The Light Garden of the Angel King: Travels in Afghanistan with Bruce Chatwin (Pallas Guides) [Paperback]

Peter Levi (Author)

Book Description

Series: Pallas Guides | Publication Date: October 1, 1999

In 1970, Peter Levi—classical scholar, archaeologist, and poet—set off with Bruce Chatwin in search of the classical heritage of Afghanistan. Greek conquerors, Buddhist monks, Moghul emperors, doomed British soldiers—all have traveled Afghanistan, one of the great crossroads of history. This classic work, written prior to the Soviet invasion, is now reissued with fresh photographs from the Chatwin archives as well as a new introduction in which Peter Levi looks back on a bygone Afghanistan and on his friendship with the young Chatwin.

Editorial Reviews

From the Publisher

In 1970, Peter Levi—classical scholar, archaeologist, and poet—set off with Bruce Chatwin in search of the classical heritage of Afghanistan. Greek conquerors, Buddhist monks, Moghul emperors, doomed British soldiers—all have traveled Afghanistan, one of the great crossroads of history. This classic work, written prior to the Soviet invasion, is now reissued with fresh photographs from the Chatwin archives as well as a new introduction in which Peter Levi looks back on a bygone Afghanistan and on his friendship with the young Chatwin. Peter Levi pursued an academic career as a classicist at Oxford and was later elected Professor of Poetry at Oxford. His published work includes many volumes of poetry as well as biographies, Greek translations, travel books, and an autobiography, The Flutes of Autumn. He died in 2000.

Product Details

• Paperback: 230 pages
• Publisher: Pallas Athene; 2nd edition (October 1, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1873429355
• ISBN-13: 978-1873429358
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.4 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,261,792 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #89 in Books > Travel > Asia > Afghanistan

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

43 of 44 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars To A Lost World-- With Chatwin, Too, February 20, 2001

By 

Lohr Miller (Louisiana, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Light Garden of the Angel King: Travels in Afghanistan with Bruce Chatwin (Pallas Guides) (Paperback)

Peter Levi is himself a remarkable figure: An English Jesuit who is a poet, art historian, classicist,and sometime archaeologist. "Light Garden of the Angel King" is Levi's account of his travels in Afghanistan in the late 1960s as he looked for remnants of Greek presence and examined the influences of Hellenistic art, and it's a wonderfully crafted piece. Spare, elegant, softly ironic, and informed by a sensitive intelligence and a deep knowledge of the classical world. Levi is able to evoke not only the age of Alexander's Bactrian conquests but the beauties and complexities of Islamic architecture and poetry and the travails of learning Persian. His travel companion here was the young Bruce Chatwin, and Chatwin's presence (and his fascination with nomads) gives this book a wonderful set of stories. The Afghanistan of the book is long gone, shattered by twenty years of invasion, resistance, and civil war, and for anyone who loves Central Asia, "Light Garden" is a reminder of a long-vanished world. It's very different from Newby's "Short Walk in the Hindu Kush" or Byron's classic "Road to Oxiana", but it is a brilliant travel book in its own right. Very much worth owning!

4 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars long on archaeology and art history,, January 23, 2006

By 

another reader - See all my reviews

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This review is from: The Light Garden of the Angel King: Travels in Afghanistan with Bruce Chatwin (Pallas Guides) (Paperback)

short on good anecdotes and local color. and a rather dry style to boot. I love good travel writing and could not finish this book.