Iberia

by James A. Michener

Release Date: 12 October, 1984

Edition: Mass Market Paperback

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A loving portrayal of a gritty land

I just finished reading Michener's Iberia, and it's unlike any other book I've ever read -- unlike Michener's novels in that it doesn't follow a real plot, only a very tenuous outline of his travels in Spain; and unlike any other book I've ever read, really, in how he portrays the land he so obviously loves.

Michener sets out with a tale of his first sight of Spain and his first voyages through the impoverished rural lands in the 1930s. He then proceeds to examine Spain, bit by bit, starting with Extremadura in the Southwest and finishing up with a grand pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela in Galicia. Every step of the way, he recounts his experiences in fresh prose, not so much concentrating on major tourist sights, though these are described, but the places, the festivals, and the events of his personal odyssey in Spain that demonstrate something about the land.

Michener describes many important festivals, like Pamplona's famous fer�a de San Fermin with its running of the bulls. He visits landmarks both well-known, like the Prado, and obscure, like the wildlife preserve at Las Marismas. Most interesting for me, he describes time and again his conversations with the Spanish, and he met a lot of them, from the poorest peasants to one President of Spain and a tertulia, a group of the nation's most distinguished intellectuals. It is in conveying a sense of the Spanish people that this book really shines.

I read this huge travelogue in preparation for a trip that will take me through Spain, and I was consistently impressed by Michener's ability to select anecdotes that demonstrate something important about the land. The further you read, the more convinced you will become that Michener is a brilliant man, able to perceive the things in Spain's art, in its cuisine, and in its music, that make it really spectacular. Only he could have written such a book, and he did it with obvious relish. The result is a brilliant portrait of Spain.

Dated, though detailed......

More than twenty years ago, James Michener's historically based novels Chesapeake, The Convenant, and Centennial provided the catalyst for a lifelong obsession with history as recorded in books; an obsession that quickly made ample room for non-fiction. As the spark for this terminal appetite, Michener continues to possess sentimental value though I've long ago completed his impressive list of novels. Iberia, a non-fictional piece of travel writing, had long sat upon my shelf awaiting the day that some stimulus would prompt me towards an in-depth view of Spain. When the moment arrived, I wasn't quite sure what to expect.

Iberia was written in the mid-60's and is, in truth, an amalgamation of Michener's myriad trips to the region beginning in 1936. It is evident throughout that Michener was deeply in love with Spain. It is also evident that the scope of his intellect was profound. There isn't a facet of Spanish life - it's government, history, architecture, customs, cuisine, and geography - of which James Michener wasn't intimately aware. His ability to converse effectively on such a wide range of topics is beyond commendable, even if his opinions, on occasion, may grate.

If there's a downside to Iberia it's Michener's fixation with architecture. I, for one, do not enjoy detailed architectural description without accompanying photography or drawings. One can only absorb so many arches, statues, transepts, apses, bastions, crenelations, cloisters, etc. without a picture to look at. Another minor, though memorable, disappointment is Michener's defense of bullfighting. Yes, yes, bullfighting IS Spain, an art form, a tradition, but tormenting an animal to death played better 40 years ago than it does today.

At nearly 800 pages, Iberia is an abundance of finely crafted detail. It is beyond question worth the investment in time, though beyond question a dated look at a fascinating peninsula perched between the Old World and the New.