Eric Newby, One of the Last of the ‘Fearless English Gentlemen-Adventurers’
Travel Blog • Jim Benning • 10.30.06 | 1:26 PM ET
That’s how Pico Iyer recently described Newby, the author of “A Short Walk in the Hindu Kush,” who died earlier this month at the age of 86. Michael Shapiro recalled the author’s life in Sunday’s San Francisco Chronicle. In an e-mail, Iyer told Shapiro: “Newby was one of the last of that dazzling generation of fearless English gentlemen-adventurers distinguished by Norman Lewis, Wilfred Thesiger and Patrick Leigh Fermor, the kind who could toss off a walk across Afghanistan as easily as a journey to the corner shop and who in their travels remind us how small are the distances between Englishman and Bedouin. What made Newby so wonderful and distinctive was that he often seemed to be traveling in spite of himself, less professional explorer than professional Everyman.” Earlier this year, Shapiro sang the praises of Newby’s “A Short Walk in the Hindu Kush” for our list of the top 30 travel books of all time.
Related on World Hum:
* NPR Remembers Eric Newby
* Rory MacLean Remembers Eric Newby
* R.I.P. Eric Newby
Email to friend
Twitter
del.icio.us
Digg
Facebook
Furl
Ma.gnolia
Mixx
Reddit
StumbleUpon
Yahoo! Buzz
Jim Benning is the editor and co-founder of World Hum.
