Honorable Bandit: A Walk Across Corsica

by Brian Bouldrey

Book Overview

Brian Bouldrey traveled to the island of Corsica, with its wine-dark Mediterranean waters, powdered-sugar beach sand, and a cuisine and wines fit for the rich. And then he walked away from all of them. Bouldrey strapped on a backpack and walked across Napoleon's native land with the same spirit many choose to dance or drink: to celebrate, to mourn, to think, to avoid thinking, to recall, to ignore, to escape, and to arrive. This wonderfully textured...

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0299223205
• ISBN13: 9780299223205
• Release Date: September 2007
• Publisher: University of Wisconsin Press
• Length: 296 Pages
• Weight: 1.12 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.8" x 6.3" x 9.2"

Customer Reviews

I Love to Go Awandering

If you've read any of Bouldrey's other work, this book will come less of a surprise than a delight. If you're new to Bouldrey, I envy you the discovery. "Honorable Bandit" is part travelogue, part memoir, part meditation on walking, and part shaggy dog story. Bouldrey spent several weeks walking across Corsica, the Mediterranean island best known as the birthplace of Napoleon (the ruler, not the pastry), and he does offer tips on dealing with pigs, flash floods, and tiny horses. But "Honorable Bandit" is not a guidebook. Corsica merely provides the context for tales of vendettas, lonzu, throat singing, disagreeable roosters, and a host of other subjects that won't get you across the island any quicker or more safely. Speed is not the point, after all -- the journey is about the journey, and the journey is through life and history, not an island that seems to be saying, "We're #1!" Reading the book is like watching a slideshow given by a loquacious, but very engaging, host, who stops the show for long stretches as one story leads to another, starting with the slide, but then sliding into tales of family and friends and escaped convicts and past journeys and memorable meals, yet always returning to the next slide, and just in the nick of time. In the hands of a lesser writer, such a book would be tedious at best and infuriating at worst. But Bouldrey loves language, and loves the reader, and has such wonderful things to tell you that you forgive him his excesses, even when they are excessive. The problem with most memoirs is that the memoirist generally thinks of him- or herself as the most important -- and certainly most interesting -- character in the story. Bouldrey is rarely guilty of that crime. He uses his experiences as a way to tell us about what he's discovered along the way, and in doing so, allows us to make our own discoveries. He is a most generous host, and his book is a most satisfying repast.

Brilliant, and that's just the "acknowledgements" section

I have just finished the "acknowledgments" section of Brian Bouldrey's new book, and it's one of the best I've ever read. That may sound like hyperbole, but it's not. I'm a voracious reader -- I tear through 5-10 "acknowledgments" sections every week -- and Mr. Bouldrey's is as good as any penned by Mailer, Updike, or (God rest his soul) Vonnegut. Instead of struggling in vain to adequately describe the merits of Bouldrey's acknowledgements, let me just quote a short passage from what is destined to become a classic of the form: "The author wishes to thank . . . Larry Wood . . . ."

Deceptive Humility

Bouldrey, Brian. "Honorable Bandit: A Walk Across Corsica", University of Wisconsin Press, 2007. Deceptive Humility Amos Lassen and Literary Pride The University of Wisconsin Press has taken the lead in the academic field of publishing books relevant to our community. Brian Bouldrey, one of the leading gay men of letters published with them and the result is always exceptional. In "Honorable Bandit, he takes us to he island of Corsica where the beach is as white as sugar, the sea is deep and dark as wine and the food and drink is spectacular. Bouldrey walked across Corsica so that he could spend time with himself and to think about his life. At the same time he could also avoid thinking and could escapeâ"escape to remember and to revel in his past and to mourn his losses. For two weeks he and a German friend named Petra hiked cross the land and in this book he gives us a journal of the experience. Corsica was t be for Bouldrey a place for reflection so that he could explore himself first of all ad then the difference in cultures and friendships. He surmounted physical dangers and challenges in order to find himself and risked getting lost and facing personal challenges as memory often forces people to do. It is somewhat hard to classify this book"it is both memoir and travelogue and also lampoon". Most of us are unfamiliar with Corsica and the beautiful pictures he creates in our minds are not likely to be forgotten quickly Bouldrey's journal is humorous and touching at the same time. It is also very wise and extremely touching. As we travel with him, we also explore ourselves and it is easy then to look into the places in our hearts and face issues we may have avoided facing. We can deal with our own demons and Edens and Hells. All of this is in Corsica just as all of this is within every individual. Reading Bouldrey face his inner soul allowed me to peek into my own. Reading Bouldrey allows us to know him and to know ourselvesâ"it is as if he is the tour guide on each readerâ(tm)s personal journey to self discovery and acceptance.. Bouldrey's humility is deceptive at times and fro this I learned that we should move simply"one step at a time and that step must be timely and measured and full of thought". We live in a world where destinations are fixed places ad by leering how to move toward our goal we may be forced to look at our mortality and the road that lies before us. The beauty of Corsica is a metaphor for the beauty of life and while we may trek on the path toward wherever we are going, we question who we are ad what our purpose in life is. I sincerely believe that all of us want to leave a mark on the world and to be remembered for the accomplishments we have made but it is impossible to journey through life and not be affected by it. We also learn that a set destination is not always setâ"obstacles and accidents can change our paths and when all is said and doe, it is up to us to decide which is more importantâ"where we end up or ho