In Xanadu [Paperback]

William Dalrymple (Author)

Book Description

Series: Flamingo | Publication Date: 1999

One of the most successful, influential and acclaimed travel books of recent years. At the age of twenty-two, William Dalrymple left his college in Cambridge to travel to the ruins of Kublai Khan's stately pleasure dome in Xanadu. This is an account of a quest which took him and his companions across the width of Asia, along dusty, forgotten roads, through villages and cities full of unexpected hospitality and wildly improbable escapades, to Coleridge's Xanadu itself. At once funny and knowledgeable, In Xanadu is in the finest tradition of British travel writing. Told with an exhilarating blend of eloquence, wit, poetry and delight, it is already established as a classic of its kind.

Editorial Reviews

Review

'Brilliant' Spectator 'Glorious' Patrick Leigh Fermor 'Dalrymple is probably the best travel writer of his generation' Daily Mail 'The future of travel writing lies in the hands of gifted authors like Dalrymple' Sara Wheeler, Independent

From the Publisher

'William Dalrymple has written a delightful book of travels ... a brilliant debut.' - PHILIP GLAZEBROOK, Spectator

'A splendid piece of British eccentricity with all manner of echoes: Freya Stark, Peter Fleming, Robert Byron ... Dalrymple is plainly either brilliant, or bonkers, or both.' - ALAN FRANKS, The Times

'In Xanadu is so uncommonly satisfying because of the rare skill with which William Dalrymple blends his ingredients: history, danger, humour, architecture, people, hardship, politics.' - DERVLA MURPHY, Literary Review

'Superb ... The vivid, engaging, and often hilarious account of an amazing 12,000-mile quest, His marvellous book - rich with the sights, smells, history and feel of Asia - will become a classic.' - Sunday Express

'This is travel writing in the grand tradition, with a true whiff of high adventure. Dalrymple recounts his saga with a fine mixture of humour and erudition, and with the exuberance of youth.' - Evening Standard

'Bright, sharp, laconic and outrageous, his is an adventurous account of hippies and mad mullahs, mosques and sacred tombs, dangers and celebrations, Dionysian rituals and rich discoveries. It is full of life and very funny.' - Sunday Times, Books of the Year

'Outstanding ... William Dalrymple is a natural writer. His models are, perhaps, Peter Fleming and Evelyn Waugh rather than more serious travellers, but he's a better scholar than either. Best of all, he has the gift of comedy ... In Xanadu marks the arrival of a new star.' - Sydney Morning Herald

'In Xanadu leavens adventure story and scholarly history with farcical dialogue and high-spirited buffoonery. It's a fast, furious, funny read ... clearly the stuff bestsellers are made of.' - SUNIL SETHI, Times of India

'Rarely does one review a book which so obviously marks the start of a splendid career. Brave and exultant, rich in esoteric knowledge and a sense of the ridiculous ... it is my guess that William Dalrymple will become one of the great English travel writers.' - Eastern Daily Press

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Product Details

• Paperback: 320 pages
• Publisher: Flamingo (1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0006544150
• ISBN-13: 978-0006544159
• Product Dimensions: 7.7 x 4.9 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8.5 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #102,946 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #2 in Books > Travel > Asia > Mongolia
  • #55 in Books > Travel > Middle East

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Jerusalem to Xanadu on $1100, October 10, 2004

By 

E. A. Lovitt "starmoth" (Gladwin, MI USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: In Xanadu (Paperback)

William Dalrymple travelled 12,000 miles overland from Jerusalem to Xanadu in order to retrace the journey of Marco Polo, and I think the Venetian probably had the easier trip--- in 1271 Marco Polo didn't have to smuggle himself along the Silk Route by burrowing into the back of a coal truck.

The author calls his journey a `quest' rather than a `vacation,' since it involved not only a goal, but also a great deal of hardship and suffering. However "In Xanadu" is an excellent book to take on vacation. It is a lucid and sometimes hilarious account of a very low-budget journey through Asia ($1100 financed the entire trip through Israel, Cyprus, Turkey, Syria, Iran, Pakistan, and the breadth of China.) And best of all, no matter how badly your own vacation turns out, you can always pick this book up and find Dalrymple in a more miserable spot than you are.

There is also beauty and moments of scholarly excitement when the author identifies some feature of the landscape with a passage from Marco Polo's journal. I particularly liked his description of a nocturnal train trip through Turkey. He sees dry flatlands transformed into lush pasturage and wonders at the source of water. Then the train comes upon a river, and Dalrymple unfolds his map:

"Its Turkish name, the Firat Nehri, meant nothing to me. Only when I followed the thin blue line down through Syria and out towards Baghdad, did I see the river's more familiar name --- the Euphrates....Is there another river which carries with it so many associations?...The river which ran through the Garden of Eden, one of the five rivers of the Apocalypse! Following its course on the map, its banks are littered with the names of the ancient cities it once gave life to: Mari, Nippur, Uruk, Larsa, Erdu, Kish."

The above paragraph is a rare flight of fancy for Dalrymple. His normal style is less flamboyant, laced with dry British humor where he tends to be the butt of his own jokes. Sometimes the reader is left to discover the humor of the situation through one of his dialogues. Here Dalrymple is in Kashgar, a Chinese city populated by the Muslim Uigurs. He is trying to explain through an interpreter, the lifestyle of the British `Chairman' Elizabeth II to an old mullah:

"Salindi [the interpreter] frowned. `He wants to know how many sheep, donkeys and camels your chairman owns.'

"'Tell him she owns no camels, but has very many horses and a great number of corgi dogs.'

"The information was passed on. The old man nodded his head as he listened.

"'Sir, this man is now asking about the dog which is called `khor-qi. He asks whether these `khor-qi' are good to eat.'

"'Tell the old man that they are delicious.'"

"In Xanadu" is travel writing in the grandly eccentric British tradition: a horrid climate and high adventure, laced throughout with dry wit. Be sure to get a copy for your next vacation. I'm going to loan mine to a friend who thinks she wants to visit Iran and Afghanistan (last year she trekked through Outer Mongolia). Either "In Xanadu" will dissuade her from her planned adventure, or else she is as bonkers as Dalrymple.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars In Xanadu, August 21, 2003

By 

Hortensia "Sunshine" (California) - See all my reviews

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This review is from: In Xanadu (Paperback)

I enjoyed the reviews of this book, pretty funyy. This is a pretty good travel book; I like travel writing and have read a lot of it. Dalrymple's work is as good as anyone else. In addition to this, I recommend Caroline Alexander's "The Way to Xanadu." Dalrymple follows Marco Polor to Xanadu; Alexander follows Coleridge. Both end up at the same place, but follow very different routes to get there. Dalrymple follows Marco Polo's route along the silk road and he shares some pretty interesting history of all the places he visits. Alexander visits the places mentioned in Coleridge's diary in the period just before he wrote the fragment of a poem about Xanadu, which leads her to a variety of places including Florida, amazingly enough.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars An Amazing First Book, April 4, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: In Xanadu (Paperback)

Erudite,funny, exciting, and amazing in its author's breadth of knowledge - especially considering his youth. Much enhanced by the attitudes of his female co-adventurers.