The Journey of Anders Sparrman

by Per Wästberg, Tom Geddes (Translator)

A poetic, enthralling novel based on the life of one of the early botanist–explorers, Anders Sparrman. He sailed to the Antarctic with James Cook, explored the South African interior, and became a passionate abolitionist.

Genres: Historical Fiction, Fiction

352 pages, Hardcover

First published August 28, 2008

Reviews

[Val · Rating 4 out of 5]

Anders Erikson Sparrman was a Swedish naturalist, abolitionist and a favoured pupil of Carl Linnaeus. He went on voyages to China, South Africa and the South Pacific with Captain James Cook and others, and he described the flora, fauna and inhabitants he found there.
The author has written a biographical novel, partly using Sparrman's own writings and partly his own interpretation. He has done it very well, nothing jars or seems out of place or time and he brings us into Sparrman's view of the world. He describes Sparrman's upbringing and education, how he became an observer, collector and cataloguer of the natural world, his difficulties with funding, his friendships and enmities and his later life as a doctor in love. We get a complete picture of the man and his work.
His legacy as a naturalist has not been as great as it might have been, he was one among many of the time and he was slow to write up his findings. It is difficult to tell how much his advocacy led to Sweden giving up the slave trade (it was probably based more on economic and diplomatic pressure from Britain). He did however campaign successfully for improvements in social conditions for the poor of Stockholm.
The details of his love affair must be partly based on speculation, but it is nice to think he found happiness in both his work and private life after a frustrating time as a curator. I found the parts about his travels the most interesting, but the other aspects are all forms of journey as well.

[Nancy Oakes · Rating 4 out of 5]

like a 3.75 rating.

Well, actually, in spite of the 1- and 2-star ratings that were given by other Goodreads people, I really liked this book, and I liked it even better after having mulled it over in my head for a while after reading it. I do admit that reading it took a longer-than-normal amount of time, but I read it slowly and relied heavily on the words of the real Anders Sparrman to flesh out the story that the author was trying to tell.

My review is a bit lengthy, so I'll point you to the link where you can find it. I normally don't like to do this, but this time, I think, it's necessary. I found the book incredibly interesting, compelling, and although I wouldn't recommend it to the casual or mainstream reader, I would recommend it to readers of literary fiction.

Here's the link to my review .

[Andy Weston · Rating 4 out of 5]

An enjoyable tale - inevitably compared to a favorite naval book of mine "This Thing of Darkness".

As regards the journey I felt the novel didn't really get going - maybe due to it's style of tying to be a factual account. The last 80 pages or so are excellent, particularly the end of his life.

[Cooper Renner · Rating 4 out of 5]

In some ways the style is reminiscent of Guy Davenport's--not as laconic and non-linear, but lean and subtle. Sharp restraint which allows the emotional weight to come through in very small doses or to be provided by the reader's interaction. Quite an achievement.

[Philip · Rating 3 out of 5]

To say that The Journey of Anders Sparrman, by Per Wästberg is a tale of two halves would transcend cliché. Rarely will one encounter such an apparently complete transformation of a character mid-way through a story, and even more rarely will one encounter such a thoroughly credible transformation.
This is a story about a scientist, a botanist explorer of the eighteenth century. Anders Sparrman was Swedish and was raised in a straight-laced society. He studied with Linnaeus at a time when a thoroughly new notion of biological species was emerging from beneath the stone laid by the creationism of Christian doctrine. A sense of discovering empiricism pervades this story of a real historical figure. The result is neither biography nor fiction, whilst simultaneously combining elements of both. Events are drawn directly from Sparrman’s life, as recorded in his own journals, but dialogue and encounters between characters are created to embroider the backcloth of fact. This may sound like conventional historical fiction, but the sense of biography in this work is always strong enough to dominate.
Anders Sparrman’s story is told chronologically, a device that only magnifies the eventual transformation of his life. We follow him to sea as a young man. We accompany him on board Captain James Cooke’s voyages of so-called discovery. One feels that Sparrman’s work in natural history is where the real discoveries are taking place, whilst Cooke’s more grandiose and historically more consequential claims might just be a tad overstated. Throughout, Anders Sparrman comes across as a dedicated, perhaps rather staid, sober and conventional documenter of experience. His quest for truth seems nothing less than single-minded, perhaps myopic, and his thirst for detail sometimes seems to exclude any view of a bigger picture.
Back at home in Sweden, he moves from one apparently well done but unappreciated job to another. He takes over the management of an institution and attempts reform, and thus makes enemies and friends, as might be expected. As the years pass, his memories of and achievements within his years of seafaring and travel begin to fade.
But then he discovers sex. She is not particularly young, beautiful or desirable, apparently. Lotta and Anders, we are told, choose one another not because of their merits, their appearance or anything else we might usually associate with breeding partners. Rather, in their case, it was a mutual sense of desperation that brought them together. It is as if both of them clutched at and grasped an opportunity life had resolved to deny them. And then, without qualification, they took a firm grip on their opportunity and went for it.
Anders Sparrman seems suddenly reincarnated. At least his relation to biology is redrawn, since he suddenly transformed from observer to participant, from the narrow end of the microscope onto the slide, so to speak. A bland and probably predictable life suddenly blossoms by virtue of involvement, and simultaneously the empiricism that discovered becomes personal experience that feels and creates.
The Journey of Anders Sparrman, by Per Wästberg thus becomes a difficult kind of reading experience. Lulled into a sense of predictable safety by the devotion and dedication to its subject, we spend most of the book taking risks at sea and in far-off lands without sensing danger. And then, in the comfort of our own home, we are suddenly propelled into a vivid universe of emotional and sexual fulfilment that is as threatening as a warm hearth, but literally takes the breath away. The Journey of Anders Sparrman, by Per Wästberg is a remarkable experience, both as a book and a life.

[Margaret Crampton · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book caught my interest because Anders Sparrman from Sweden, was one of the early collectors of plants and animals in South Africa. I know of a genus of plants and a species of fish named after him. This biographical novel begins with his childhood as the son of a country parson and continues when he left home to study medicine and natural sciences at Uppsala University and he became a dedicated protege of the pioneering plant and animal taxonomists Carl Linnaeus. He joined Captain Cook As ships doctor and scientist on his voyage to the Antarctic and Pacific Islands. The book incorporates much of Sparrman's own poetic writing and provides fascinating insight into voyages of the times and descriptions of the sights, people, plants and animals that he encountered. His descriptions of his travels in South Africa and life at the Cape are vivid. It was here that he developed his abhorrence of slavery and became an active abolitionist. When he finally returned home to Sweden a love affair late in life dispelled his loneliness and he settled down with Lotta as a medical doctor to the poor. He was a humble man and has probably not been given the recognition he deserves for his considerable contribution to the understanding of the flora and fauna of South Africa. This book helps to fill this gap.

[Fiona · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5

[janis · Rating 3 out of 5]

author should have stopped after part 1 (4 stars, well-written, interesting). parts 2 and 3 were poorly written, long-winded, and repetitive (2 stars). in particular all the imagined dialogue between sparmann and lotta is pretentious and tedious.