Review by Bruce Tierney
The cross-pollination of cultures has long been a theme of Pico Iyer's works: a Western writer's affair with a Japanese housewife (The Lady and the Monk); an American journalist's ill-starred romance with a Havana senorita of questionable repute (Cuba and the Night); a post-modern Far East awash in neon imagery of Rambo and Camel Filters (Video Night in Katmandu). Iyer revisits this theme in his latest book, Tropical Classical. Not only does he reflect upon his firsthand experiences with exotic people and places, Iyer also offers piquant political commentary, treatises on the English language, book reviews (!), interviews with little-known but fascinating characters, and an ode to the humble comma.
In the section entitled "Places," he introduces his readers to far-flung corners of the world: Ethiopia, Nepal, Tibet, and, perhaps strangest of all, California . . . "California's image has been fashioned largely by interlopers from the East, who tend to look on the place as a kind of recumbent dumb blonde, so beautiful that it cannot possibly have any other virtues."
In the section entitled "People," Iyer chronicles his stay with Tenzin Gyatso, the fourteenth (and current) Dalai Lama. Although exiled to northern India, the Dalai Lama remains spiritual leader to some six million Tibetans living under Chinese rule.
Throughout the discord, however, Tenzin Gyatso maintains a beaming sense of humor: " 'The fourteenth Dalai Lama may be the most popular Dalai Lama of all,' he says, smiling merrily. 'If the Chinese had treated the Tibetans like real brothers, then the Dalai Lama might not be so popular. So' -- he twinkles impishly -- 'all the credit goes to the Chinese.' "
It is in the sections entitled "Themes" and "Squibs," however, that Iyer cuts loose and has some fun. On attempting a foreign language while abroad: "In some respects, it comes down to a question of whether 'tis better to give, or to receive, linguistic torture. The treachery of the phrase book, as every neophyte soon discovers, is that you cannot begin to follow the answer to the question you've pronounced so beautifully -- and, worse still, your auditor now assumes you're fluent in Swahili."
How about a discussion of "eccentrics," as opposed to "weirdos," complete with a concise, if un-Webster-like definition: "The difference between the eccentric and the weirdo is, in its way, the difference between a man with a teddy bear in his hand and a man with a gun. We are also, of course, besieged by other kinds of deviants -- crackpots, oddballs, fanatics, quacks, and cranks. But the weirdo and the eccentric define between them that invisible line at which strangeness acquires an edge and oddness becomes menace."
Any new writing by Pico Iyer is a treat, from his articles in Time and Harper's to his stories of travel to distant lands, to his bittersweet tales of love. Tropical Classical is a worthy addition to a stellar body of work.
Bruce Tierney is a writer in Atlanta.
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