‘In the Middle East the Bible is excellent company… Coming down the long slope into Hebron, or going through Bethlehem and looking out…' Photo: by Ed Robertson on Unsplash
An open book: Antony Barlow on his father’s reading in the FAU
‘One can understand why this country made so strong an impression on the Hebrew writers.’
During lockdown, many of us read more than usual. I thought I’d take a look at the books my father took with him to the Middle East during his time in the Friends Ambulance Unit. He referred to them in his letters: ‘On the whole I was very satisfied with the books that I took with me. Shakespeare is an ideal companion. Othello is a good play for a sea voyage.’
Then: ‘In the Middle East the Bible is excellent company… Coming down the long slope into Hebron, or going through Bethlehem and looking out … over the Red Sea to the mountains of Moab, one can understand why this country made so strong an impression on the Hebrew writers and why their work is so full of flocks and herds and vineyards, dawn and sunset, and the stars of night – “Canst thou bind the sweet influences of the Pleiades, or loose the bands of Orion?”’
He read far and wide, including histories: ‘I have just read the history of the Crusades, which is a fascinating story of action and devotion, of bravery and endurance, ruined by ignorance, stupidity, jealousy and faction. As one sees British army lorries on a road near Acre, one remembers that over 700 years ago Richard Coeur de Lion stormed and took this town. For how long now have British troops fought for Christianity, or for what they believed to be right?’
Of course there were novels too, like Tolstoy: ‘War and Peace is surely the perfect book for a long voyage, and lasted me from Suez to Bombay! It is one of those books that can be read incessantly with little fear of coming to an end… I cannot say that I entirely agree with Tolstoy’s philosophy of war… But I would certainly place him alongside Shakespeare, at the top of my list.’
And then to Jane Austen: ‘Could there be a greater reading contrast to Shakespeare and a history of the Crusades than Pride and Prejudice or Persuasion? What a secure and comfortable world it was! The working class never obtruded. There was a plentiful supply of… servants. Yet it is not wholly escapist. Jane Austen does not hesitate to condemn her worthless characters and commend those who are “sensible and gentlemanly”. But if they have ten thousand a year, so much the better.’
He was always keen to learn more about the Society of Friends: ‘Reading William C Braithwaite’s The History of Quakerism enables one to see Quakerism set in perspective, in the mystic tradition, a tradition which later generations have tended to overlook. To read this in parallel with Margaret Irwin’s novels, proves, if proof were needed, what a rich and varied century was the seventeenth. This book is a history to be proud of, and there is no excuse for not reading it; it is most readable.’
His choices make for a fascinating reading list.
