How spanish culture and history have developed in the regions where the Camino passes

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Product Description

Derived from studies and sketches made between 1979 and 1992, this collection of 25 essays covers ten centuries of Spain's history - its politics, its architecture, its climate and its people. The author's destination is Santiago de Compostela, though he makes numerous detours. Cees Nooteboom is the author of "The Following Story", "Rituals" and "In the Dutch Mountains".

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Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #141053 in Books
• Published on: 1998-02-05
• Original language: Dutch
• Binding: Paperback
• 320 pages

Amazon.co.uk Review
In recent years, Dutch writer Cees Nooteboom has developed a reputation as a major European author and, in this magical evocation of 1,000 years of Spanish history, this is shown to be more than critical hyperbole. Through his erudition and graceful writing, Nooteboom has produced the definitive work on one of the most over- worked literary pilgrimages of our times, the journey to Santiago de Compostela.

The book is never a straightforward journey, but instead distils Nooteboom's lifelong fascination for Spain through some remarkable meditations on life, art, history and religion. There is scarcely a page which is not thought-provoking. The passages on Velazquez and Seville-based artist Zurbarán are wonderful, as are the author's meditations on the paradoxes and discords within Spain, his thoughts on the effects of the barren plains on the Spanish soul and his ruminations on the history of conquest and loss which the country has undergone. Most remarkable of all is Nooteboom's ability to convey the sense that, though time has progressed, it is people, attitudes and customs which have stayed still: "Sometimes it is as if Spain is out to preserve the past for the rest of Europe."

Roads to Santiago is a book which everyone with more than passing interest in Spain ought to read. --Toby Green

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Customer Reviews

Nooteboom is an enchanting companion
Nooteboom is a beautiful writer, well versed in the history, culture, language and art of Spain through its many manifestations. This is no ordinary piece of "travel" writing. It is an education in art history, music, arabic, terrorism, 11th century architecture and the meaning of history.

If none of the above appeals, then, don't worry. It did not appeal to me before I picked up this book. Nooteboom will engender in the reader a positive experience that will linger with them for many years to come. Now, I want to go to Spain.

PASSIONATE, OBSESSIVE, POETIC AND A BIT TOO LONG
The writing is wonderful. The man is clearly a poet. The descriptive passages are superbly evocative and the narrative witty and full of life - but he has an obsession which he overindulges to a tiresome degree.

He cannot pass by a cathedral or a church without describing it at length and in excruciating detail. He tells us more than we can possibly want to know about every single one he visits - and he makes extraordinary efforts to visit even the remotest chapel rumoured to exist at the end of some heat-blasted track on some frying-pan plain. [see photo p.183]. A glance at the list of illustrations shows this. For me, his obsession [a word I think even he uses] with church buildings became tedious and the relief at the quality of the writing about his own view of Spain beyond this obsession became more and more welcome as the book progressed. I found it increasingly difficult to plough through yet another weighty passage on yet another cathedral, hoping and waiting for him to break free into the fresh air of the Spain beyond the church door and his insights into Spainish literature and culture. In the end, finishing the book was a struggle: the sheer bulk of all that ecclesiastical description had worn me down.