Eccentric Islands
Travels Real and Imaginary
by Bill Holm
Eccentric Islands is a literary expedition across the map to islands
both real and imaginary. Part traveler's journal, part philosophical
exploration, the book considers the idea of islands and asks whether
they encourage eccentricity and grandeur in human beings, as scientists
argue they do in the natural world.
Like a modern-day literary
Darwin, Bill Holm travels to Isla Mujeres, an exceptional island east
of the Yucatán Peninsula; Molokai, whose history is graced by the
example of Father Damien; Iceland, with a human genetic code nearly
unmatched in its purity; Madagascar, an island of musical and botanical
eccentricities; and Mallard Island, tucked in Rainy Lake, near the
Canadian border. He also visits islands of ideas, including The
Necessary Island of the Imagination, the Piano Island—located in the
man-made lake under the atrium sky of an upscale hotel in the far
interior of China—and the acute isolation of the Island of Pain.
Writing
with the mind-set of a nineteenth-century traveler, for whom the
journey is as important as the destination, Holm introduces beguiling
characters and cultures, from the well-read radio man on an Icelandic
freighter to the Robert Johnson of Madagascar and his instrument, the
vahila. His book appeals to the traveler in all of us, especially those
who savor the mad juxtaposition of contraries, a complete cultural stew
pot where the ingredients get to swap flavors and make something new
and strange.
Bill Holm
Author's Bio:Bill
Holm was born to Icelandic immigrants on a farm north of Minneota,
Minnesota in 1943. A long-time resident of Minneota, Holm lived with
his wife Marcie and taught at Southwest Minnesota State University in
Marshall from 1980 until he retired in 2007. He traveled widely, to
Iceland on a Fulbright in 1979, and more recently to his summer home in
Hofsos; and to China, where he taught on an academic exchange program
in 1986 and again in 1992. The recipient of the 2008 McKnight
Distinguished Artist Award, Holm is the author of several books of
essays and poetry including, most recently, The Windows of Brimnes. Known both regionally and nationally as a humorist, writer, and prairie radical, Bill Holm passed away on February 26, 2009.
Awards:Newsday “Favorite Books of 2000” (chosen by David Ulin)
Quotes:“Peopled with Icelandic poet-farmers and one-handed Malagasy
musicians, these joyful essays praise the unquenchable human spirit and
suggest that isolation on islands may be positively beatific.”—Chris
Dodge, Utne Reader
"Elegant. . .. Holm shows how our imaginations
are linked to geography in a dozen different ways. . .. Expansive and
imaginatively written, Eccentric Islands is a joyfully unordinary book,
its spirit irresistable.”—David Walton, Minneapolis Star Tribune
“An
expertly wrought memoir of journeys to islands real, metaphorical, and
imaginary. . .. One thing that is true, Holm insists (gainsaying John
Donne), is that we are all, in fact, islands. . .. He celebrates the very
real pleasures of spending time on little pockets of the world that are
at a far remove from any other place. . .. Holm mixes keen you-are-there
observations with profound bits of homespun philosophizing, and never
once does he sound a false note. The result is a pleasure for
islomanes, and for anyone who appreciates good writing.”—Kirkus Reviews
(starred review)
“Of all the landscapes in Eccentric Islands, the
most multitudinous may be those of the interior—what Holm calls
islands of imagination, of ideas. It is here that he evokes the true
complexity of island thinking, from the joyous revelation of thought to
the brutal isolation of despair. For Holm, both states are equally
important, equally authentic; they are how we come to know ourselves as
distinct from those around us, and, in so doing, forge a more
articulated relationship with the world.”—Ruminator Review
“Having
conjured a desert island beneath a cottonwood tree in the vast sea of
his farmer father's fields as a boy, Holm knows that while islands are
useful as microcosms, they can engender elusions, and he holds this
yin-yang vision firmly in mind as he chronicles various island sojourns
throughout the world. A true raconteur. . .. Vibrant, adventurous, and
empathic.” —Booklist (starred review)
“Holm is as good at the
personal essay as anyone working in this generous, intimate and
conversational form. . .. Eccentric Islands is an exceptional book from
an exceptional man.”—Ted Kooser, Lincoln Journal Star
“The
beautiful thing is, Holm writes about how truly memorable and
entertaining it can be to stay off the beaten path.”—Lancaster Farming
“A unique blend of travel insights, opinions and nostalgia.”—Ripsaw News (second review)
“A blend of natural history, humor, philosophy, and journal writing.”—Orion |
Price:
$ 22.95
Binding: Cloth
Availability In Stock: 146
immediately
Publisher: Milkweed Editions
Published: 2000
Size: 5.5 x 8.5
Genre: Essay/Travel/Nonfiction
Pages: 300
ISBN: 9781571312457
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