Eothen

Eothen (1844) is the first book by the English writer and historian A. W. Kinglake (1809–1891), and is regarded by later generations as one of the foundational works of travel literature. The title "Eothen" comes from Greek and means "from the east" or "in the east." In the autumn of 1834, Kinglake, recently graduated from Trinity College, Cambridge, and preparing to enter the legal profession, set out with his friend Savile, traveling through Berlin, Prague, and Vienna to Semlin, crossing the Sava River into Ottoman Belgrade, and thereby entering "the East." After reaching Smyrna, Savile was recalled by his family, and Kinglake continued alone with a guide and an interpreter: by boat to Cyprus and Beirut, through the Holy Land of Jerusalem, Galilee, the Dead Sea, and the Jordan River, then on to Cairo and Suez, finally back to Damascus, and home by way of the mountain passes of Lebanon. The book deliberately avoids geography, history, politics, and statistics, and refuses to adopt an authoritative posture; instead, in a tone almost like confiding in a friend, it records observations, people, jokes, and states of mind along the way, turning a journey into a form of self-observation. Its depictions of the Turkish border, Constantinople, the site of Troy, plague-stricken Cairo, the pyramids, and the Sphinx are known for their ironic humor and distinctive personal voice, and it is regarded as the first travel book truly possessed of the "modern spirit." The Chinese translation is by Huang Fangtian, in the People's Literature Publishing House's "Traveler's Library" series.