Swiss Review 4/2021

Swiss Review / August 2021 / No.4 30 unique to someone who believed that the act of travel was “irresistibly effortless, providing a slow but sure introduc- tion to transparency and overcoming one’s self”. A new style of travelogue Bouvier recounts the first stage of their journey, from Bel- grade to Kabul, in his 1963 book “TheWay of theWorld”. To cover the costs of the journey, Vernet sold his paintings and Bouvier wrote newspaper articles. The inimitable way in which Bouvier describes their adventures is evident for the first time in this book. Exceptional in his tone, choice of words, and narrative rhythm, Bouvier consistently gets to the heart of the matter, from people to places, always en- deavouring to add a human touch to an intrinsically inhu- manworld. And Bouvier introduces us not only to faraway places, but also to the innerworkings of hismind – one that is imbued with subtle emotions and considerable knowl- edge. The two friends parted ways on the road after one and a half years, and Bouvier subsequently continued on his own via India to China and then onwards to Cey- lon (now Sri Lanka), where he re- mained for nine months. In “The Scorpion-Fish”, Bouvier described in 1982 how Ceylon’s hot, humid climate sapped his energy – but also how his senses were sharp- enedwhile documenting both the insects and the shady localities of this fascinating, frightening is- land. He left Ceylon in October 1955 and took a French steamboat to Japan, where he stayed for a year, compiling the material that he would share in his 1970 book “The Japanese Chronicles”. A low point Back in Europe, where in 1958 he married Eliane Petitpierre – the CHARLES L INSMAYER Two Swiss had the good fortune to own a Topolino – that iconic, diminutive, poetically named “little mouse” manu- factured by Fiat from1936 to 1955: Migros founder Gottlieb Duttweiler (1888–1962), who somehowmanaged to squeeze his ample frame into the tiny car that is currently exhib- ited at the SwissMuseumof Transport in Lucerne; andNico- To Japan and Afghanistan in a Topolino Nicolas Bouvier drove through Asia in an old car from 1953 to 1957. His account of this intrepid journey still holds fascination today. “You do not travel to decorate yourself with exoticism and anecdotes, like a Christmas tree, but for the journey to pluck you, rinse you, wring you out, and hand you back like one of those towels worn out by washes that you’re given with a dash of soap in the brothels.” (Nicolas Bouvier, “Le Poisson-scorpion” [The Scorpion Fish], Éditions Gallimard, Paris 1996) Literature las Bouvier (born on 6March 1929 inGrand-Lancy near Ge- neva; died on 17 February 1998 in Geneva), who set out in his Topolino in summer 1953with artist friend Thierry Ver- net on an overland journey to Asia, inquisitive and open to the unanticipated adventures and the illumination and self-discovery that lay ahead. Irresistibly effortless They were an idle pair who had two years to play with, enough money to last four months, and an itinerary that took in Turkey, Iran, India and Japan. They would see de- serts, mountain passes, cities, and bustlingmarkets, aswell as nature in its unrelenting beauty. Bouvier had already vis- ited Lapland, NorthAfrica and the Balkans. But nowhewas entering the unknown with a fresh outlook and an open-heartedness towards people and things – an attitude