Words of Mercury: Tales from a Lifetime of Travel

By Patrick Leigh Fermor and Rolf Potts

The “greatest travel writer of his generation” shares his worldwide adventures, including a walk from Holland to Constantinople (The Wall Street Journal).

The adventures of Patrick “Paddy” Leigh Fermor, Britain’s most beloved traveler, began in 1933, when he embarked on a walk from Holland to Constantinople—the entire length of Europe—at the tender age of eighteen. After that, he never stopped moving.

Words of Mercury collects pieces from every stage of Fermor’s life, from his journey through Eastern Europe just before the outbreak of the Second World War—described in gorgeous, meditative detail—to his encounter with voodoo in Haiti to his attempt to write a book sequestered in a monastic retreat in Normandy to his legendary wartime exploits, including kidnapping a German general. Ever the student, Fermor also wrote extensively on his encounters with polymaths, linguists, and artists all over the world.

Over the course of his illustrious lifetime, Fermor wrote several acclaimed travel books, countless essays, translations, and book reviews, many of which are compiled in this anthology. His unique experiences out in the world fed his insatiable curiosity and voracious appetite for scholarship, and his tales, composed in a singular, elegant style, have inspired generations of writers and continue to shape the language and sophisticated art of travel.

 

• Language: English
• Publisher: Open Road Integrated Media
• Release date: Jun 3, 2014
• ISBN: 9781629142807

Reviews for Words of Mercury

[isabelx_21 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

This book consists of extracts from Patrick Leigh Fermor's books along with book reviews, memoirs of old friends and other pieces of writing. I own copies of "A Time of Gifts" and "Between the Woods and the Water", but the passages taken from those books were worth re-reading and the rest of the the book was equally good. I wish he would finish writing up the final part of his epic 1930s journey from the Hook of Holland to Constantinople, but I'll keep an eye out for his other books anyway.In one of the book reviews the author says "A book like this should instruct, touch off new trains of thought, promote fruitful discord and, above all, send the reader back to the original" and I've definitely found that to be the case with his own books.

[pdcread · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Patrick Leigh Fermor is probably best known for the walk he undertook from the Hook of Holland to Constantinople in the early 1930’s. He was only 18 at the time of departure and the Europe that he saw and described was still as it had been for decades, as well as being of the cusp of dramatic change with the rise of the far right in Germany and other countries. He had a knack for languages and his infectious enthusiasm meant he could mix with the lowest peasant to the highest landowner all across Europe. He was active during the Second World War mostly in Crete and was the instigator behind a dramatic abduction of a German general. After the war, he moved to his beloved Greece settling in the Peloponnese region.

This book is a lovely collection of articles grouped into various sections, travels, Greece, people books and the wonderfully titled flotsam. Some are drawn from his earlier books and others are articles that have appeared in various magazines and newspapers. The subjects are diverse, varying from bicycle polo to Gluttony, Bryon to Andalucía and are written in his indomitable style. Whilst I have read a number of the pieces before, there are several that I haven’t. Most of the articles are really good, not all of them are. It would be a good introduction to one of my favourite writers for those that are interested.