Customer Reviews

The Crossing Place: A Journey Among the Armenians (Kodansha Globe)

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Mardsen's book is a unique combination of present travel storytelling and history. Few books have explained the Armenian people, how they think (and why), what they have been through, and what they hope for, so well. By visiting different Armenian Diaspora groups, he gets a unique perspective from Armenians everywhere, not just Armenians from the Republic or the United States. The reader can tell that Mardsen is entranced by the Armenians and their culture and this creates an extremely interesting and good read. It is also filled with quite a few interesting and little known facts about Armenians. This is a great book for anyone interested in Armenians and their culture, past and present.

Philip Marsden clearly harbors a special interest in eastern Christian traditions, for they run like a red thread through his three travel books. In "A Far Country: Travels in Ethiopia" he visits this sole surviving Christian nation in the Horn of Africa, surrounded by Islamic countries. "The Spirit Wrestlers" explores a plethora of religious movement springing up in Russia, Ukraine and the Caucasus in the wake of the Societ Union's downfall..

In "The Crossing Place" Marsden sets out to investigate the tragic fate of the Armenians, an ancient Christian people from the Caucasus. This mountainous region tugged in between the Black and Caspian Seas lies on the crossroads of the old Persian, Turkish and Russian realms. It is also the place were six of the world's twelve tectonic plates meet, making it one of the most earthquake-prone regions in the world. Because of this geographical position Armenia's fate is permeated with disaster, both natural and man-made. These experiences have made dislocation a continuous theme in Armenian history and provide the book with a double travel motif: not only the author is constantly on the move, but so is his subject.

Marsden became interested in the Armenians through a chance encounter in eastern Turkey. There he stumbled on some fragmentary remains of the 1915 Armenian genocide. Intrigued by what he had found he decided to work his way back to the Armenian heartland.

The first part of the book is situated in the Near East, where Armenia had almost ceased to exist, "pushed down one of history's side-alleys and murdered". Or so it seemed, had they not been such a resilient people. Marsden picks up the trail in the Armenian quarter of Jerusalem. He learns that the Armenians first appeared on the Anatolian plains in the sixth century BC. Eight hundred years later their king became the first ruler to accept Christianity. A first glimpse of the `essential Armenia" is caught during a visit to a famous center for Armenian Studies, the San Lazzaro monastery in Venice (where Armenians had been resident well before the city's rise to commercial and political prominence in the 12th century). According to one of its scholars the unique Armenian script developed by Mesrop Mashtot embodies an idea that can not be explained but only expressed in one word "Ararat", the mountain that is the heart of Armenia.

Marsden continues his quest in Lebanon -- by way of Cyprus -- and poses himself the question how such a mobile nation, consisting of merchants, pilgrims and adventurers, had been able to maintain its distinctiveness. Nowhere better to get a sense of that than in Beirut, which has just emerged from a brutal civil war. Here the Armenians had staunchly stuck to their neutrality but also maintained a basis for their commando-type liberation movements, operating with surgical precision in sixteen countries. Only by tapping into the efficient Armenian network of connections is Marsden able to move swiftly and inconspicuously through Lebanon and Syria. Taking the Baron hotel in Aleppo -- founded and still managed by an Armenian -- as a base camp for explorations into the last surviving Armenian villages of northern Syria, Marsden gives us a chilling account of the ruthlessness with which the Turks perpetrated their ethnic cleansing during the First World War.

From Syria the author moves into Turkey. Using the ancient city of Antioch, which for seven hundred years had been largely populated by Armenians, the ruins of Ani, capital of a long-lost Armenian state, and finally Istanbul as a backdrop, Marsden gives an excellent overview of another Armenian characteristic: their genius for building. No single ethnic group in the Middle East has made so many contributions to architecture as the Armenians. They were employed by Turkish, Persian and Indian rulers alike. Marsden conjectures that they may have been instrumental to the development of Europe's Gothic style with its pointed arch.

The second part of the book takes us to the Balkans. Since the days of the Byzantine empire, subsequent rulers of Asia Minor have used this region to exile unwanted elements. This permits Marsden to launch into one of his favorite topics: arcane religious sects. The reader is provided with a most interesting account of how the doctrine of dualism, which can be traced back to the earlier Persian religions of Manichaeism and Zoroastrianism, forms the origin of many Christian heresies. Marsden has clearly studied this issue thoroughly and makes an Armenian role in the spread of heretical beliefs to western Europe quite plausible.

Traveling through Bulgaria and Romania, Marsden "[..] became aware that the Armenians had been a much greater presence in the Balkans than [..] first imagined." More gaps in the knowledge of this, at first so enigmatic, people are filled. He penetrates deeper into their language and learns about the extent of their trading relations. In the Middle Ages they had already reached Moorish Spain, Poland and the court of the Mongol Khan. By the 18th century Armenians were connected with the Ottoman, Safavid and Moghul courts, had established an influence with Burmese and Ethiopian monarchs, and traded in Amsterdam, Calcutta, Java and Tibet.

Via the Crimea Marsden finally makes it to Armenia proper where the third part of the book is set. Recently wrested away from seventy years of Soviet domination the situation there is still very precarious. During visits to four famous monasteries in the country's northeast, the writer contemplates the so-called "Silver Age", Armenia's last period of brilliance during the eleventh and early twelfth centuries. Buried deep beneath this short period of fervent monastic activity lies Armenia's pre-Christian heritage. This atavistic past is just as much part of the Armenian identity as its unique Christian beliefs.

The book closes with an account of Armenia's more recent tribulations: a devastating earthquake and the war with neighboring Azerbaijan over the region of Karabagh. Witnessing its effects first-hand, Marsden "[..] sensed that here, where the threat was greatest, the Armenian spirit was at its strongest. It was the same spirit that had driven the Armenians through the vast improbability of their history".

"The Crossing Place" establishes Philip Marsden as a worthy successor of Colin Thubron, one of Britain's best travel writers. Not only do the two share an interest in less obvious travel destinations on the Eurasian landmass, visiting people at the fringes of so-called great cultures, but their writings have also a certain style in common; a captivating prose that unfolds the power of the English language and holds the reader's attention until the end.

This is a moderately disappointing book. Armenia has a fascinating history, multi-faceted, struggling against adversity and nevertheless producing talented, highly gifted people. So a good book would be necessary to do them justice.

Philip Marsden tries to deliver this, and certainly undertook an effort. He learned Armenian, and traveled through 20 countries, tracing the history of this scattered people. However, as a reader you soon find that distance does not compensate for depth. It is all fairly breathless, a short night spent here, the next night in the next town, or next country. The experiences therefore remain fleeting, rarely reaching any level of insight. In fact, I think you can get pretty much the same information from a Lonely Planet guide, without the distracting personal details thrown in. This is not intrinsic, some of Marsden's other books actually are better in this regard.

The style is fine, but since the substance is so thin, the chiseled descriptions end up being an irritating veneer, a writer straining his Thesaurus, rather than a good storyteller. There are occasional irritating elements: I, for one, no longer want to read about Western travelers turning down hookers in Eastern Europe, we have really heard it before and there is no need for the writer to parade his virtue to readers. It is, I should add, only a small irritation: overall, Marsden comes across as a likable person, which matters in travel writing, since you will follow private experiences.

So, the book is best described as a broad survey of meeting Armenians in many countries, against the backdrop of the collapsing Soviet Union. Given the shortage of good books on Armenia, it may be a last resort. It may serve as a very basic introduction to Armenia. But otherwise, don't expect too much. If you know the region and like Armenia, the book will add little.

I understand that some Armenians feel charmed by the attention, and therefore like the book. I sympathize, but I believe that their people would deserve more depth, and a more reflective understanding. At the same time, I also felt put off by the way Marsden approached Turkey. He essentially walks into Turkey feeling uneasy, and finds confirmation for his sentiments. No big surprise there, and little value added.

"An encyclopedia of the Armenian spirit", "a classic in Western literature about the Armenians" - this is how The Crossing Place is defined by Armenian scholars. Such praise from the very people it describes is enough evidence of the outstanding nature of Marsden's physical and spiritual journey. As the Armenian translator of this marvellous travelogue, I can say, that it is a monumental work, radiating with the pulse of a true Armenian and echoing with the eternal values of this nation.

One measure of a people is its hold on the imagination of others. An unusual force drives this Englishman to come out of Cornwall and to walk along the paths of the Armenians from their ransacked ancestral homeland in Eastern Anatolia, towards the Syrian deserts, where they perished in the first genocide of the 20th century. Yet there were survivors of this stubborn people who were resurrected in various parts of the world and there were tough natives still struggling on the southern heights of Armenia's border. Marsden encounters these elusive people in 1991 - at a time of great change in the Middle East and the former Soviet Union, only to find out that such changes, the collapse of empires have always seen Armenians both in front of and behind the scenes.

What is it that keeps the Armenians Armenian? Bearing in his eyes the light to see the truth, Marsden looks like a devoted pilgrim, who totally ignores his personal comfort to reach the ultimate destination of his journey - he covers long distances feeling cold, hungry, thirsty, tired, numb or baffled - revealing and wisely evaluating the fundamental qualities of the Armenians. He realizes that an enigmatic language and a distinctive church, an instinctive wildness, and a creative genius - those invincible characteristics, have insured the survival of Armenians from time immemorial to modern ages. One can feel that Marsden is not an ordinary "pilgrim", but an "architect" building his "own" Armenian church. The basis of this meticulously crafted narration is the dark depths of the historical landscape he evokes, while the network of communities form the vaulted "niches" of its vision. All along Marsden tries to capture the whirling spirit of the Armenians in a tangible form, and in the end he metaphorically raises the "solid rock" of the Armenian existence - the "crenellated dome" of the mountaineers defending their land.

This is more than just a travel book, since the author digs into the soul and roots of a people capable of recreating itself through devastating predicaments. He plows the mystical realms of its ancient culture and history, penetrates into the chaos that generates its philosophy, and comes out with a clutch of primeval human values. A writer of high principles, Marsden achieves this through his communicative talent, through the warm immediacy of a live experience, the deep research of an ethnologist and the searching eyes of an intent observer. His magnetic style is characterized by poetic touch and kind humour. He shows the Armenian in crystal content.

I have been living under the spell of this book since my first reading. It already existed in 6 other languages and I was compelled to translate it to show my deep respect and gratitude to a writer of exquisite sensibility, who was fully aware of the inherent strength of the Armenian script. After almost half a year of the Armenian publication The Crossing Place is still living with me, guiding my insight into the land, the people and the language that make my world.

And who could resist reading Marsden's other "tricks"? An author of unique feelings towards the birthplace of nations and their cultural psychology, he also has a deep sense of the vicissitudes of time as well as a unique skill in embracing tormented nations. His other books, "A Far Country", "The Bronski House" and "The Spirit - Wrestlers" about the people of Ethiopia, Poland and south Russia lead the readers into the inner worlds of enduring and spiritually powerful people. Like an epic writer of the classical ages, Marsden carves with the most delicate touch and the most profound inspiration eternal worlds, inhabited by eternal people, living tragic and heroic lives.

Detectives and divorce lawyers like to probe into their cases, pulling out causes and motivations, faults and crimes. They talk about "getting to the bottom" of it all. Maybe they can do it too. When authors of novels build characters, tell their stories, they can succeed in getting to the bottom of everything---if they want---because, after all, they've created everything from scratch. On the contrary, I know as an anthropologist that you can never, ever get to the bottom of an entire people or culture. You can hardly even get close. Large groups of people are just too diverse. History is too complex, particularly if that history extends over several thousand years. So, what I'm saying is that you can find out what makes a clock tick, you can learn if such and such a people produced pottery or not, but you can't discover what has kept Armenians going through centuries of trouble. Reading Marsden's THE CROSSING PLACE only confirms what I think---he doesn't even get close. On the other hand, maybe that desire was only an excuse to travel around Europe and the Middle East to see what remained of the ancient communities of Armenians that once traded, lived, and built churches from Europe to China. If so, then fair enough, it was a good idea which has produced an interesting, well-written book of travels. Marsden visits not only the scenes of the 1915 genocide, weirdly quiet in Syria and Lebanon just before the first Gulf War in 1990, but also Venice, Israel, Cyprus, Bulgaria, Romania, and several parts of the former USSR. He meets the last remnants of the Armenian population, most of which has left for greener pastures with the fall of Communism or because of the Lebanese civil war. At last Marsden arrives in Armenia itself, just emerging from the ruins of the Soviet Union, fighting for its survival as a nation with Azerbaijan, which was backed by Soviet forces at the time. Marsden travels through the country, eventually reaching the very bottom, by the southern frontier with Iran. He DID get to the bottom of Armenia, but only physically.

The author's approach is extremely haphazard, extremely romantic. He meets a number of important Armenians, but gets little substantive information from them. He visits sites of massacres and seiges, interviews a few ancient survivors, but says nothing new. He meets a number of people he didn't like--and they always speak pidgin English, unlike his own well-modulated tones. Everything American earns his special disdain. Marsden's travails with visas, bad transport, scarce food, or dirty hotels loom large, as does the hospitality of the Armenians everywhere he goes. The Armenians are indeed a hospitable people; they are tough; they are survivors, like the Jews, they have had to use their wits to get by for centuries; despite the genocide they are very much still around. But why them when other peoples have disappeared ? Marsden offers no clue. Armenian readers may warm to the author's attentions, but he doesn't fill in the gaps for others. He ignores works of history, anthropology, or any academic subject whatsoever. Being academic is certainly not required, but you must have SOME facts, some kind of argument, otherwise, you wind up with travel episodes---"I went here, I went there". Why ? Maybe because Philip Marsden likes to travel rough in out of the way places. In short, THE CROSSING PLACE may reveal many facts about Armenians, about Armenia in 1989-90, about the genocide, for readers who aren't aware of them, you may enjoy vivid scenes and some intelligent philosophical musings but don't expect to get to the bottom of anything.

... It is really the best yet on travelling among Armenians. Mr. Marsden has a talent for juxtaposing different images through the English language and also through selecting visual adjectives in describing the Armenian character, history and the genocide. I enjoyed this book much more than Michael Arlen's which I had trouble really getting into. Mr. Marsden is honest in his reaction and description of Armenanians -- his repulsion and attraction alike. I recommend this book for anyone wishing to understand the disaspora, the genocide, the Armenian people and their tie to their land.

To: Amazon.com

Dear Sir,

I am the Chinese translator of this wonderful book "The Crossing Place", and the Chinese editon has been published in Taiwan by Marco Polo Publishing Co., in Oct, 1998. I like this book very much, and hope to make contact with Mr. Philip Marsden and send him a copy of the Chinese Editon. I do appreciate if you can forward this message and my email address to Mr. Marsden.

Thank you for your assistance with this matter.

Best regards,

Ming-hua Cheng

Charming and well written book of a young Englishman's voyage of discovery among the middle eastern diaspora of Armenians and then through the Balkans and across the Caucasus to Armenia itself. Weaves in the history and present situation of Armenians and projects a powerful and sympathetic image of perhaps the most resilient culture and people in history. Easy and enjoyable to read.

A wonderful story of a Journey not only in Armenia, but of the road there. His knowledge of history and people allow him to well place stories and observations within the book, and illuminate the world of Armenians across the globe. Too bad it's unavailable...

An amazing story of the author's quest to learn more about the Armenian people!