Customer Reviews

Travels in Persia, 1673-1677

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I cannot personally say that this has been one of my favorite books to read, but it was nonetheless informative and even interesting in some parts.

However, for the most part, it was borderline painful. Although I admire Chardin's dedication to recording and learning so much information about the Persian society, writing was simply not his strong suit--though I do give him some benefit of the doubt considering this text was translated. Still, in several instances, it seemed that he could not make up his mind about the Persians; that is, in regards to how he felt about them. One second he revered them tirelessly, and another... well, let's just say it's been a while since I've heard--or to be more precise, read--so much trash talk about a culture. With that alone, it's shocking to discover that this book is "widely regarded as one of the great classics of travel and exploration."

All in all, although this text is centuries old, I would have enjoyed it a lot more had he hired a better editor (if he ever did, that is, because my goodness, was he repetitive and long-winded!) and remained at least a bit more impartial to the information he was providing.

As for the printing... by far the worst I've ever encountered in a book. The inner margins of the text are too close to the spine of the book, reading the ends of lines practically required an act of congress... that, or two very heavy objects to keep it as open as possible.

Chances are, the only reason you will ever read this book is for school (as was my case), or because your job requires it for some reason or another. If anything good comes out of reading this book, it's that it is the ultimate cure for insomnia.

John (Jean-Baptiste) Chardin was a French jeweler and merchant who traveled extensively in the Middle East on business in the 17th century. This is one volume of his larger 10-volume work called "The Travels of John Chardin" (in its English version), which is considered one of the outstanding works of contemporaneous scholarship in the region.

"Travels in Persia" is written in the language of the time, which may read oddly to a modern ear. Spelling also reflects the idiosyncracies of the age in which it was translated. But the content itself is amazing. Chardin writes of his experiences, ranging from visits to the Persia Court, to his experiences on the street. This is social history and cultural anthropology/ethnography at its best: written by a European who describes all that he finds fascinating and noteworthy in a foreign country. We get to see Persia not in an objective manner at a remove, but through the lens of a European whose cultural sensibilities are likely much closer to those of a modern reader, than are the mores of the society he describes. If you have ever wished for a time machine so you could hop in and go visit someplace exotic, this book can take you on a fabulous journey to Persia in the mid-1600s. This is what another part of the world was doing while London was still rebuilding from The Great Fire of 1666, and America consisted of only 10 colonies with less than 150,000 people living in them.