A Time to Keep Silence

English language

Published Oct. 30, 2007

ISBN:: 978-1-59017-244-5

(2 reviews)

A Time to Keep Silence (1953) is a travel book by British author Patrick Leigh Fermor. It describes Fermor's sojourns in monasteries across Europe, and is praised by William Dalrymple as a "sublime masterpiece".This was an early publication from the Queen Anne Press, a small private press, created in 1951 by Lord Kemsley, proprietor of the Sunday Times. In 1952 Kemsley made Leigh Fermor's friend Ian Fleming its managing director. The press concentrated on producing finely printed and bound editions, often with small limitations. A Time to Keep Silence was printed in a limited edition of 500 copies with illustrations by John Craxton. After revision, an open edition was published by John Murray in 1957. This was republished by Penguin in 1988 with a new foreword written in 1982. The monasteries discussed include the Abbey of Saint Wandrille, Solesmes Abbey and La Grande Trappe. He also describes a visit to …

A Time to Keep Silence (1953) is a travel book by British author Patrick Leigh Fermor. It describes Fermor's sojourns in monasteries across Europe, and is praised by William Dalrymple as a "sublime masterpiece".This was an early publication from the Queen Anne Press, a small private press, created in 1951 by Lord Kemsley, proprietor of the Sunday Times. In 1952 Kemsley made Leigh Fermor's friend Ian Fleming its managing director. The press concentrated on producing finely printed and bound editions, often with small limitations. A Time to Keep Silence was printed in a limited edition of 500 copies with illustrations by John Craxton. After revision, an open edition was published by John Murray in 1957. This was republished by Penguin in 1988 with a new foreword written in 1982. The monasteries discussed include the Abbey of Saint Wandrille, Solesmes Abbey and La Grande Trappe. He also describes a visit to the abandoned rock monasteries of Cappadocia near Urgub. At St Wandrille he initially experienced a strong sense of depression, restlessness, insomnia and loneliness but this 'miserable bridge-passage' cleared after a few days. He grew to admire the scholarship and learning of the Benedictine Order there and benefited from the rhythm of the daily cycle. In contrast, he found the life at the Trappist monastery incomprehensibly austere. He concludes the essay with a brief overview of English monasticism. The title is from the Book of Ecclesiastes (Ecclesiastes 3:7).

1 edition

Sean Bala reviewed A Time to Keep Silence by Patrick Leigh Fermor

Review of 'A Time to Keep Silence' on 'Goodreads'

3 stars

"A Time to Keep Silence" by Patrick Leigh Fermor is a short, beautifully written meditation on the nature of silence in the modern world and the continuing presence, despite numerous pressures, of Christian monasticism. The book consists of three essays centered around three different monasteries - two living examples in France (one Benedictine and another Trappist) and one abandoned example in Cappadocia, Turkey. Though the essays are distinct, there are a number of general themes you see throughout all three. A first theme is absolute strangeness of monasticism - a strangeness that has always existed and continues to the present. This is demonstrated most clearly in the third essay, which takes Fermor to an elaborate but abandoned monastic community in Turkey. The contrast between the desert and the beauty of the buildings and paintings is striking. But this strangeness is not necessarily a negative quality and its that contrast between …

"A Time to Keep Silence" by Patrick Leigh Fermor is a short, beautifully written meditation on the nature of silence in the modern world and the continuing presence, despite numerous pressures, of Christian monasticism. The book consists of three essays centered around three different monasteries - two living examples in France (one Benedictine and another Trappist) and one abandoned example in Cappadocia, Turkey. Though the essays are distinct, there are a number of general themes you see throughout all three. A first theme is absolute strangeness of monasticism - a strangeness that has always existed and continues to the present. This is demonstrated most clearly in the third essay, which takes Fermor to an elaborate but abandoned monastic community in Turkey. The contrast between the desert and the beauty of the buildings and paintings is striking. But this strangeness is not necessarily a negative quality and its that contrast between monastery and world that helps us also see the strangeness of the world itself. You can also see this idea in the surprise the author feels in the contrast between the extreme actions of the monastics (especially at La Trappe) and their normality. A second theme is the resiliency of monasticism - time and time again monasteries have been attacked in the West and yet they always find ways of taking root. A third theme is the process of alienation and dislocation that comes from entering into the monastic world. Again, I should note that for the author, this dislocation is not necessarily a bad thing. This process is especially well drawn in the first essay centered around the Abbey of St. Wandrille de Fontanelle. Fourth is the power of silence to transform. A fourth theme is the presence and power of silence. This is a short read but one that raises good questions. It also is a good travel book in that it give the reader an excellent sense of place.

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Dec. 21, 2017