Book Reviews·Book Review｜The Innocents Abroad👉Traveling through Europe and Asia with Mark Twain

The history of travel guides in the West is introduced in the travel history "Old School Travel Essentials: The History of Western Travel Guides " 🏷️ by @蔡凯斯. I like this article very much. At the same time, it also reminds me of a travel diary I treasure - Mark "The Innocents Abroad" by Twain. I bought this book in a second-hand bookstore in Israel. The condition of the book is very old and it is a paperback version. See below👇 But I still couldn’t put it down. I even took this book with me to many places in Europe and followed Mark Tu. Traveling around Europe.

This book was published shortly after the Cook's Travel Book mentioned in the article " The History of Western Travel Guides" - in 1869. Although it is twenty years later, in the long history of history, it seems to be at the same time. . The copy I have is a 1980 paperback reprint, so old. This book is a record of Mark Twain's travels from the United States to Europe, and then from Europe to the Middle East and other places. I grew up reading Mark Twain's Tom Sawyer and Finn, and I like him very much, but it was from this book "The Innocents Abroad" that I really got to know his humorous writing.

First of all, the title of the book is very interesting - "Innocents Abroad", those innocent people traveling abroad? Ha ha. Secondly, every step he takes has very cute and funny subtitles. For example: after spending July 4th in the Mediterranean, he wrote two subtitles, one is "Get used to it quickly" and the other is "No soap." !", watching the beautiful scenery on the sea, and not forgetting to laugh at other people's English accents 👉 "It's gorgis, ain't it?" The road from France to Italy was even more interesting. After leaving Florence, the next step was One chapter is titled "Dante and Galileo", and the next chapter is titled "An Ungrateful City", which makes readers want to open it to see which city it is.

There is also the price of the Sheik from long ago in the upper right corner.

Mark Twain and his party traveled from Italy to Greece, heading straight to the Middle East and to the Holy City of Jerusalem. Along the way, Mark Twain made detailed records of the local customs and customs. He was humorous and his English accent alone caused a lot of trouble. joke. The title of one chapter is "Do You Was Zo Haut Can Be?" I pondered for a long time what it meant. In the end, I had to read Mark Twain's explanation. It turned out that the tour guide who spoke broken English asked "Do you want to go up there?" ?" I feel sorry for these Americans.

The theme of this book is a pilgrimage to the Holy City, and the book became the best-selling travel manual during Mark Twain's lifetime. No wonder, when I saw the subtitle of Mark Twain, I wanted to walk along the path he walked and laugh too. 😄

Mark Twain's travels in Germany and other places are included in another travel book - "A Tramp Abroad" (also a funny and strange title). This book is also divided into several volumes, with very interesting illustrations. It mainly talks about Mark Twain and his party's travels in Germany, including interesting German duels, the famous Heidelberg Castle, and of course, the famous "The Awful German Language", a long article complaining about the difficulty, complexity and long vocabulary of German👇

Book covers of two books, I like the old edition.

I bought the German version of this book at Heidelberg Castle. At that time, I really felt like I had met Mark Twain in the castle. Holding the book, I had a feeling of traveling through time and space.

Nowadays, few people travel with Lonely Planet in their hands. Ten years ago, we often saw people holding that book in China. Later, it became less and less. It is because of the popularization of mobile phones and GPS, and it is now possible to travel to China. There are fewer and fewer...

Of course, compared to Cook's manual, which can accurately indicate the time and price required, Mark Twain's "travel guide" is different. It does not have these practical tips, and it feels more like readers who like him , It would be great if future generations could enjoy the words left by Mark Twain during his local travels.

Interestingly, Mark Twain and his friends were also considered a middle class with a relatively good economy. They spent up to five months sailing to Europe and then embarked on a pilgrimage all the way to Jerusalem, which was quite popular. I like to read the travel notes of people at that time, including ancient Chinese literati who traveled around the mountains and rivers and wrote poems, as well as Gide's anthology of travels to the Soviet Union, etc. Each travel note contains the author's feelings about the place he visited. The contrast between longing and reality, as well as disappointment, is a different experience from turning on the GPS to drive somewhere and look at the scenery in modern times.

I am also among those "Innocents".

[911 happened again, and many moments in history have become scars on the earth. 】

Finally, thank you to "Suffix", thank you to 🙏 @Jeger @Joanna and @JohnShao❤️