At the end of 1933, Patrick Leigh Fermor’s dream of setting up as a writer in London wasn’t becoming a reality. Struck with the idea, he decided to leave his troubles behind and walk across Europe to Constantinople as a tramp. He was only eighteen. World War I was barely a memory, and he didn’t yet know what to make of Hitler’s rise to power in Germany. Nearly a lifetime later, Leigh Fermor wrote about this trip in a planned trilogy. Originally published in 1977, A Time of Gifts is the first volume, and it takes us from London, to the Hook of Holland and to Hungary.

NYRB Classics published their edition of A Time of Gifts in October 2005, and it is the book we’ll be talking about in Episode 2 of The Mookse and the Gripes Podcast.

In Episode 3 we will be discussing Milton Rokeach’s The Three Christs of Ypsilanti.

Show Notes (1:06:19)

  • Intro
  • Brief Patrick Leigh Fermor Bio: 03:31
  • Main Discussion: 05:18

Some links:

Episode Credits:

  • Co-Host Trevor Berrett
  • Co-Host Brian Berrett
  • Introduction Music — “Where We Fall We’ll Lie” by Jeff Zentner, from his album The Dying Days of Summer (used with permission)
  • Outro Music — “Promise Me That You Will Never Die” by Jeff Zentner, from his album Hymns to the Darkness (used with permission)
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