A couple of years ago, Bill Bryson, best known for his travel writing, penned A Short History of Nearly Everything. It was a disappointment, as seems inevitable considering the scope of the know-it-all title.
Nothing deterred, the American humourist and anglophile now presents At Home: A Short History of Private Life (Doubleday 2010). Mr. Bryson lives in a Victorian rectory in Norfolk, England. He takes us on a guided tour of the house and garden, pausing in each room to discourse on whatever subject the name of the room calls to his fertile mind.
For instance, in the dining room the author speaks of food, diet and the changes in people's eating habits over the centuries. The bathroom provokes a history of hygiene, or lack thereof. And the bedroom suggests sex, sleep and death.
What we get here is not just studies (perhaps too serious a word) in history, but archaeology, sociology and a generous helping of biography too. It would be hard to write about English scientists, inventors and architects without revealing some of the eccentricities for which the English are famous.*
The compendium which results from Mr. Bryson's curiosity and love of trivia is considerably more pleasing than A Short History of Nearly Everything. At Home makes clear the connection between what happens in the world at large and the structure and content of our houses, from wall to wall and from basement to attic.
At Home is not laugh-out-loud funny, like some of Bryson's travel writing, but it is far from being the dull academic tome the sub-title suggests. Walt recommends it highly.
* Walt can't resist giving one example. Bryson relates the stinginess of an 18th-century Duke of Marlborough, who was so parsimonious that, when writing, he refused to dot his i's, to save ink!
No comments:
Post a Comment