River of Ink: Literature, History, Art
Thomas Christensen’s previous title 1616: The World in Motion looked at a single year in the age of early maritime globalism—Publishers Weekly gave it a starred review, calling it “a stunning overview of the nascent modern world.” By contrast his new gorgeously illustrated River of Ink ranges widely across time and cultures and offers what amounts to a magisterial history of literacy.
The book’s title refers to the sacking of Baghdad in 1258 when the Tigris ran black with the ink of books flung into the water by Mongol invaders. Other essays range from the writings of prehistoric Chinese cultures known only through archaeology to the state of book reviewing in the US today to the heroic efforts of contemporary Afghanis to keep the legacy of their ancient culture alive under the barrage of endless war.
Christensen’s encyclopedic knowledge of both world art and a vast understanding of literature allows him to move easily from a discussion of the invention of moveable type in Korea to Johannes Kepler’s search for the harmony of the spheres to the strange journey of an iron sculpture from Benin to the Louvre. Other essays cover the Popul Vuh of the Maya as exemplum of translation, the pioneering explorations of the early American naturalist John Bartram, the balletic works of Louis-Ferdinand Celine.
It is Christensen’s unparalleled gift to seemingly see the world whole and to offer a wealth of absolutely vital connections adequate to our position as citizens of an ever more rapidly globalizing world.
reigned for forty years, from 1799 through 1839. In 1801 Ranjit Singh was proclaimed Maharaja of the Punjab. His extraordinary personality dominated the region until his death in 1839. During his reign the Sikh kingdom expanded as he defeated the Hindu kingdoms of the Punjab Hills, the Muslim strongholds of the Afghans and Mughals, the whole of Kashmir, and large parts of Ladakh. His courtiers, artists, and soldiers were Hindus and Muslims as well as Sikhs, and a cosmopolitan touch was added by
strums, the story unfolds. And so, once again, the voice of the dragon cascades down the steep mountain valleys of Bhutan. In t he L an d of t he Dr agon 137 Nur Jahan e a r ly mo d er n wo m a n of p ower ••• In the early modern world, it was difficult for women to compete in struggles of power as independent players. Most built instead upon their roles as wives, mothers, daughters, or consorts (the most notable exception was Elizabeth of England). One of these was a woman whose birth name
and imposed taxes based on a percentage of the actual produce, allowing the substitution of cash payments in place of a percentage of the yield. A Dutch visitor in 1617 reported that Ambar was “very much loved and respected by everyone and keeps good government.” Up fro m Sl avery 169 The tomb of Malik Ambar, near Rozah (Khuldabad), Aurangabad. India. Photo by Tervlugt, http://bit.ly/1r0S9wM. The Mughal emperors Akbar and Jahangir both dispatched armies against him, winning only fleeting
to erase all trace of the region’s pre-Muslim past they blasted into bits the monumental Buddhas of Bamiyan, and they smashed artworks and destroyed books wherever they could find them. They destroyed the National Museum in Kabul and shattered most of its contents. But even as they did their worst, the museum’s staff found a way to hide many prize items, and over the years of Taliban rule they refused to divulge their locations despite intense persecution. Years after the museum had been
when the Taliban dynamited them on the grounds that they were idols. That same year, the Taliban also destroyed the National Museum of Afghanistan, which had been built in 1922. Omara Khan Massoudi, director of the museum, has written: At the beginning of 2001 . . . the Taliban decided that all images must be destroyed. A special group was charged with this task. They destroyed about 2,500 works of art. . . . These barbaric acts, which filled the heart of every decent Afghan with anger,