White

“If History has proved to us that, no, better days are not ahead, geography, on the other hand, has kept its promises. It has taught us that life lies in movement.” Such is the wry conceit at the heart of the lyrical latest from travel writer Tesson (The Art of Patience), which recaps four wintertime journeys, from 2018 to 2021, taken by the author, with various companions, on foot and on ski through the Alps. Along the way, he contemplates the dire state of the world, political philosophy, and the failures of the latter to address the former (the preface repeats Lenin’s famous question “What is to be done?”; Tesson’s answer: go skiing). His stated aim is to forget the troubles of the outer world in the stupefying whiteness of the mountains (“I was counting on the substantific colour to grant me joy”). But, by sardonic design, the outer world keeps rearing its head, as riveting tales of the parties’ athletic exertions and risky decisions (“Du Lac is insane!” the author’s friends aptly warn him about his most frequent travel companion) are interspersed with reflections on WWI as they pass through a Slovenian battle site or Nietzsche as they visit his former home in the Swiss town of Sils Maria. Readers will be swept up in this sly intellectual adventure. (Oct.)