Way of the World

The Way of the World is the beguiling tale of an impecunious and life-enhancing journey from Geneva to the Khyber Pass in the '50s. When Nicolas Bouvier and the artist Thierry Vernet set out, they had money for four months and a sturdy Fiat Topolino. They broke their journey when money ran low, to teach and sell paintings and articles in Istanbul, Tabriz and eventually in Quetta. Gravitating towards the poorer neighbourhoods, they spent intoxicating nights listening to gypsy musicians, trading poetry with Iranian tramps and entertaining their fellow drinkers with songs and an accordian. Long a cult book in France and Switzerland, The Way of the World is also a journey towards the self. 'You think you are making a trip, ' writes Bouvier, 'but soon it is making you - or unmaking you.'

Drawings by Thierry Vernet

"Belgrade. "Midnight was chiming when I stopped the car in front of the Cafe Majestic. A friendly silence reigned over the still warm street. Through the lacy curtains I saw Thierry sitting inside. He had drawn a life-size pumpkin on the tablecloth and was killing time filling in the pips ... I gazed through the window for a long time before joining him at the table. We clinked glasses. I was happy to see this old project taking shape, and he to have a companion". In June 1953, Nicolas Bouvier and an artist friend set off in an old Fiat Topolino and very gradually worked their away across Yugoslavia, Greece, Turkey, Iran, Afghanistan, India, Pakistan. Bouvier made notes; in Baluchistan they disappeared; it didn't matter; he remembered everything. Ten years later he published L 'Usage du Monde, which quickly became a cult travel bible in France, and was subsequently translated into a number of European languages. It is now available in English for the first time. The Way of the World is an elegant and quietly knowing account of eighteen months spent in towns and countrysides where foreign visitors were not so often seen as they are today. Bouvier's abilities at description rank with the best; he favors the small incident, the fleeting encounter, the telling gesture above the dramatic and exotic. The Way of the World is a fine and nuanced account of one culture confronting another, and like the best travel writing, reflects convincingly on the meaning of the experience.