Navigatio (Patrick Holland, Transit Lounge)

With the poise and economy of expression of a Zen Buddhist kōan, Navigatio explores the worldly and metaphysical searchings of St Brendan of Clonfert, a sixth-century Christian monk who braves wild seas and uncertain horizons in a quest for a legendary ‘Earthly Paradise’. Sailing from one exotic yet uniquely sinister land to the next, Brendan and his loyal band of wayfarers encounter dragons, mermaids, witches and spectres, with Satan playing omnipresent antagonist. The episodic structure recalls Homer’s Odyssey, and Patrick Holland’s cosmology draws from a wide array of (mostly Western) faiths and myths. Yet any initial impression of Occident-centricism is counterbalanced by Junko Azukawa’s graceful and expressive illustrations, informed by the artist’s training in Japanese calligraphy. Holland, too, lends his fable a greater sense of worldliness, deploying spirits in a manner evocative of Chinese and Japanese folklore. This literary stroke rounds out the story’s abiding sense of rootlessness, which will have strong resonance for today’s global ‘tourist class’. Navigatio is strange and richly imagined. What it lacks in philosophical originality is more than made up for by its coolly measured prose and aesthetic beauty. This book is a lovely curio, the likes of which Australia’s literature too-seldom offers.

Gerard Elson is a writer and bookseller who works at Readings St Kilda

Category: Reviews