Journey Without Maps: Difference between revisions

Journey Without Maps
Author	Graham Greene
Genre	Travel book
Publisher	Heinemann
Publication date	1936
Publication place	United Kingdom

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Journey Without Maps (1936) is a travel account by Graham Greene, about a 350-mile, 4-week walk through the interior of Liberia in 1935. It was Greene's first trip outside of Europe. He hoped to leave civilization and find the "heart of darkness" in Africa. The interior of Liberia was at the time poorly mapped (an American government map had the interior as a large white space marked "cannibals"), and so he relied on local guides and porters.

In the first volume of his autobiography, A Sort of Life, Greene wrote that he was unsure if he would have traveled to Liberia if he had not read H. Rider Haggard, an English author of adventure fiction set in Africa and other exotic locales. Greene said his decision to go to Liberia was "foolhardy" and the journey itself "absurd and reckless," "a kind of Russian Roulette." He did not travel lightly, hiring 25 porters in Sierra Leone to accompany him. He also brought along six boxes of food, two beds and chairs, mosquito nets, three suitcases, a tent, two boxes of “miscellaneous things,” a bath, a bundle of blankets, a folding table, a money box, a hammock, and an unspecified number of cases of whisky. Looking over his supplies at the start of the journey, Greene admitted to feeling "a little shamed by my servants, who each brought with them a small flat suitcase."^[1]

Greene set off from the northernmost point of the country bordering Sierra Leone near the town of Kailahun (near Pendembu) and travelled in a south-easterly direction through the jungle highlands. He crossed through a section of French Guinea, going between the Liberian towns of Zorzor and Ganta, before turning south-west and arriving at the coast at Grand Bassa. He then traveled by sea to Monrovia. Near the end of his life, he would write that in Liberia “I had lost my heart to West Africa.” ^[2] He said he “never wearied of the villages” where he stopped each night, but during the daily hike through the forest “the senses were dulled and registered only acute boredom.” ^[3]

Greene's account provides insights into Liberia in 1935. In addition to the inhabitants, Greene encountered American and English missionaries, a German adventurer, an American doctor, and a gold prospector. Most of the villages he passed through had encountered whites before, but it had been years earlier. Greene documents the deplorable public health -- there were only a handful of doctors in the whole country. Diseases that ravaged Liberians included yellow fever, malaria, venereal disease, and leprosy. Greene drank whisky throughout the trip, going through cases of it. He became ill halfway through the journey, during their stay at Zigiter, and almost died while in Zigi's Town, near the end of the trip. During this experience he discovered that he had a "passionate interest in living" which "seemed that night an important discovery".^[4] The trip also shaped his future writing career.^[5]

Greene travelled with his cousin, Barbara Greene, who in 1938 produced her own memoir of the trip, Land Benighted (republished in 1981 as Too Late to Turn Back^[6]). How well the two accounts match up appears to be a matter of opinion. In Paul Theroux's introduction to the 1981 version of Barbara's book, he says "Few journeys have been so well recorded, and there are few discrepancies and no contradictions between the two accounts".^[6] However, in Michael Shapiro's 2004 book A Sense of Place: Great Travel Writers Talk about Their Craft, Lives, and Inspiration, he records Jonathan Raban saying Barbara's memoir "contradicts Greene's memoir on almost every point.. neither narrator agrees with the one other as to anything at all, where they were, who they saw, what they met, the condition of his illness, whatever. There is just no consonance between these two accounts".^[7]

A doctor in Freetown, Sierra Leone, P.D. Oakley, sued the publisher, Heinemann, after the book's publication, saying Greene's depiction of a character in the book, called Pa Oakley, also a doctor, was libelous. The publisher withdrew the book from circulation and pulped the remaining copies. The book was not reprinted until after Greene obtained publication rights in 1946. ^[8] ^[9]

In 2009 the English writer and journalist Tim Butcher retraced Greene's journey, accompanied by fellow Englishman and Graham Greene aficionado David Poraj-Wilczynski. Butcher's account of their adventure was published as Chasing the Devil in 2010 by Random House.

Footnotes

^ Greene, Graham. 1971. A Sort of Life. New York: Simon and Schuster.
^ Greene, Graham. 1980. Ways of Escape. 1st edition. New York: Simon and Schuster.
^ Greene, Graham. 2018. Journey Without Maps. Open Road Media.
^ Graham Greene (1936) Journey Without Maps (1957 Ed. P.216)
^ Pike, Duncan (2010). "The Innocence Abroad: Graham Greene in West Africa". The Graduate History Review. 2.
^ ^a ^b Barbara Greene. Too Late to Turn Back. ISBN 978-0-14-009594-4 (1991 re-print PB).
^ Michael Shapiro (2004). A Sense of Place: Great Travel Writers Talk about Their Craft, Lives, and Inspiration. (page 55).
^ Olivares Leyva, Monica. 2015. Graham Greene's Narrative in Spain. Cambridge Scholars Publishing. https://www.cambridgescholars.com/resources/pdfs/978-1-4438-8096-1-sample.pdf
^ Dalrymple, Theodore. 2010. “Fever Pitch.” BMJ 341 (August): c4562. https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.c4562.

References

Graham Greene (1936). Journey Without Maps. ISBN 978-0-14-303972-3 (2006 re-print PB).
Journey Without Maps at Internet Archive (scanned book, DjVu format)

[1] Greene, Graham. 1971. A Sort of Life. New York: Simon and Schuster.

[2] Greene, Graham. 1980. Ways of Escape. 1st edition. New York: Simon and Schuster.

[3] Greene, Graham. 2018. Journey Without Maps. Open Road Media.

[4] Graham Greene (1936) Journey Without Maps (1957 Ed. P.216)

[5] Pike, Duncan (2010). "The Innocence Abroad: Graham Greene in West Africa". The Graduate History Review. 2.

[barbara-6] Barbara Greene. Too Late to Turn Back. ISBN 978-0-14-009594-4 (1991 re-print PB).

[7] Michael Shapiro (2004). A Sense of Place: Great Travel Writers Talk about Their Craft, Lives, and Inspiration. (page 55).

[8] Olivares Leyva, Monica. 2015. Graham Greene's Narrative in Spain. Cambridge Scholars Publishing. https://www.cambridgescholars.com/resources/pdfs/978-1-4438-8096-1-sample.pdf

[9] Dalrymple, Theodore. 2010. “Fever Pitch.” BMJ 341 (August): c4562. https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.c4562.

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@@ Line 1: / Line 1: @@
+{{Short description|1936 travel account by Graham Greene}}{{Infobox book
-{{Italic title}}
+| image             = JourneyWithoutMaps.jpg
-[[File:JourneyWithoutMaps.jpg|thumb|First edition cover ([[Heinemann (publisher)|Heinemann]], UK)]]
+| author            = [[Graham Greene]]
+| pub_date          = 1936
+| publisher         = [[Heinemann (publisher)|Heinemann]]
+| country           = United Kingdom
+| genre             = Travel book
+}}
+{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}}
-'''''Journey Without Maps''''' (1936) is a [[travel literature|travel account]] by [[Graham Greene]], about a 350-mile, 4-week walk through the interior of [[Liberia]] in 1935. It was Greene's first trip outside of Europe. He hoped to leave civilization and find the "heart of darkness" in Africa. The interior of Liberia was at the time unmapped (a US Government map had the interior as a large white space marked "cannibals"), and so he relied on local guides and porters.
+{{Italic title}}'''''Journey Without Maps''''' (1936) is a [[travel literature|travel account]] by [[Graham Greene]], about a 350-mile, 4-week walk through the interior of [[Liberia]] in 1935. It was Greene's first trip outside of Europe. He hoped to leave civilization and find the "heart of darkness" in Africa. The interior of Liberia was at the time poorly mapped (an American government map had the interior as a large white space marked "cannibals"), and so he relied on local guides and porters.
+In the first volume of his autobiography, ''[[A Sort of Life]]'', Greene wrote that he was unsure if he would have traveled to Liberia if he had not read [[H. Rider Haggard]], an English author of adventure fiction set in Africa and other exotic locales. Greene said his decision to go to Liberia was "foolhardy" and the journey itself "absurd and reckless," "a kind of Russian Roulette." He did not travel lightly, hiring 25 porters in Sierra Leone to accompany him. He also brought along six boxes of food, two beds and chairs, mosquito nets, three suitcases, a tent, two boxes of “miscellaneous things,” a bath, a bundle of blankets, a folding table, a money box, a hammock, and an unspecified number of cases of whisky. Looking over his supplies at the start of the journey, Greene admitted to feeling "a little shamed by my servants, who each brought with them a small flat suitcase."<ref>Greene, Graham. 1971. A Sort of Life. New York: Simon and Schuster.</ref>
-Greene set off from the northernmost point of the country bordering [[Sierra Leone]] near the town of [[Kailahun]] (near [[Pendembu]]) and traveled in a south-eastern direction through the jungle highlands. He crossed through a section of [[French Guinea]], going between the Liberian towns of [[Zorzor]] and [[Ganta]], before turning south-west and arriving at the coast at [[Grand Bassa]]. He then traveled by sea to [[Monrovia]].
+Greene set off from the northernmost point of the country bordering [[Sierra Leone]] near the town of [[Kailahun]] (near [[Pendembu]]) and travelled in a south-easterly direction through the jungle highlands. He crossed through a section of [[French Guinea]], going between the Liberian towns of [[Zorzor]] and [[Ganta]], before turning south-west and arriving at the coast at [[Grand Bassa]]. He then traveled by sea to [[Monrovia]]. Near the end of his life, he would write that in Liberia “I had lost my heart to West Africa.” <ref>Greene, Graham. 1980. Ways of Escape. 1st edition. New York: Simon and Schuster.</ref> He said he “never wearied of the villages” where he stopped each night, but during the daily hike through the forest “the senses were dulled and registered only acute boredom.” <ref>Greene, Graham. 2018. Journey Without Maps. Open Road Media. </ref>
-Greene's account provides many insights into what Liberia was like in 1935. The country has not modernized much since, in particular away from the coast, so much of it remains unchanged to this day. Greene did encounter a number of whites along the way including American and English missionaries, a German adventurer, gold seekers and beachcombers. Most of the primitive villages he passed through had encountered white people before, but it had been years, and so for many of the younger people it was a new experience. Greene documents the deplorable public health; there were only a handful of doctors in the whole country. A long list of diseases visibly ravaged the typical Liberian (venereal disease and malaria in particular were almost universal, with various weeping sores and wounds from insects and occasionally leprosy). Greene drank whiskey the entire trip going through cases of it. He became ill halfway through the journey, during their stay at Zigiter, and almost died while in Zigi's Town, near the end of the trip. During this experience he discovered that he had a "passionate interest in living" which "seemed that night an important discovery".<ref>Graham Greene (1936) Journey Without Maps (1957 Ed. P.216)</ref>  The trip also shaped his future writing career.<ref>{{cite journal|last=Pike|first=Duncan|title=The Innocence Abroad: Graham Greene in West Africa|journal=The Graduate History Review|year=2010|volume=2|url=http://journals.uvic.ca/index.php/ghr/article/view/524}}</ref>
+Greene's account provides insights into Liberia in 1935. In addition to the inhabitants, Greene encountered American and English missionaries, a German adventurer, an American doctor, and a gold prospector. Most of the villages he passed through had encountered whites before, but it had been years earlier. Greene documents the deplorable public health -- there were only a handful of doctors in the whole country. Diseases that ravaged Liberians included yellow fever, malaria, venereal disease, and leprosy. Greene drank whisky throughout the trip, going through cases of it. He became ill halfway through the journey, during their stay at Zigiter, and almost died while in Zigi's Town, near the end of the trip. During this experience he discovered that he had a "passionate interest in living" which "seemed that night an important discovery".<ref>Graham Greene (1936) Journey Without Maps (1957 Ed. P.216)</ref>  The trip also shaped his future writing career.<ref>{{cite journal|last=Pike|first=Duncan|title=The Innocence Abroad: Graham Greene in West Africa|journal=The Graduate History Review|year=2010|volume=2|url=http://journals.uvic.ca/index.php/ghr/article/view/524}}</ref>
-Greene traveled with his cousin, Barbara Greene, who in 1938 produced her own memoir of the trip, ''Land Benighted'' (republished in 1981 as ''Too Late to Turn Back''<ref name=barbara>Barbara Greene. ''Too Late to Turn Back''. {{ISBN|978-0-14-009594-4}} (1991 re-print PB).</ref>). How well the two accounts match up appears to be a matter of opinion. In [[Paul Theroux]]'s introduction to the 1981 version of Barbara's book, he says "Few journeys have been so well recorded, and there are few discrepancies and no contradictions between the two accounts."<ref name=barbara/> However, in [[Michael Shapiro (writer)|Michael Shapiro]]'s 2004 book ''A Sense of Place: Great Travel Writers Talk about Their Craft, Lives, and Inspiration'', he records [[Jonathan Raban]] saying Barbara's memoir "contradicts Greene's memoir on almost every point.. neither narrator agrees with the one other as to anything at all, where they were, who they saw, what they met, the condition of his illness, whatever. There is just no consonance between these two accounts."<ref>Michael Shapiro (2004). ''A Sense of Place: Great Travel Writers Talk about Their Craft, Lives, and Inspiration''. ([https://books.google.com/books?vid=ISBN1932361081&id=iQvB3qZZTvsC&pg=PA54&lpg=PA54&dq=%22journey+without+maps%22+greene&sig=PhGvnlTHQkc99nGL_pU9DAlNA2Q#PPA55,M1 page 55]).</ref>
+Greene travelled with his cousin, Barbara Greene, who in 1938 produced her own memoir of the trip, ''Land Benighted'' (republished in 1981 as ''Too Late to Turn Back''<ref name=barbara>Barbara Greene. ''Too Late to Turn Back''. {{ISBN|978-0-14-009594-4}} (1991 re-print PB).</ref>). How well the two accounts match up appears to be a matter of opinion. In [[Paul Theroux]]'s introduction to the 1981 version of Barbara's book, he says "Few journeys have been so well recorded, and there are few discrepancies and no contradictions between the two accounts".<ref name=barbara/> However, in [[Michael Shapiro (writer)|Michael Shapiro]]'s 2004 book ''A Sense of Place: Great Travel Writers Talk about Their Craft, Lives, and Inspiration'', he records [[Jonathan Raban]] saying Barbara's memoir "contradicts Greene's memoir on almost every point.. neither narrator agrees with the one other as to anything at all, where they were, who they saw, what they met, the condition of his illness, whatever. There is just no consonance between these two accounts".<ref>Michael Shapiro (2004). ''A Sense of Place: Great Travel Writers Talk about Their Craft, Lives, and Inspiration''. ([https://books.google.com/books?id=iQvB3qZZTvsC&dq=%22journey+without+maps%22+greene&pg=PA55 page 55]).</ref>
-In 2009 the journey was retraced by the English writer and journalist [[Tim Butcher]], former Africa correspondent for the ''[[Daily Telegraph]]'' and author of the bestselling book on the [[Democratic Republic of Congo]], ''[[Blood River: A Journey to Africa's Broken Heart]]'' (2007). He was accompanied by fellow Englishman and Graham Greene aficionado [[David Poraj-Wilczynski]]. Butcher's account of their adventure was published as ''Chasing The Devil'' in 2010 by Random House.
+A doctor in Freetown, Sierra Leone, P.D. Oakley, sued the publisher, Heinemann, after the book's publication, saying Greene's depiction of a character in the book, called Pa Oakley, also a doctor, was libelous.  The publisher withdrew the book from circulation and pulped the remaining copies.  The book was not reprinted until after Greene obtained publication rights in 1946. <ref>Olivares Leyva, Monica. 2015. Graham Greene's Narrative in Spain. Cambridge Scholars Publishing. https://www.cambridgescholars.com/resources/pdfs/978-1-4438-8096-1-sample.pdf</ref> <ref>Dalrymple, Theodore. 2010. “Fever Pitch.” BMJ 341 (August): c4562. https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.c4562.</ref>
+In 2009 the English writer and journalist [[Tim Butcher]] retraced Greene's journey, accompanied by fellow Englishman and Graham Greene aficionado [[David Poraj-Wilczynski]]. Butcher's account of their adventure was published as ''Chasing the Devil'' in 2010 by Random House.
 ==Footnotes==
@@ Line 23: / Line 34: @@
 [[Category:Books by Graham Greene]]
 [[Category:African travel books]]
-[[Category:1936 books]]
+[[Category:1936 non-fiction books]]
-[[Category:Liberian culture]]
+[[Category:Culture of Liberia]]
 [[Category:Heinemann (publisher) books]]
 [[Category:Books about Liberia]]

v t e Graham Greene
Bibliography
Novels	The Man Within (1929) The Name of Action (1930) Rumour at Nightfall (1932) Stamboul Train (1932) It's a Battlefield (1934) England Made Me (1935) A Gun for Sale (1936) Brighton Rock (1938) The Confidential Agent (1939) The Power and the Glory (1940) The Ministry of Fear (1943) The Heart of the Matter (1948) The Third Man (novella; 1949) The End of the Affair (1951) The Quiet American (1955) Loser Takes All (1955) Our Man in Havana (1958) A Burnt-Out Case (1960) The Comedians (1966) Travels with My Aunt (1969) The Honorary Consul (1973) The Human Factor (1978) Doctor Fischer of Geneva (1980) Monsignor Quixote (1982) The Tenth Man (1985) The Captain and the Enemy (1988) No Man's Land (2005)
Non-fiction	Journey Without Maps (1936) The Lawless Roads (1939) The Lost Childhood and Other Essays (1951) In Search of a Character (1961) A Sort of Life (1971) Ways of Escape (1980) Getting to Know the General: The Story of an Involvement (1984)
Plays	The Living Room (1953) The Potting Shed (1957) The Complaisant Lover (1959) Carving a Statue (1964) The Return of A. J. Raffles (1975) The Great Jowett (1981) Yes and No (1983) For Whom the Bell Chimes (1983)
Story collections	Twenty-One Stories (1954) A Sense of Reality (1963) May We Borrow Your Husband? (1967) The Last Word and Other Stories (1990)
Short stories	"The End of the Party" (1929) "Proof Positive" (1930) "The Basement Room" (1936) "Across the Bridge" (1938) "Alas, Poor Maling" (1940) "The Blue Film" (1954) "The Destructors" (1954) "A Shocking Accident" "The Invisible Japanese Gentlemen" "The Last Word"
Screenplays	21 Days (1940) Brighton Rock (1948) The Fallen Idol (1948) The Third Man (1949) Loser Takes All (1956) Saint Joan (1957) Our Man in Havana (1959) The Comedians (1967) Monsignor Quixote (1985)
Adaptations	Orient Express (1934) The Green Cockatoo (1937) This Gun for Hire (1942) Went the Day Well? (1942) Ministry of Fear (1944) The Heart of the Matter (1953) The End of the Affair (1955) The Quiet American (1958) Travels with My Aunt (1972) The Human Factor (1979) The Honorary Consul (1983) The End of the Affair (1999) The Quiet American (2002) Brighton Rock (2010)
Other	Brighton Rock (play) Shades of Greene
Category