soph (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
sophia_sol) wrote2020-09-25 05:24 pm
sophia_sol) wrote2020-09-25 05:24 pm
Entry tags:
- anent: book thoughts 2,
- author: charles lette feltoe,
- author: etheria,
- author: ml mcclure,
- book theme: epistolary,
- book theme: historical nonfiction,
- book theme: history,
- book theme: history (modernish when writ,
- book theme: nonfiction,
- book theme: religion,
- book theme: translated,
- pub date: 1918,
- rating: ****
The Pilgrimage of Etheria, by Etheria, translation/commentary by ML McClure and Charles Lett Feltoe
Okay this was such a cool book to discover! Etheria (more commonly spelled Egeria today) was a Christian woman who in the (probably) 4th century went on pilgrimage to the Holy Land, and wrote a document about her travels for her community of fellow Christian women back home. This is that document, translated, and with extensive commentary from 1918. Etheria's writing is the earliest surviving text outlining a Christian pilgrimage in detail. It exists only in fragmentary form but enough exists to give some pretty specific information!
I really enjoyed the beginning commentary, even though the librivox entry for this book describes it as "a bit scholarly and dry". I found the information interesting, and I was delighted by the passive aggressive academic shots fired at the people the commentator thinks are wrong.
The actual text of Etheria's letter I found a bit more dry, as she spends a lot of time just listing places she went and things she saw and doesn't give much description, commentary, or reflections upon any of it. On the other hand, taking into account cultural changes in the last 1600 years or so, it was really funny to me how much similarity I could see between this and accounts I have had cause to read from modern Christian pilgrims to the Holy Land. Some things don't change, apparently! (something that has changed: referring to just everyone as "holy": holy monks, holy Moses, Holy Thecla, Holy Job.....)
The last few chapters are taken up entirely with Etheria listing in minute detail the specifics of the worship practices in Jerusalem, with particular focus on Lent and Easter. This to me felt like just a lot of repetition of almost the same thing over and over again, but it honestly became kind of meditative after a while and I didn't actually get bored of it, weirdly enough. Not a single piece of information from the whole section stayed in my head for longer than a moment though.
Also I enjoyed the various signs of humanity in the volunteer Librivox reader - it was obvious sometimes that he found a particular bit kind of ridiculous to have to read, and he needed a real run up to try to attack the various non-English words, phrases, names, and place-names that appear in this book. And overall he was a clear and competent reader, easy and pleasant to listen to, though he talked fast enough that I had to keep my focus sharp to follow!
Glad to have stumbled across this in my vague wanderings through the librivox archive.
I really enjoyed the beginning commentary, even though the librivox entry for this book describes it as "a bit scholarly and dry". I found the information interesting, and I was delighted by the passive aggressive academic shots fired at the people the commentator thinks are wrong.
The actual text of Etheria's letter I found a bit more dry, as she spends a lot of time just listing places she went and things she saw and doesn't give much description, commentary, or reflections upon any of it. On the other hand, taking into account cultural changes in the last 1600 years or so, it was really funny to me how much similarity I could see between this and accounts I have had cause to read from modern Christian pilgrims to the Holy Land. Some things don't change, apparently! (something that has changed: referring to just everyone as "holy": holy monks, holy Moses, Holy Thecla, Holy Job.....)
The last few chapters are taken up entirely with Etheria listing in minute detail the specifics of the worship practices in Jerusalem, with particular focus on Lent and Easter. This to me felt like just a lot of repetition of almost the same thing over and over again, but it honestly became kind of meditative after a while and I didn't actually get bored of it, weirdly enough. Not a single piece of information from the whole section stayed in my head for longer than a moment though.
Also I enjoyed the various signs of humanity in the volunteer Librivox reader - it was obvious sometimes that he found a particular bit kind of ridiculous to have to read, and he needed a real run up to try to attack the various non-English words, phrases, names, and place-names that appear in this book. And overall he was a clear and competent reader, easy and pleasant to listen to, though he talked fast enough that I had to keep my focus sharp to follow!
Glad to have stumbled across this in my vague wanderings through the librivox archive.