Contact!: A Book of Encounters [Hardcover]

Jan Morris (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 19, 2010

A delightful and hilarious companion for anyone taking a trip and an indispensable work for any fan of Jan Morris.

With her travel chronicles unparalleled in twentieth-century literature, Jan Morris’s legendary books on Venice, Manhattan, and Trieste have made her one of our most beloved writers. Now reflecting back on over half a century, Morris has decided to write not about the destinations but about the people she has encountered. Whether writing as James or later as Jan, Morris introduces us to a panoply of memorable characters—the Sherpa guide who first scaled Mt. Everest, the lascivious Manhattan cabbie, and the proverbial spy in the raincoat. She provides insightful portraits of the famous, such as Harry Truman and Jordan’s King Hussein, and glimpses of the infamous, including Adolf Eichmann. Recalling human encounters on six continents, she paints a vibrant, funny, and moving picture of humanity. Ultimately, no figure comes into clearer focus than Morris herself, an astonishing chronicler of the human spectacle. Contact! is one book you’ll want to carry with you wherever you go. 10-12 illustrations

Editorial Reviews

From Booklist

Recognized as a major contemporary travel writer, Morris, in the course of her profession/avocation, has explored all four corners of the globe—no exaggeration. Her latest book is a collection of short takes, each one running only one to three paragraphs in length. In introductory comments, the author, from Wales, observes that “in a lifetime of travel and literature, I have written relatively little about people.” Her new book, then, makes amends, offering glimpses of people encountered “across half a century and forty-odd books.” The emphasis on individuals rather than destinations results in a delightfully idiosyncratic kaleidoscope: small portraits rendered in colorful and not always adulatory prose. Visiting the current occupant of Longwood, a distinctive octagon-shaped mansion in Natchez, Louisiana, she is treated to a feast of southern fried chicken. Attending a Paris fashion show, however, was not so positive. She sat “among the condescending New York buyers and unbelievably ugly princesses of American fashion journalism.” Ouch! --Brad Hooper

Review

This wonderful distillation of Jan Morris's chance encounters shows our greatest living travel writer at her best—wise, well-read, wide-traveled, clear-sighted, compassionate, humane, unforgettable. (Paul Theroux )

The most delightful, intelligent, perception collection of human observations I've ever read: I don't know of anything like it. (Alberto Manguel, author of A Reader on Reading )

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 202 pages
• Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company; 1 edition (April 19, 2010)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0393076407
• ISBN-13: 978-0393076400
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.7 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 13.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #313,038 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Short encounters, April 27, 2010

By 

wogan "the book reader" - See all my reviews
(TOP 50 REVIEWER)   

This review is from: Contact!: A Book of Encounters (Hardcover)

Jan Morris has lived an interesting life, she is a gender re-assigned woman, who published under her former name, "James Morris" until the 1970s. She writes in 'Contact' that she has written little of people, so this book is her remembrances. There is no chronological or geographic order which creates a jumpy reading and thought processes.
Most of the very short writings tell of encounters, but there seems to be a condescending attitude to most that she encounters. There is nothing in each description of the essence or atmosphere that a reader can identify with.

5.0 out of 5 stars Any who have enjoyed her nonfiction will relish this!, August 8, 2010

By 

Midwest Book Review (Oregon, WI USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Contact!: A Book of Encounters (Hardcover)

Contact! A Book of Encounters offers moments of prose that capture moments of travel encounters in a paragraph or two. From Harry Truman to an Indian civil servant and an Egyptian beggar, any interested in either travel or the human condition will find this a fine survey of Jan Morris' many encounters on the path to exploring world cultures. Any who have enjoyed her nonfiction will relish this!

1 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A life well lived, April 4, 2010

By 

practical (San Antonio, TeXas United States) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Contact!: A Book of Encounters (Hardcover)

Jan Morris has always been my favorite writers with her essay approach to travel having a keen journalist's eye to detail.
(...)

She was with Sir Edmund Hilary when he scaled Mt Everest in 1953.

The following internet address is from Don George who writes for salon.com
(...)

Hillary's and Norgay's feat was electrifying. Heightening the impact even further was the felicitous coincidence of their arrival just before the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II -- and the dramatic announcement of their triumph on the morning of the coronation. Add to this the figure of the mountaineer himself -- firm of jaw and bright of eye, humble and high-minded and handsome in a lean, mountainous way, daring but down to earth, supremely competent without being showy -- and you had the makings of an immediate legend. Hillary embodied the dash, the pluck, the stiff-upper-lip and what-the-hell, let's-go-for-it aplomb the British empire still aspired to, and almost overnight the two mountaineers became worldwide sensations. Hillary was knighted, Norgay was given the George Medal, one of Britain's highest civilian awards, and the duo was medaled, titled, toasted and feted around the world.

His source is from Jan Morris who was there and who called in the story to the London Times knocking out the coronation of Elizabeth II as the lead story.

Contact is a collection of everyday encounters and reminiscences of a life well lived.