The Creature in the Map: A Journey to El Dorado

by Charles Nicholl

Hardcover, 1996

Status

Available

Call number

918.8041

Publication

William Morrow & Co (1996), Edition: 1st U.S. ed, Hardcover, 398 pages

Description

This work tells of Nicholl's trip up the rivers of Venezuela, following the route of Sir Walter Raleigh on his search for Eldorado. Nicholl extends his journey into the beautiful tropical forests of Paragna and Canaima where he meets adventurers searching for gold and diamonds.

User reviews

LibraryThing member BookCentric
So much I have to say about this book... From the long discussion of how the author planned to spell Raleigh's name (hint, modern spelling is "Raleigh", and using an alternate 16th century variant does not actually do anything to separate the man from the myth), to the dreamy, speculative, Jungian
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interpretation of a period map, to the chaotic and confusing time jumps, to the wholly awful digression into the early 20th century of Angel Falls, to the schoolboy writing (for some reason, in one scene, some drying fibers "look alarmingly like the breakfast cereal, shredded wheat..." Why "alarmingly" I'll never know, nor why shredded wheat must be defined for us.), to the overuse of the present tense, to the strange choice to stick actual relevant material into the appendix while wasting chapters on minor details and speculation... This book is what inspired the term "hot mess."
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Language

Physical description

398 p.; 9.3 inches

ISBN

0688146007 / 9780688146009
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