The Road to OxianaIn 1933 the delightfully eccentric Robert Byron set out on a journey through the Middle East via Beirut, Jerusalem, Baghdad, and Teheran to Oxiana-the country of the Oxus, the ancient name for the river Amu Darya which forms part of the border between Afghanistan and the Soviet Union. His arrival at his destination, the legendary tower of Qabus, although a wonder in itself, is not nearly so amazing as the thoroughly captivating, at times zany, record of his adventures. His story would become a best-selling travel book throughout the English-speaking world. When Paul Fussell published his own book Abroad, in 1982, he wrote that The Road to Oxiana is to the travel book what "Ulysses is to the novel between the wars, and what The Waste Land is to poetry." His statements revived the public's interest in the book, and for the first time, it was widely available in American bookstores. Now this long-overdue reprint will introduce Byron's classic to a whole new generation of readers, at a time when interest in the Middle East has never been greater. Book jacket. |
Contents
Introduction by Bruce Chatwin | 17 |
CYPRUS | 23 |
SS Martha Washington | 29 |
Copyright | |
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Abbas Afghan Afghanistan afternoon Ali Asgar Andkhoi Arab arch architecture arrived Asgar asked Babur Balkh bazaar beard beautiful blue brick buildings built carved century Christopher cliff colour dome English feet Firuzabad flowers four Friday Mosque frontier garden Gohar Shad Governor green grey Gumbad-i-Kabus Haibak Herat Herzfeld horses India inscription inside Isfahan Jews journey Kabul Kala Nao Karokh King Kufic Kunduz looked lorry luggage Mahmud Maimena Marjoribanks mausoleum Mazar Mazar-i-Sherif Meshed miles minarets Mohammad Mohammad Gul Mohammadan morning mosque mountains mullahs Murghab night Oxiana Oxus pass Persepolis Persian photographs plain police river road round ruins Russian Samnan Sasanian Seyid Jemal Shah Rukh Shahrud Shir Ahmad Shiraz shrine side stands stone stopped tall Teheran tell Timurid tomb took tower town travellers trees turban Turcomans Turkestan Ulugh Beg village vurry walked walls yellow