The Arch of Kerguelen: Voyage to the Islands of Desolation

I came to this work after a life long curiousity about Kergulen and found it very satisfying and packed with information about the islands and the history. Yet it is not a work of history, it is a meditation, a poem of experience in a place isolated and harsh and yet beautiful. Kauffmanns reveries are echoed by his predecessors and perhaps all who have been drawn to that lonely and mysterious place and he conveys a sense of being there few authors ever attain. He does so while informing us about the landscape, the flora and fauna and history. His descriptions are parsimonius but evocative. I have but two complaints: I would have like a bit more detail of some things, like a little better description of the cabins and travelers huts he stays in and a few things like that. Also, there are no photgraphs and there should be lots of them. A previous reviewer mentions something about the author having been a hostage in Beruit and complains that its not mentioned in the book, yet supposes the book must somehow be about that experience. I find this a bizzare criticsm. I know nothing about the authors past experiences, nor is it at all relevant to the book. Its very clear it had no bearing on Kauffmanns desire to go there and it seems very silly to expect that everything an author writes must somehow be about a single event in their lives, however traumatic it may have been, as if he must forever be a hostage. In short, whatever the authors past, this book is about Kergulen and those who are drawn there, and it is unfair to the author to accuse him of writing about something else.

The author makes a pilgrimage to the islands in the southern Indian Ocean which have been called the most desolate on earth since their discovery in 1772. His travelogue, The Arch Of Kerguelen, explores the islands, their wildlife, and their history in an intriguing study.

A fine translation from the French but this book really suffers from the lack of photos. For those readers interested in the series of French islands in the southern Indian Ocean this is a fine book and I doubt there will be many disappointed readers.However, if you wonder what Kerguelen might look like in reality, this book is not for you.