About “Travels with a Donkey in the Cevennes” by Robert Louis Stevenson

I chose this book because it is about Robert Louis Stevenson’s pilgrimage across southern France. I half expected a satire on the order of Don Quixote by Cervantes.  Instead, this short book was part travelog and part commentary about the history of brutal conflict between Protestants and Catholics in the region and how they get at the time of his writing.

His travel companion was a donkey that, while maddening slow and helpless, toward the end also appeared to be enjoying the trip. Their common experiences, while not shared verbally, seemed to bond them until Stevenson finally had to regretfully sell the beast at the end of the trip.  This friend/burden relationship seemed to be a kind of metaphor for the relationship of the villagers of opposing beliefs.  They kind of resolved to tolerate each other on a common journey.

Reading English literature written in the late 1800’s is refreshing as the grammar is spare and precise, the humor is dry yet loaded with purpose beyond just entertainment. Stevenson paints descriptions of the French countryside including the hills at sunset, the dry roads covered in chestnuts, the forests during the dead of night, that not only give the reader a clear picture of the scene, he also puts you in his position, triggering memories of similar experiences that evoke similar emotions. For a short while, you are Robert Louis Stevenson. Excellent reading.

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