Philip Marsden is a writer who travels, but how faithfully can any writer depict other people’s lives, when the world they inhabit is inevitably "filtered", by differences in language and perception? Here, the writer talks to Ruth Underwood about how he writes what he sees.

The Chains of Heaven is Philip Marsden’s account of his journey on foot through northern Ethiopia. On setting out, his plan was “to walk in this area, where I hope I’ll find what I want, which is ordinary life but with all its extraordinary aspects.”

He argues that what really happens is better than anything your imagination might conjure. “The true and the real have a magic to them which you tinker with at your peril.” “The things that sparked me off were the exotic, things a long way from these shores,” he says.

Research in translation

Travelling to exotic countries is bound to involve a communication barrier. As Marsden says, “Almost by definition the places that are interesting to visit are those which have quite obscure languages.” He does admit that some things are lost in translation. He speaks Amharic, but doesn’t speak Tigrinya, the language spoken in the north of Ethiopia. How does this affect his capturing of the scenes he witnessed there?

“Of course something is lost, but there’s an awful lot that happens in mood and in movements and in the way people are…You gain something just by being there.”
“I’m curious and respectful of peoples’ lives, just as they’re curious about my life. You get to remote places and people are interested and appreciative that you’re there. The fact that I have a car at home and a big house just doesn’t matter.”

Despite this, he does recommend learning at least some of the language of the country visited. “A little bit of language goes a long way. Apart from enabling communication, it gives you an ‘in’ with the people. If you show that you can speak to them and that you’ve made the effort to do that, it’s a huge ice-breaker.”

Language is not the only obstacle to conveying the reality of a place — it can be tainted simply by being seen through the eyes of an onlooker. However, Marsden accepts his position on the periphery. He admits, “I am, of course, an outsider.” But he argues that this can be an advantage. “There are times when people articulate things which they never would to local people, often they’re more candid.”

The truth and facts

Marsden writes what he sees. He doesn’t move anecdotes around in the narrative to suit his purpose. He says, “If you start to play around with the details, you lose something.” This, he says, is a rule that he would advise sticking to. “Not,” he says, “because it has to stand up in a court of law, but because if you break the rules you are doing yourself a disservice.”

But however true the details are, Marsden admits that those details are selected, and that in selecting some and excluding others, the truth or reality is made abstract.
Nevertheless, In The Chains of Heaven he writes, "If there is any purpose to our time on this earth, it is to understand it, to seek out its diversity, to celebrate its heroes and its wonders – in short to witness it."