A Time to Keep Silence

By Patrick Leigh Fermor
Introduction by Karen Armstrong

While still a teenager, Patrick Leigh Fermor made his way across Europe, as recounted in his classic memoirs, A Time of Gifts and Between the Woods and the Water. During World War II, he fought with local partisans against the Nazi occupiers of Crete. But in A Time to Keep Silence, Leigh Fermor writes about a more inward journey, describing his several sojourns in some of Europe's oldest and most venerable monasteries. He stays at the Abbey of St. Wandrille, a great repository of art and learning; at Solesmes, famous for its revival of Gregorian chant; and at the deeply ascetic Trappist monastery of La Grande Trappe, where monks take a vow of silence. Finally, he visits the rock monasteries of Cappadocia, hewn from the stony spires of a moonlike landscape, where he seeks some trace of the life of the earliest Christian anchorites.

More than a history or travel journal, however, this beautiful short book is a meditation on the meaning of silence and solitude for modern life. Leigh Fermor writes, "In the seclusion of a cell—an existence whose quietness is only varied by the silent meals, the solemnity of ritual, and long solitary walks in the woods—the troubled waters of the mind grow still and clear, and much that is hidden away and all that clouds it floats to the surface and can be skimmed away; and after a time one reaches a state of peace that is unthought of in the ordinary world."

Reviews

Fermor writes logbooks of discovery, keenly meandering through architecture, music, art, history and the minutiae of everyday life...[His] erudition and courage are matched by his discerning compassion, which shapes the probing character sketches that populate his books, including A Time to Keep Silence.
— Los Angeles Times

For the past three centuries, British writers have gone on trips to remote areas or exotic places and lived to tell the tale...Patrick Leigh Fermor, 92, has carried this great British tradition into our own time.
— The Wall Street Journal

Delightful...His book is not only an admirable piece of travel writing; it is also a brilliant piece of human exploration.
— New Statesman

Prose lapidary and evocative enough to please even the hardiest skeptic.
— The Washington Post

[A Time to Keep Silence] is his shortest book (and to my mind his best).
— Anthony Lane, The New Yorker

Also see:

A Time of Gifts By Patrick Leigh Fermor Introduction by Jan Morris At once a memoir of coming-of-age, an account of a journey, and a dazzling exposition of the English language, A Time of Gifts is also a portrait of a continent already showing ominous signs of the holocaust to come.

Between the Woods and the Water By Patrick Leigh Fermor Introduction by Jan Morris Continuing the epic foot journey across Europe begun in A Time of Gifts.

Mani By Patrick Leigh Fermor Introduction by Michael Gorra Patrick Leigh Fermor carries the reader with him on his journeys amongst the peoples of the southernmost parts of Greece, exploring their history and time-honored lore.

Roumeli By Patrick Leigh Fermor Introduction by Patricia Storace Travel writing's very own "cross between Indiana Jones, James Bond, and Graham Greene" explores northern Greece.

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