Just As Well I'm Leaving

Just As Well I’m Leaving by Michael Booth (2005 Jonathan Cape paperback 359pp)

 

I was intending to write a long, detailed synopsis and review of this book but for a number of reasons I’ve left it close to a month since finishing it and the initial impact has faded a little.

After discovering his work about 6 years ago I’ve subsequently read every book Michael Booth has written and enjoyed them all. Specialising in tales of travel and/or food he has a wonderful way with words often mixing humour with insightful observations of the locations he finds himself in.

 “Just As Well I’m Leaving” was his first published book, released in 2005 and sees him in more of a straight journalistic mode with very little food involved.

 After relocating to live in Denmark when his wife secures a job there, Booth finds himself a close observer of the modern Danes and their lifestyle. There are so many quirks and foibles to an outsider but one thing that seems to unite them is their veneration of the 19^th century writer Hans Christian Andersen. He has become a figure of national pride and the Danes have totally romanticised his life and works. Few of you reading this will be totally unfamiliar with Andersen’s output – he has become part of the Western canon with stories like The Emperor’s New Clothes, The Princess and the Pea and many many others. He rose from poverty in a small Danish town to become one of the most famous figures in Europe, a friend to kings and peasants alike.

As Booth discovers, beyond the whitewashed official biographies lies another story. Andersen, based on his own diaries and the impressions of those who knew him, was a neurotic, insecure and tragic figure who swung between near-genius writing and persistent self-sabotage. He clawed his way up the social ladder by throwing himself upon the rich and famous of the day asking for patronage. He failed in his efforts more often than he succeeded and his unusual physical appearance often made him a figure of fun in public places.

Booth uncovers a lesser-known work from Andersen, 1840’s A Poet’s Bazaar, an account of a journey across Europe to the exotic Orient then back again through Eastern Europe. Fascinated by the writing and the insights it gives to Andersen’s character, Booth decides to follow in the writer’s footsteps and retrace the Journey in the 21^st Century.

 The rest of the book basically follows both Andersen’s and Booth’s experiences in France, Germany, Italy, Malta, Greece and Turkey and back westward along the Danube River. Booth tries but often fails to visit the exact same towns and use the same travel methods as one would in the mid-19^th century. We find a lot has changed in most places while some things remain eternal. The longer the book goes on and the more we learn about Andersen, the more of an oddball he becomes in our minds. His sexuality is a matter for modern debate – the Danes tried to rubbish speculation in the past. It seems clear he was either gay or more likely bisexual, his own fawning letters to both young men and women alike add heavily to the evidence of the latter. He was also a massive hypochondriac, often thinking he was on the edge of death from every imaginable condition as he travelled onward.

Booth’s own modern travel travails are amusing enough and he writes in an entertaining style but its really Andersen and Andersen’s manic behaviour in the past which has become the memorable part of this book for me – In the end Booth is really just there to pull all the strands of research together and present a coherent narrative out of it all, you know like a good journalist should.

Worth a read if you like history, travel and literature. The modern (well, early 2000s) parts have faded fast but what remains is quite fascinating.