Journeys on the Silk Road: A Desert Explorer, Buddha's Secret Library, and the Unearthing of the World's Oldest Printed Book by Joyce Morgan & Conrad Walters

Abstract

Reflections and Retrospectives: African Literature Today 30 Ernest N. Emenyonu, ed. James Curry Guest editor Chimalum Nwankwo gathers a wealth of engaging articles about the most influential and accomplished African writers of the twentieth century in this latest issue of African Literature Today. The contributors wrangle with the fundamental question: “How does the artist or writer help the human condition positively?” Prajwal Parajuly The Gurkha’s Daughter: Stories Quercus Wrapped in a stunning book jacket, this short-story anthology describes the turbulent, dramatic, and evocative experiences of a people unified by their culture but set apart by diaspora. Featuring a variety of settings and characters, Prajwal Parajuly paints a vividly colorful and sensual portrayal of Nepalese society. Nota Bene a grander and more tragic scale than he could possibly have imagined. The narrative is divided into a series of very short sections, some no longer than a paragraph. Many of the earlier sections directly and simply recount the author’s reactions during and immediately after the initial 7.3 magnitude tremor: he was seated at a restaurant when he “heard a terrible explosion”; he ran outside, where “the earth started shaking like a sheet of paper whipped by the wind.” Like others who had been lucky enough to make it outside, he could only watch while buildings collapsed , crushing their occupants. Later sections chronicle his attempts to reach friends and family members during the first days of shock and relative isolation. As a Canadian national, Laferrière had the opportunity to leave Haiti, but he soon returned. He decided early on that he would write about the earthquake, which leads to sections devoted to whether a work of fiction is appropriate for a disaster of such a magnitude. In one such section, Laferrière’s nephew, who has literary ambitions of his own, asks him not to write a novel about the earthquake. Not surprisingly, the importance of the disaster for the already impoverished population is often stressed: “We say January 12 here the way they say September 11 in other places.” Laferrière offers thoughts on Haiti’s immediate reconstruction and long-term future while reminding readers of the country’s sometimes glorious, often tortured past. The author also wonders how the disaster will affect the Haitian nation’s artistic traditions: “What art forms will be the first to come forward after the earthquake?” (see WLT, Jan. 2013, 26–28). However, these thoughts and questions lead to few insights and fewer answers. Laferrière’s tone is generally matterof -fact, and he sometimes appears to be a somewhat detached (though painstakingly detailed) observer. He certainly avoided the sentimental traps of either wallowing in misery or producing a paean to the indomitable human spirit in the face of disaster. An eyewitness to an extraordinary event, he has written a fairly ordinary book. Perhaps this was the only possible short-term literary response. Edward Ousselin Western Washington University Joyce Morgan & Conrad Walters. Journeys on the Silk Road: A Desert Explorer, Buddha’s Secret Library, and the Unearthing of the World’s Oldest Printed Book. Guilford, Conn. Globe Pequot / Lyons Press. 2012. isbn 9780762782970 The first impression the reader takes away from this tale of the recovery and preservation of the world’s oldest known printed book—a woodcut copy of the Buddhist text of the Diamond Sutra dating from 868 CE—is one of the exhaustive and exhausting research that must have gone into its making. The extent of this work, which began in earnest in 2005 but was inspired much earlier, is recognized in the book’s acknowledgments section as well as its scholarly apparatus : endnotes, select bibliography, and an enormously helpful index. But it’s also revealed in every chapter and in may– june 2013 • 75 reviews the minute details out of which this story is built, right down to the history of its central character’s “dynasty” of fox terriers, all named Dash. The book traces the adventures of the intrepid explorer and archaeologist Aurel Stein who, without knowing what he had, in the early twentieth century retrieved the Diamond Sutra from one of the Caves of the Thousand Buddhas, where it had resided for more than a...