Traveler of the Century in Around the World in 80 Books

Aug 13, 2012 Sam rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: 2-translated, 1-contemp-literary, read-2012, reviewed

When you open up Traveler of the Century, you are introduced to the city of Wandernburg through the eyes of the protagonist, Hans. It’s a strange city, and we are told that it seems to shift around each time Hans explores the city. Even though he only meant to stop briefly before moving on to his destination, Hans feels a strange pull to put off his departure continuously. During this time, he gets acquainted with the denizens of Wandernburg. My favorite of these is the organ grinder, whom I ado When you open up Traveler of the Century, you are introduced to the city of Wandernburg through the eyes of the protagonist, Hans. It’s a strange city, and we are told that it seems to shift around each time Hans explores the city. Even though he only meant to stop briefly before moving on to his destination, Hans feels a strange pull to put off his departure continuously. During this time, he gets acquainted with the denizens of Wandernburg. My favorite of these is the organ grinder, whom I adored. To most Wandernburgers, he’s just another indigent man playing music in the market square for a few coins each day. But Hans is fascinated and charmed by the organ grinder, who lives in a cave with his equally charming dog, Franz. The whimsical feel of the novel comes largely through Hans’ interactions with this man, who loves to hear about his friends’ dreams, listen to the wind, and lives for playing his organ. There’s obviously more to him than meets the eye; he seems simple, but is capable of getting to the heart of things in a way that would impress even the best poets and philosophers. One of my favorite quotes is from the organ grinder: "with each sound we make, we are giving back to the air everything that it gives us. Music is always there...music plays itself and instruments try to attract it, to coax it down to earth” (p.156 US, p.176 British). The two men also parry back and forth on ideas of rootedness versus being on the go—obviously a major theme—as the organ grinder sees the virtues of staying in one place, while Hans insists that traveling is the only way to get to know oneself.

Early on, Hans also meets Herr Gottlieb, the head of a “good” family that’s seen wealthier days, and his daughter Sophie, who charms Hans from the start. It is through his acquaintance with the Gottliebs that Hans begins to participate in weekly salons that Sophie hosts. These salon sessions, attended by a handful of other Wandernburgers, serve as a platform for the characters to discuss and debate on a whole host of topics: republicanism, nation building, aesthetics, art and who determines what ‘good’ art is, religion, a nation’s identity and sensibility, and women’s rights. In addition to these salon discussions, woven throughout the book are passages that capture the plight of workers, especially seen through the eyes of two secondary characters: a textile factory worker and a farm laborer. As you can tell, this is an ideas book, not an action-packed, plot-driven one, although there’s a slight mystery running through the book about a creepy man who attacks women at night. Oh, and it’s also a love story, but even here, it’s intertwined with ideas about translation. At one point, Hans wonders if in translating poetry, an certain essence is loss, and I found apt his comparison of this to love. The last pages of section two are another favorite of mine, so well did they capture the dizzying effects of love.

The book has been billed as harking back to the 19th century novel, but what’s striking is that Neuman adds another dimension to it, which I found interesting. Here, his characters seem like real people: they smell; they sweat; they have body hair and ugly feet; and they have messy sex. Neuman talks some about this in one of his interviews (in Granta, I think).

The best way to enjoy this book is to do so slowly. At least in my case, I couldn’t power through it and be monogamous in my reading. Every once in a while, I’d start to get a bit of philosophy-musings-fatigue. So I’d read until the point where I found myself groaning, “No, not another salon discussion on Kant!” That was my signal to take a break and read something else. Then I’d dip back into Traveler on another day and be absorbed in it once again.

This is not a perfect book, and it is not a book for everyone, but I liked coming across language that was poetic and imagery that was beautiful, which I don’t imagine is an easy feat to achieve in translated works. What was also engaging was how a lot of the issues that are teased out in the book—in the salons and beyond—are issues that we grapple with today, reminding us that while some things have changed, so much has not.
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