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La vagabonde des mers
First published in English as Gypsy Afloat in 1942 (source: www.ellamaillart.ch).
Une petite annonce dans le "Times" : le patron d'une barge est à la recherche d'un mousse. Et voici Ella Maillart, celle que Paul Morand appelait la femme du monde, engagée sur le Volontee, entre la Tamise, les côtes françaises et les canaux hollandais.
Une petite annonce dans le "Times" : le patron d'une barge est à la recherche d'un mousse. Et voici Ella Maillart, celle que Paul Morand appelait la femme du monde, engagée sur le Volontee, entre la Tamise, les côtes françaises et les canaux hollandais.
417 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published January 1, 1942
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About the author
Ella Maillart
25 books43 followersElla 'Kini' Maillart (February 20, 1903 – March 27, 1997) was a French-speaking Swiss adventurer and travel writer, as well as a sportswoman. She had been captain of the Swiss Women's ice hockey team and was an international skier. She also competed in the 1924 Summer Olympics as sailor in the Olympic monotype competition.
From the 1930s onward she spent years exploring oriental republics of the USSR, as well as other parts of Asia, and published a rich series of books which, just as her photographs, are today considered valuable historical testimonies. Her early books were written in French but later she began to write in English. Turkestan Solo describes a journey in 1932 in Soviet Turkestan. In 1934, the French daily Le Petit Parisien sent her to Manchuria to report on the situation under the Japanese occupation. It was there that she met Peter Fleming, a well-known writer and correspondent of The Times, with whom she would team up to cross China from Peking to Srinagar (3,500 miles), much of the route being through hostile desert regions and steep Himalayan passes. The journey started in February 1935 and took seven months to complete, involving travel by train, on lorries, on foot, horse and camelback. Their objective was to ascertain what was happening in Sinkiang (then also known as Chinese Turkestan) where a civil war had been going on. Ella Maillart later recorded this trek in her book Forbidden Journey, while Peter Fleming's parallel account is found in his News from Tartary. In 1937 Ella Maillart returned to Asia for Le Petit Parisien to report on Afghanistan, Iran and Turkey, while in 1939 she undertook a trip from Geneva to Kabul by car, in the company of the Swiss writer, Annemarie Schwarzenbach. The Cruel Way is the title of Ella Maillart's book about this experience, cut short by the outbreak of the second World War.
She spent the war years in the South of India, learning from different teachers about Advaita Vedanta, one of the schools of Hindu philosophy. On her return to Switzerland in 1945, she lived in Geneva and at Chandolin, a mountain village in the Swiss Alps. She continued to ski until late in life and last returned to Tibet in 1986.
Ella Maillart's manuscripts and documents are kept at the Bibliothèque de Genève (Library of the City of Geneva), her photographic work is deposited at the Musée de l'Elysée in Lausanne, and her documentary films (on Afghanistan, Nepal and South India) are part of the collection of La Cinémathèque suisse in Lausanne, Switzerland.
From the 1930s onward she spent years exploring oriental republics of the USSR, as well as other parts of Asia, and published a rich series of books which, just as her photographs, are today considered valuable historical testimonies. Her early books were written in French but later she began to write in English. Turkestan Solo describes a journey in 1932 in Soviet Turkestan. In 1934, the French daily Le Petit Parisien sent her to Manchuria to report on the situation under the Japanese occupation. It was there that she met Peter Fleming, a well-known writer and correspondent of The Times, with whom she would team up to cross China from Peking to Srinagar (3,500 miles), much of the route being through hostile desert regions and steep Himalayan passes. The journey started in February 1935 and took seven months to complete, involving travel by train, on lorries, on foot, horse and camelback. Their objective was to ascertain what was happening in Sinkiang (then also known as Chinese Turkestan) where a civil war had been going on. Ella Maillart later recorded this trek in her book Forbidden Journey, while Peter Fleming's parallel account is found in his News from Tartary. In 1937 Ella Maillart returned to Asia for Le Petit Parisien to report on Afghanistan, Iran and Turkey, while in 1939 she undertook a trip from Geneva to Kabul by car, in the company of the Swiss writer, Annemarie Schwarzenbach. The Cruel Way is the title of Ella Maillart's book about this experience, cut short by the outbreak of the second World War.
She spent the war years in the South of India, learning from different teachers about Advaita Vedanta, one of the schools of Hindu philosophy. On her return to Switzerland in 1945, she lived in Geneva and at Chandolin, a mountain village in the Swiss Alps. She continued to ski until late in life and last returned to Tibet in 1986.
Ella Maillart's manuscripts and documents are kept at the Bibliothèque de Genève (Library of the City of Geneva), her photographic work is deposited at the Musée de l'Elysée in Lausanne, and her documentary films (on Afghanistan, Nepal and South India) are part of the collection of La Cinémathèque suisse in Lausanne, Switzerland.
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Displaying 1 of 1 review
March 2, 2016
This is not Ella Maillart's first book but details the early part of her life. Before she set out to explore the globe on land, Maillart worked as a language teacher in an English girls' school but longed to follow her passion of sailing. When she unexpectedly was offered a position as a cook and general help on a private yacht, she jumped at the opportunity. Of course, she didn't stay a cook and general assistant for long. She was an experienced sailor already and quickly became a vital member of the deck crew.
I enjoyed reading about Maillart's life before her travels to Asia, but a lot of the descriptions meant nothing to me as I have little knowledge about sailing.
It was great to read tho that for all her gumption and adventurous spirit, Maillart also describes her doubts about working in an environment in the 1920s that was almost exclusively staffed by men.
When reading about her later travels, it is quite easy to forget that what she set out to do really was extraordinary and it is just as easy to presume that she was so full of self-confidence that she did not even consider herself breaking any social norms.
This was not the case. Maillart was quite self-conscious in her youth, but her passion for living life to her own liking was stronger than any parental advice or social restrictions.
It was also refreshing to read about the acceptance she found among fellow sailors and fishermen during those early adventures.
I enjoyed reading about Maillart's life before her travels to Asia, but a lot of the descriptions meant nothing to me as I have little knowledge about sailing.
It was great to read tho that for all her gumption and adventurous spirit, Maillart also describes her doubts about working in an environment in the 1920s that was almost exclusively staffed by men.
When reading about her later travels, it is quite easy to forget that what she set out to do really was extraordinary and it is just as easy to presume that she was so full of self-confidence that she did not even consider herself breaking any social norms.
This was not the case. Maillart was quite self-conscious in her youth, but her passion for living life to her own liking was stronger than any parental advice or social restrictions.
It was also refreshing to read about the acceptance she found among fellow sailors and fishermen during those early adventures.
Displaying 1 of 1 review