North, South, East and West

Today’s book, Four Points of the Compass by Jerry Brotton, completes my coincidental trilogy of essay collections. This book is a set of essays on the cardinal directions - North, South, East and West.

It turns out, though I didn’t plan it that way, that the last three books I’ve read have all been written as a series of essays.

Low-Hanging Fruit is Randy Rainbow’s collection of stories about his life, with a few comedy sketches thrown in for good measure. Cabinet of Curiosities is made up of very short stories on a range of topics, all originally delivered as part of the popular podcast by the same name, and each has a quip or a pun at the end - so that it read more or less as a stream of Dad Jokes.

Unlike Rainbow’s book there’s not really any pop culture references here, and while this book delves into history like the Cabinet, it does so in more depth, and more seriously.

Author Jerry Brotton is a Professor of Rennaissance Studies in the UK, with a series of popular books under his belt. As you might expect from someone with a background in language and literature he gives us a book not so much about North, South, East and West, but rather about the meaning of the words - their usage and importance in culture and through history.

East, for example, is where the sun rises - where each new day is born. East as a word or concept has often been used as a symbol of birth. Across time East came to signify not only birth but the start of the cycle of human life, and of the cycle of the seasons. It was also important to early cultures like the Inca and the Egyptians whose religious beliefs included worship of a sun god.

As monotheistic religions began to take hold, they distanced themselves from worship of the sun while retaining some of the luminous aspects and meaning attached to sun gods. Halos surrounding the heads of holy figures in art is one example of how the sun’s importance was carried forward. Christian churches have long been oriented so that the congregation (and the priest in pre-Vatican Council days) faced to the East.

And so Brotton goes through each of the cardinal directions, drawing out the importance of each across history. His journey through the compass helps him explain why maps today have North at the top, and how West came to be a synonym for modern European civilization in the 19th and 20th centuries. It’s an interesting journey and one I’m glad I took.

RATING: Four Stars ⭐⭐⭐⭐

RATING COMMENTS: Author Jerry Brotton takes a journey through the four cardinal directions and across time, delivering essays that illuminate the meaning and importance to many cultures of North, South, East and West.

WHERE I GOT MY COPY: I read an advanced reviewer’s copy of the book provided by NetGalley and the American publisher, Grove Atlantic. The book was published in the US on November 12th.