The Asiatics: A Novel (Paperback)

by Frederic Prokosch (Author), Pico Iyer (Introduction)

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Prokosch has invented what might be called the geographical novel, in which he mingles sensuality with irony, lucidity with mystery. He conveys a fatalistic sense of life half hidden beneath a rich animal energy. He is a master of moods and undertones, a virtuoso in the feeling of place, and he writes in a style of supple elegance." --Albert Camus"The Asiatics is original in its conception, beautiful in its execution. It belongs with the most notable modern American books. " --Carl Van Doren

Product Description
André Gide praised The Asiatics as "an authentic masterpiece"; Thomas Mann called it "brilliant." First published in 1935 and virtually unavailable for years, this extraordinary novel tells the story of a young American--the unnamed narrator--who hitchhikes his way across Asia, from Beirut to China, living off the land and depending on the hospitality of the people he meets along the road. As Pico Iyer writes in the introduction, "[Prokosch] catches the peculiar logic that makes travel a land of alternative reality, a foreign state in itself that is an intoxication."


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Product Details

• Paperback: 384 pages
• Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux (January 26, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0374529248
• ISBN-13: 978-0374529246
• Product Dimensions: 8.2 x 5.4 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #369,739 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

28 of 30 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A beautiful work of the imagination, March 15, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: The Asiatics: A Novel (Paperback)

Frederic Prokosch wrote this imaginary journey from Lebanon across Asia to Hanoi in 1931 before he ever set foot in Asia. In the novel, the narrator, a young American, travels in catch-as-catch-can manner across the exotic continent. The landscape descriptions are extraordinary. Everywhere he meets with adventure and exotic characters who lament the end of Asia as they know it (this in 1931!). The novel was a bestseller in 1934. I nominate it as the greatest forgotten novel of the 20th Century.

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The authentic aura of the lands east of the Mediterranean., August 8, 2007

By	Theodore Oberlander "geo guy" (Orinda, CA USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

The negative (one star) review is far off the mark, and is as accurate as the incorrect title, "The Asians". I read this book while I was living IN Iran in 1962, after a lengthy stay in Beirut, driving a used VW across through Syria and Turkey, and working back, a year later, through Iraq, Jordan, and Syria, always utilizing the most basic of accomodations, including the dirt floors of rodent- and gecko-infested hovels. I felt that "The Asiatics" caught the atmosphere of the Middle East and its peoples wonderfully well, as did another superb book by Prokosch, "Nine Days to Mukalla." This is very hard to do if one has not spent time there and lived with the people, and I don't mean in a hotel, consulate, or embassy. I have read many books about the Middle East, and this is one of the few that ring true. For example, Michener's "Caravans"--perhaps the only book many will have read on the Middle East--has not one scintilla of authenticity. In my opinion travel writers like Bruce Chatwin and Paul Theroux fade into insignificance when compared with Prokosch. The negative reviewer has some axe to grind. Maybe he feels that Prokosch insulted his Asian (I'd guess Iranian) ancestors. My old paperback copy of "The Asiatics" (1960 Signet edition) is falling apart, and I have been hoping for a reissue of this work, so rightly praised by people infinitely more distinguished than that dispeptic reviewer. In my home "The Asiatics" is on a shelf between "Madam Bovary" and "Lord Jim"--right there with the classics.

6 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Powerful writing, powerful images, May 29, 2006

By	Narizdura La Carretera (El Lay, USA) - See all my reviews

I had to go to Asia after reading this novel about a young European's journey overland to Asia in the 1930s. It's all the more remarkable considering the author himself never travelled outside Europe and America. I haven't read the new edition with Pico Ayer's foreword but Pico's no slouch as a writer himself, should be worth reading.