I had been at a public bookcase again when I saw the book "The Joy of Vastness" by Achill Moser [1]. And it was even still shrink-wrapped. It's a description of deserts, or rather, travelogues, which naturally piqued my interest. At home, I removed the plastic cover [2]. Then I read in the blurb that Achill Moser is the same age as me and had studied anthropology, African studies, and Arabic, among other things. He had worked for STERN and Geo magazines. Interestingly, my friend Charles, with whom I often traveled, had also worked for STERN. He, too, was frequently sent by STERN to report on deserts, as he had always had a passion for them. However, the two of them never worked together. I noticed that the pages in the middle section were different, printed on glossy paper. There are some truly beautiful photos there.
But then... But then I had to leaf through it and my attention was drawn to page 109, specifically the heading: From Timbuktu to the Land of the Dogon / Southern Sahara ~ Mali ~ 1980. I'm had been working on my own trip through Mali (2007), when I've written this text in German two years ago, and had already written about the trip several times. And I, too, traveled from Timbuktu to the Land of the Dogon. The first thing I saw was a quote from René Caillié [3], specifically from his trip to Timbuktu. I continued reading and was struck by the sentence: "I'll stay in Timbuktu for a week, then I'll travel down the Niger River in a dugout canoe, the traditional Malian vessel." We traveled in a similar way, except that we took a ferry from Korioumé, a small port, and then drove down the Niger River in a four-wheel-drive vehicle to Gourma-Rharous [4]. In the next paragraph, I read, “I want to go to Mopti, an important trading post on the third largest river in Africa…”. But Mopti is upstream, because that’s where we came to Timbuktu from in a pinnace. I had just been writing about time, not as a ray but as an area, and I had the image of Lake Débo in mind [5]. He was probably just mistaken about the direction 25 years after the journey; but such things need to be verified.
Will I still be able to read the book without any worries? Certainly, if I let some time pass, and perhaps I’ll write about it again then [6].
Links and Annotations:
[1] Achill Moser: The Joy of Vastness. Five Years in the Deserts of the World. Hoffmann and Campe, Hamburg 2009. ISBN: 978-3-455-50105-3.
[Achill Moser: Das Glück der Weite. Fünf Jahre in den Wüsten der Welt. Hoffmann Und Campe, Hamburg 2009. ISBN: 978-3-455-50105-3.]
[2] This is always an absurd undertaking, and it gets on my nerves, not only with books but also with DVD or CD covers.
[3] We also saw the house where René Caillié lived and the one where Heinrich Barth (Abd El Karim) lived when we took a tour with Salam Ould Elhadj, a local historian.
https://rheumatologe.blogspot.com/2023/11/travelogue-mali-2007-no-8-timbuktu.html
[4] https://rheumatologe.blogspot.com/2023/11/travelogue-mali-2007-no-9-across-niger.html and https://rheumatologe.blogspot.com/2023/11/travelogue-mali-2007-no-10-gourma.html
[5] Time // Time is like a river that divides, and where it widens, it becomes interesting because it flows more slowly. And so, one should be able to look around in time, so that time no longer appears as a simple ray but as a surface.
[Die Zeit // Die Zeit ist wie ein Fluß, der sich aufteilt und dort, wo er sich weitet, wird er interessant, denn er fließt langsamer. Und so sollte man sich auch in der Zeit umsehen können, so daß sich die Zeit nicht mehr als einfacher Strahl sondern als eine Fläche darstellt.]
From: https://rheumatologe.blogspot.com/2023/12/sammelsurium-241-04122023.html and
https://rheumatologe.blogspot.com/2023/11/travelogue-mali-2007-no-6-lac-debo.html
[6] I had the book in my hands, just after I had returned from Saudi Arabia, but didn't read it yet.
This is a translation and adaption of a text, I've written two years ago in German:
Das Glück der Weite von Achill Moser, eine Buchbesprechung
https://rheumatologe.blogspot.com/2023/12/das-gluck-der-weite-von-achill-moser.html
.
But then... But then I had to leaf through it and my attention was drawn to page 109, specifically the heading: From Timbuktu to the Land of the Dogon / Southern Sahara ~ Mali ~ 1980. I'm had been working on my own trip through Mali (2007), when I've written this text in German two years ago, and had already written about the trip several times. And I, too, traveled from Timbuktu to the Land of the Dogon. The first thing I saw was a quote from René Caillié [3], specifically from his trip to Timbuktu. I continued reading and was struck by the sentence: "I'll stay in Timbuktu for a week, then I'll travel down the Niger River in a dugout canoe, the traditional Malian vessel." We traveled in a similar way, except that we took a ferry from Korioumé, a small port, and then drove down the Niger River in a four-wheel-drive vehicle to Gourma-Rharous [4]. In the next paragraph, I read, “I want to go to Mopti, an important trading post on the third largest river in Africa…”. But Mopti is upstream, because that’s where we came to Timbuktu from in a pinnace. I had just been writing about time, not as a ray but as an area, and I had the image of Lake Débo in mind [5]. He was probably just mistaken about the direction 25 years after the journey; but such things need to be verified.
Will I still be able to read the book without any worries? Certainly, if I let some time pass, and perhaps I’ll write about it again then [6].
Links and Annotations:
[1] Achill Moser: The Joy of Vastness. Five Years in the Deserts of the World. Hoffmann and Campe, Hamburg 2009. ISBN: 978-3-455-50105-3.
[Achill Moser: Das Glück der Weite. Fünf Jahre in den Wüsten der Welt. Hoffmann Und Campe, Hamburg 2009. ISBN: 978-3-455-50105-3.]
[2] This is always an absurd undertaking, and it gets on my nerves, not only with books but also with DVD or CD covers.
[3] We also saw the house where René Caillié lived and the one where Heinrich Barth (Abd El Karim) lived when we took a tour with Salam Ould Elhadj, a local historian.
https://rheumatologe.blogspot.com/2023/11/travelogue-mali-2007-no-8-timbuktu.html
[4] https://rheumatologe.blogspot.com/2023/11/travelogue-mali-2007-no-9-across-niger.html and https://rheumatologe.blogspot.com/2023/11/travelogue-mali-2007-no-10-gourma.html
[5] Time // Time is like a river that divides, and where it widens, it becomes interesting because it flows more slowly. And so, one should be able to look around in time, so that time no longer appears as a simple ray but as a surface.
[Die Zeit // Die Zeit ist wie ein Fluß, der sich aufteilt und dort, wo er sich weitet, wird er interessant, denn er fließt langsamer. Und so sollte man sich auch in der Zeit umsehen können, so daß sich die Zeit nicht mehr als einfacher Strahl sondern als eine Fläche darstellt.]
From: https://rheumatologe.blogspot.com/2023/12/sammelsurium-241-04122023.html and
https://rheumatologe.blogspot.com/2023/11/travelogue-mali-2007-no-6-lac-debo.html
[6] I had the book in my hands, just after I had returned from Saudi Arabia, but didn't read it yet.
This is a translation and adaption of a text, I've written two years ago in German:
Das Glück der Weite von Achill Moser, eine Buchbesprechung
https://rheumatologe.blogspot.com/2023/12/das-gluck-der-weite-von-achill-moser.html
.
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