Lorsque, en 1956, Eric Newby décide de partir pour le Nuristan, cette région particulièrement accidentée et sauvage de l'Afghanistan, il ignore tout des Afghans, de l'alpinisme et, pour tout dire, des voyages... Son humour légendaire et un sens pratique insoupçonné lui permettront d'échapper aux pires traquenards. Remarqué par Evelyn Waugh et Graham Greene, salué comme un maître par Paul Theroux et Bruce Chatwin, Eric Newby (1919-2006) a sillonné la planète dans les circonstances les plus ahurissantes et exercé les métiers les plus divers (mousse, employé de haute couture, etc.). Sa vie est une suite de curieuses expériences qu'il a relatées avec beaucoup de succès dans ses livres désopilants. Un chef-d'oeuvre d'humour british, par l'une des figures les plus populaires du «travel-writing». Un des livres de voyage fétiches de Jean d'Ormesson.
A classic of travel writing, ''A Short Walk in the Hindu Kush'' is Eric Newby''s iconic account of his journey through one of the most remote and beautiful wildernesses on earth.It was 1956, and Eric Newby was earning an improbable living in the chaotic family business of London haute couture. Pining for adventure, Newby sent his friend Hugh Carless the now-famous cable - CAN YOU TRAVEL NURISTAN JUNE? - setting in motion a legendary journey from Mayfair to Afghanistan, and the mountains of the Hindu Kush, north-east of Kabul. Inexperienced and ill prepared (their preparations involved nothing more than some tips from a Welsh waitress), the amateurish rogues embark on a month of adventure and hardship in one of the most beautiful wildernesses on earth - a journey that adventurers with more experience and sense may never have undertaken. With good humour, sharp wit and keen observation, the charming narrative style of ''A Short Walk in the Hindu Kush'' would soon crystallise Newby''s reputation as one of the greatest travel writers of all time.One of the greatest travel classics from one of Britain''s best-loved travel writers, this edition includes new photographs, an epilogue from Newby''s travelling companion, Hugh Carless, and a prologue from one of Newby''s greatest proponents, Evelyn Waugh.
'Slowly Down the Ganges' is seen as a vintage Newby masterpiece, alongside 'A Short Walk in the Hindu Kush' and 'Love and War in the Apennines'. Told with Newby's self-deprecating humour and wry attention to detail, this is a classic of the genre and a window into an enchanting piece of history. On his forty-forth birthday, Eric Newby sets out on an incredible journey: to travel the 1,200-mile length of India's holy river. In a misguided attempt to keep him out of trouble, Wanda, his life-long travel companion and wife, is to be his fellow boatwoman. Their plan is to begin in the great plain of Hardwar and finish in the Bay of Bengal, but the journey almost immediately becomes markedly slower and more treacherous than either had imagined - running aground sixty-three times in the first six days. Travelling in a variety of unstable boats, as well as by rail, bus and bullock cart, and resting at sandbanks and remote villages, the Newbys encounter engaging characters and glorious mishaps, including the non-existence of large-scale maps of the country, a realisation that questions of pure 'logic' cause grave offense and, on one occasion, the only person in sight for miles is an old man who is himself unsure where he is. Newby's only consolation: on a river, if you go downstream, you're sure to end up somewhere.
1938. Eric Newby, employé dans une agence de publicité, rêve d'aventures. Sur un coup de tête, il s'engage à bord d'un quatre-mâts finnois, le Moshulu. L'extraordinaire course qui, chaque année, oppose les derniers voiliers de quelques armateurs mégalomanes pour s'en aller chercher en Australie la première récolte du blé et la ramener toutes voiles dehors à Londres par le Horn lui embrase l'imagination. La vie de mousse se révèle quelque peu différente de ce qu'il avait imaginé. Et les choses, au fil des jours, ne font qu'empirer. Pourtant, jamais Newby ne se départit de son humour pour le moins ravageur. Notre héros n'aura guère le temps de souffler après son arrivée à Queenstown le 10 juin 1939: la guerre est bientôt là, qui va l'emporter. Fin d'une époque : jamais plus ne s'affronteront
