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George Medovoy, Editor (Frances Mayes, pictured above) Just think about it, living your life, as they say, out of a suitcase, or as Frances Mayes remembers her father's own words, "Packing and Unpacking." Mayes, the celebrated author of Under the Tuscan Sun, has penned another of her marvelous travel memoirs, this latest one called A Year in the World. That's simply a convenient title, of course, because Mayes' book is about travels taken over the course of a number of years as she and her husband visit Europe and North Africa. Here is the list: Portugal, Spain, her beloved Italy, Morocco, France, the British Isles, Scotland, the islands of Greece, and Turkey. In the course of these travels, Mayes makes us aware of two conflicting thoughts she must deal with. One, of course, is the urge to travel, to keep going, reminiscent of a line by the British writer Robert Louis Stevenson in Travels with a Donkey, published in 1878: "For my part," he wrote, "I travel not to go anywhere, but to go. I travel for travel's sake. The great affair is to move." Yes, there is a bit of that in Mayes' experience. In the process, of course, Mayes is wonderful at capturing so many layers of experience -- of colors, of tastes, of aromas, of new people encountered and filtering them through her devotion to the printed word. What adds really great strength to this book are her encounters with people and ordinary details of life "on the road." One of my favorite occurs in Fez, Morocco, where Mayes and her husband meet Rachid, the guide, who grew up in the medina and knows it intimately. And then there is Fatima, who cooks them a special meal, leaving them wishing, I think, that they could know her better. It is these encounters with real people, as I said, that give the book so much of its appeal, much more, I think, than when Mayes goes into some rather extensive historical perspectives about the places visited. When I began, I said that there was a second thought making its way through Mayes' psyche beyond the need to travel. This, ironically, is what she calls "my profound desire for home, for the profoundly beautiful nest, the kitchen garden, the friends gathered at my table, for the candlelit baths, and the objects arranged and the books in order, and most of all the sense of this is my place…" I doubt whether one can ever resolve this emotional conflict, but in the meantime, one can enjoy getting up and going -- packing and unpacking -- with as much joy and reverence as Mayes. (Frances Mayes, A Year in the World: Journeys of a Passionate Traveler, Broadway Books, $26, 304 pages). About Frances Mayes Frances
Mayes is the author of four books about Tuscany. The now-classic Under the
Tuscan Sun --which was a New York Times bestseller for more than two
and a half years and became a Touchstone movie starring Diane Lane-was followed
by Bella Tuscany and two illustrated books, In Tuscany and Bringing
Tuscany Home. Mayes is also the author of the novel, Swan, six books
of poetry, most recently Ex Voto, and The Discovery of Poetry. A
frequent contributor to food and travel publications, she divides her time between
North Carolina and Cortona, Italy.
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