Two Arabic Travel Books

出版者:Library of Arabic Literature

作者:By Abu Zayd al-Sirafi

页数:328

译者:Abu Zayd al-Sirafi

出版时间:2014-12-8

价格:USD 35.00

装帧:Paperback

isbn号码:9781479803507

具体描述

Two Arabic Travel Books combines two exceptional exemplars of Arabic travel writing, penned in the same era but chronicling wildly divergent experiences. Accounts of China and India is a compilation of reports and anecdotes on the lands and peoples of the Indian Ocean, from the Somali headlands to China and Korea. The early centuries of the Abbasid era witnessed a substantial network of maritime trade—the real-life background to the Sindbad tales. In this account, we first travel east to discover a vivid human landscape, including descriptions of Chinese society and government, Hindu religious practices, and natural life from flying fish to Tibetan musk-deer and Sri Lankan gems. The juxtaposed accounts create a jigsaw picture of a world not unlike our own, a world on the road to globalization. In its ports, we find a priceless cargo of information; here are the first foreign descriptions of tea and porcelain, a panorama of unusual social practices, cannibal islands, and Indian holy men—a marvelous, mundane world, contained in the compass of a novella.

In Mission to the Volga, we move north on a diplomatic mission from Baghdad to the upper reaches of the Volga River in what is now central Russia. This colorful documentary by Ibn Fadlan relates the trials and tribulations of an embassy of diplomats and missionaries sent by caliph al-Muqtadir to deliver political and religious instruction to the recently-converted King of the Bulghars. During eleven months of grueling travel, Ibn Fadlan records the marvels he witnesses on his journey, including an aurora borealis and the white nights of the North. Crucially, he offers a description of the Viking Rus, including their customs, clothing, tattoos, and a striking account of a ship funeral. Mission to the Volga is also the earliest surviving instance of sustained first-person travel narrative in Arabic—a pioneering text of peerless historical and literary value.

Together, the stories in Two Arabic Travel Books illuminate a vibrant world of diversity during the heyday of the Abbasid empire, narrated with as much curiosity and zeal as they were perceived by their observant beholders.

作者简介

AUTHORS

Tim Mackintosh-Smith is a noted British travel author, best known for his trilogy on the renowned Moroccan world-traveler Ibn Bauah, which earned him a spot among Newsweek’s top twelve travel writers of the past hundred years. Since 1982, he has lived in Sanaa, Yemen.

All books by Tim Mackintosh-Smith

Abu Zayd al-Sirafi was a seafarer who moved from the Persian port-city of Siraf to Basra in 303 H/915-916 AD. He wrote the second half of Accounts of China and India, supplementing an earlier section written by an unknown mariner and merchant fifty years earlier.

All books by Abu Zayd al-Sirafi

James E. Montgomery, author of Al-Jahiz: In Praise of Books, is currently the Sir Thomas Adams’s Professor of Arabic at the University of Cambridge and Fellow of Trinity Hall.

All books by James Montgomery

Ibn Fadlan was a member of a diplomatic mission sent by the Abbasid caliph al-Muqtadir in 309-310 H/921-922 AD to the king of the Volga Bulghars. His is the only existing record of that mission.

All books by Ahmad Ibn Fadlan

用户评价

这本书的叙述腔调非常独特，夹杂着一种略带讽刺的幽默感，但这种幽默绝非肤浅的玩笑，而是源自对人性在陌生环境中的微妙反应的敏锐洞察。作者似乎有一种天赋，能将最严肃的文化冲突，用一种近乎顽皮的笔法呈现出来，让读者在发笑之余，进行更深层次的反思。我特别喜欢他描绘人物的手法，那些与他同行或偶遇的人，无论是挑夫、店主还是其他旅人，都被塑造得栩栩如生，仿佛他们就在我耳边低语。书中的某些段落读起来，我甚至能“听见”当地的背景音乐，那种沉浸感无与伦比。它更像是一部精妙的散文集，而不是一本标准的旅行文学，它挑战了我们对“异域”的刻板印象，用一种既疏离又热切的视角，重新定义了“在路上”的意义。

这是一本需要慢慢品味的“慢阅读”之作。它的体量不小，但每一章的结构都设计得极为精巧，像是一串串精心串联起来的珠子，主题虽然分散，但最终汇成了一条清晰的河流。我不得不佩服作者在历史背景和地理知识上的扎实功底，他总能在描述当下场景的同时，恰如其分地引入相关的历史典故或传说，让阅读的层次瞬间丰富起来。书中对于旅行中遇到的挑战和困境的坦诚描述，也让这本书显得格外真实可信，没有美化旅途的艰辛。例如，他对语言障碍、文化误解的描绘，都极其细腻和幽默，让人在会心一笑的同时，也学到了如何更具同理心地面对异域文化。对我这种偏爱深度文化探索的读者来说，这本书简直是宝藏，提供了太多值得我回去查阅和研究的引子。

这本书简直是探险家们的福音！我花了整整一周的时间沉浸其中，完全被作者那种深入骨髓的观察力和细腻的笔触所折服。它不像那种走马观花的旅游指南，而是真正带你走进那些被时间遗忘的角落，去感受风沙打在脸上的真实触感，去聆听古老市集里讨价还价的喧嚣。书中对地方风俗的描述极其到位，那种对当地人生活哲学的尊重和理解，让人读来倍感亲切。特别是关于那些隐秘的客栈和当地人烹饪的食物的描写，简直是味蕾的盛宴，让你恨不得立刻买张机票飞过去亲自品尝。作者的叙事节奏把握得极好，时而舒缓如同一杯慢煮的薄荷茶，时而又像沙漠中的一场突如其来的暴风雨，充满了张力和惊喜。我已经很久没有读到这样能让我完全抽离现实、全身心投入到文字构建的世界里的书籍了。那种追寻未知、拥抱不确定性的精神，透过每一页纸都散发出来，极大地激发了我下一次出走的渴望。

对于那些寻求精神慰藉和内心平静的读者来说，这本书绝对是上上之选。它不像其他探险故事那样充斥着肾上腺素飙升的刺激场面，而是聚焦于如何在陌生的环境中找到内在的锚点。作者的文字有一种奇特的治愈力，他笔下的沙漠、山脉或海洋，不再是需要被征服的对象，而是需要被尊重和理解的巨大生命体。他探讨了旅行的终极目的——或许并非到达某地，而是在过程中完成对自我的重新认识。书中的环境描写非常具有感官冲击力，比如对气味和声音的捕捉简直达到了极致，让人仿佛能透过纸张闻到香料的味道，感受到空气的湿度。我发现自己读完后，看待日常生活的眼光都变得更加细致和感激，这大概是最好的旅行文学能带给我们的馈赠：在远方寻找，最终发现一切都始于内心。

读完这本书，我最大的感受是，作者似乎是一位极度厌倦了浮华和标签的智者。他避开了所有旅游宣传册上的“必看景点”，转而专注于捕捉那些转瞬即逝的、真正构成旅行意义的瞬间。书中的文字功力非凡，常常用一种近乎诗意的语言来描绘寻常的景象，比如清晨第一缕阳光如何穿过狭窄的巷道，或者一个眼神交流中传递出的复杂情感。这种内省式的写作风格，让阅读变成了一种沉思的过程，而不是单纯的信息接收。我尤其欣赏作者对“等待”的描绘，在旅途中，等待常常是主要的活动，但作者却能从这种看似停滞的状态中提炼出深刻的哲学思考。这本书不是教你如何“高效”旅行，而是教你如何“有意义”地驻足和观察。它提醒我们，真正的风景往往隐藏在那些你本来打算略过的地方。