Allegorizings - Jan Morris

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Résumé :

Not?so?long?ago, feeling intimations of mortality, Jan Morris embarked on a?wholly?novel literary enterprise. What began as a series of high-minded letters to her late daughter-in the style of Lord Chesterfield addressing his son-quickly transformed?itself into?a potpourri?of mini-essays and?vibrant?reminiscences, organized around experiences both majestic and mundane, from traveling the world with her lifelong partner, Elizabeth, to sneezing and kissing and simply growing old.??

So?Allegorizings?came to be, and so Morris decided that it should only be published upon her death,?not because she had anything to hide but,?merely, in parting.?Featuring essays?largely?written?in the early twenty-first century,?Allegorizings?reflects, above all,?Morris's steadfast conviction that nothing is only what it?seems. In?fact,?she observes,?everything is allegory.?Indeed, in Morris's telling, even life-the whole conundrum of existence-is one long, majestically impenetrable allegory.??

Taking us from?the?separatist?hippie?colony?of?Bolinas,?California,?to her home country of Wales,?and?introducing us?to Nepalese Sherpas?and?elderly?cruise-goers alike,?Morris follows the throughline of allegory throughout her works.?In one essay, she lambasts the joylessness?of maturity (Maturity! Did ever a heart thrill to the sound of it, still less the meaning?) and?in another,?decries the nonsense of nationality.?With?characteristic?verve,?she?offers?odes to whistling and cursing,?cats,?and exclamation points.??Morris's?travels anchor the collection, as she?revisits the iconic?settings of her?previous?works. We join?her?aboard the?storied?Orient Express, as well as tube?trains passing through the purlieus of?London. So?too, we hike the foothills of the Himalayas-where Morris?burst onto scene?with her on-the-spot reportage of?the first ascent of Everest-and reflect on the picaresque allure of Tournus, a dichotomized town in France where?one France, bearing all the vestiges of privilege, seems to kiss another.??

Intimate and luminously wise,?Allegorizings?is?as much a?testament to the virtues of embracing life?as it is a testament to its?charming,?indignant,?and?ever-surprising?author.?In her final work,?Morris's writing is as?erudite?as ever,?conveying?a?generosity of spirit?flavored by well-earned crankiness (Vox).?Though?newly?bereft of her company, readers will be reminded what a good, wise, and witty companion (Alexander McCall Smith) Morris has been to so many, for so long.??