to get around to reading her other books, but better late than never. I loved this book. If you find all things Russian fascinating and like your romance intense and passionate, you will love it too. The author takes you into a fairytale world, filled with enchantment and magic. And glamour~ remember glamour? I do, and it is sorely missed. This is not an imaginary world; it existed, but we experience it through Blanch's rose-colored glasses. Why would anyone want to see it any other way? Enjoy!

[Benjamin · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was a travel narrative/love story/biography by an interesting women I saw profiled in the Sunday Times. She died in 2007 at almost 103! In this book, she tells of her romance with both Russia and a mysterious Russian, whose memory she pursues across Europe and Russia on the Trans-Siberian railroad. A very atmospheric and detailed adventure.

[Susan · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is all about Russian history and Siberia and was published in 1968. If you are interested in Russia you will really like this book. Caviare and vodka! I liked this book but some of the writing about Russia was a bit overdone at times.

[Toni · Rating 5 out of 5]

I sent this book to a friend so I no longer have it on my boook shelf.
It's a romance beyond romance and for years I searched for a dfferent ending.

[Derek · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very odd and overly Romantic (but always interesting) Russophile’s memoir.

[bermudianabroad · Rating 3 out of 5]

Lived life by her own rules. Unabashedly romantic and not a little rose tinted, the Russia she craves is more from imagination than history. That said, she does as she grows up, become more of an expert, and her thoughts and memories weave in and out of the country´s history. Tough going at times, but she writes with spark and life.