TIA: Tim Robinson's Aran

Some of the best responses to our books come from non-traditional review sources—which is why we're starting a feature that is long overdue: TIA or Total Information Awareness. That's right, we're watching you, and if you write something of note about an NYRB title, we just might post an excerpt here.

For more about the TSA mascot, see this post at Bibliodyssey. We hope that it is less creepy than the logo for US govt's similarly titled program.

First up: A celebration of Tim Robinson, author of The Stones of Aran and his personal, historical, mythical maps of Aran. The complete text of the review can be found at Views from the Barracks.

The fractured limestone landscapes of Western Ireland, and in particular, Connemara, the Aran Islands and the Burren are the subject of Robinson's cartographic and literary output.  A Yorkshire-born, Cambridge-educated mathematician, Robinson brings to his task linguistic diligence, an inquisitive spirit, and the capacity to translate and communicate the abstract into his maps and writings and make it  wonderful. Last year, my partner Ro and I explored the islands of Inis Meán and Inis Oirr, clambering over dry-stone walls, walking down ancient boreens accompanied by Tim Robinson's increasingly dog-eared map.  Monochrome, with the greyness of the landscape itself, and covered with hints and gifts, here a dolmen, there a blow-hole. And, on one memorable afternoon in the spring sun sat on the stones of an ancient fortress with the sea a distant but insistent drone and found the music of a flute that brought the first cuckoo to an eerie duet.

This is fractal cartography that describes the intersection of geology, human activity, the ascent of the human spirit in myth-making and story-telling and the ever-present sea.  The maps guide the traveller to look harder, listen longer and take time to absorb his/her surroundings. [cont.]

Comments

[Sara]

I'm sorry to say that we don't, at this time.

[Matthew]

Sara, this begs the question: any plans to bring out Robinson's Connemara trilogy?