Juvenilia Teen Books and Travel Writing: Stories by Teen Author up to His Twenties
Eric Wiberg
eBook
(Island Books, Feb. 1, 2010)
Juvenilia is a compendium of four booklets written between 1987 and 2003. Overall the author has travelled to over 70 countries and island groups, sailed over 75,000 miles (the equivalent of three times around the globe at the equator), and innumerable miles overland, by train, ferry, and plane during four round-the world trips and three years in Asia. The essays are accompanied by extensive hand-made maps of Scandinavia, the UK, oceans, etc. Travel Writing depicts a terrifying seven-week voyage across the Atlantic, an adventurous six-month first-command across the South Pacific, a young man straight from university in the UK hitch-hiking alone through East Africa on a budget of $10 a day, and a more light-hearted rendition of a five-week round-the-world trip. Includes stories of storms, knife and shark attacks, robberies, car and boat wrecks. Juvenilia is by definition a retrospective of someone’s early work, to discern direction. This writing is meant to show the author’s development, if any, over time. The three booklets composed from ages 17-19 are experimental in nature. Written by a teen, the contents may also appeal to teens.Umbrae Papilionis means Shadows of Butterflies. The author was not good at spring sports (he damaged sailboats and lost tennis matches) so he took advantage of St. George’s School’s little-known policy to produce a collection of his writing instead. He spent hours ‘musing’ on the beach.Z. (for Zarathustra) derives from his study of Persian and non-Judeo-Christian religions and philosophy. Shorts reflects a Beatnik bent, as the author found himself set free to travel from university in Boston.