I read Dashing for the Post a few years back. More Dashing is another collection of Patrick Leigh Fermor’s letters, although the style and content is quite similar to the earlier work. But is it elegant and very well informed, or is it tedious?
Well, really, it’s both. PLF comes across, as before, as a restless soul. He meanders all over the place, both geographically and in the subject matter of the letters, and drops upper class names everywhere. The letters certainly give you his view of things. In fairness, the letters weren’t written with a view to publication, and he did have a wide circle of friends and correspondents. After WW2, except for a sort period of paid employment, he was a freelance writer, and he freely admits that for many years he was almost a professional houseguest, a scrounger of invitations and of houses he could borrow. Later in life, he reciprocated some of this hospitality, when he and Joan had a house of their own at Kardamyli. His descriptions of the places he visits are often fascinating. His linguistic abilities stood him in good stead to mix with all types of people.
Obviously, a collection of letters provides a series of “snapshots” of PLF’s life. It’s not always clear why he’s in a particular location; for example, one letter is written from a series of South East Asian cities, but we’re not told why he made the trip. That said, the footnotes are invaluable, and must have taken a great deal of research. Amongst other issues mentioned is the “Enosis” campaign in the early 1950s, where the Greeks sought unification of Cyprus with Greece, creating bad relations with Britain, which was reflected in some hostility towards Britains such as PLF. And his collection deals in greater detail with his reunion with Balasha, and contains several letters to her.
There are numerous references to his feelings of guilt about his procrastination, in replying to letters or forwarding material to his publisher.
I don’t know how it is that so many of PLF’s letters survived; perhaps the recipients recognised their uniqueness at the time and retained them?
Yes, all in all, a fascinating insight into PLF’s life, but to be honest, I found I was skipping through some of the letters. Yes, they’re all interesting, but at the end of the day, perhaps there’s a limit to the number of “glimpses” into PLF’s interesting life that we need?
Musings and Mutterings 