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It's been strange for me this autumn-into-winter to see both Afghanistan and The Lord of the Rings (Houghton Mifflin)prominently featured in news and discussion, albeit unrelated and vastly unequal in importance. It takes me back to a time thirty years ago in my own personal history when the two were deeply linked.In 1972, recently out of college and traveling through Europe, I fell for a man from Spain who talked me into "going to the East." I'd read all of Herman Hesse, studied the religions of the world, and was eager for adventure. So with little money and no preparation, I took off with my newfound friend.
For many months, we drove overland in a beat-up van through Turkey, Lebanon, Syria, Iraq, Iran, Afghanistan, Pakistan, India, and
Nepal. We slept under the stars, cooked over campfires, and bathed in rivers. I write this breezily, but in fact it was often an horrendous journey. Throughout much of the trip, I was terrified—and
never more so than in Afghanistan. We were trapped there for three months, waiting for papers to allow our van to travel further east. During that time, driven on by my energetic, insane companion, I
traveled thousands of miles over that country's rugged terrain, visiting Herat, Kandahar, Kabul, Mazar-i-Sharif, sleeping outside in remote mountain areas, river valleys,
and barren treeless plains. I was constantly ill and constantly frightened. I yearned for escape. But for reasons dim and unfathomable to me now, it seemed deeply wrong to just turn around and go home.
By the time our papers came through and we finally left Afghanistan, my joy and physical strength had been sapped. But I stayed on
the path and traveled through Pakistan, Kashmir, India, and Nepal. Then one day my body simply refused to go further. While riding a bike in Katmandu, I felt a terrible pain in my foot. Within an
hour it turned completely blue and swelled to twice its normal size. I hobbled into a missionary hospital where my foot was operated on. (I've never known exactly what was wrong with it.) I was
placed in a crowded ward of Nepalese women, none of whom spoke English. Abandoned by my friend, sick with fever and infection, I almost succumbed to despair.
But in the middle of this lonely, humiliating situation, I opened a copy of The Lord of the Rings. We had actually carried
the book in the van throughout our journey, but I had never read a word of it. As I lay in my hospital bed I began the three-volume tome.For two weeks, all I did was read and sleep; and while I
slept, I dreamed about what I'd read. In my dreams, Tolkien's mountains, forests, and rivers mingled with the landscapes of my journey—especially those of Afghanistan. My terrors mingled with Frodo's
terrors. Ultimately Frodo's courage and powers of endurance became mine. Little did I know that what seemed at the time to be delirium was closely akin to the creative process I employ today as an
author—placing imaginary characters in real places, translating harsh experiences into fantasy, compensating for my own personal weakness with the strength of make-believe heroes. By the time I
finished the trilogy, though emaciated and unable to walk without crutches, I had the emotional strength to start my long journey home.
I'd made an irrational choice to travel to the East. But to this day, it still feels as if I'd had no choice. That journey
irrevocably changed me. Experience was gathered that serves as a reference point every day of my life. I encountered worlds of light and worlds of darkness—and planted seeds of the imagination that
led directly to my being an author of children's books.
Afghanistan and The Lord of the Rings: One nearly killed me; one helped rescue me. To both, I'm equally grateful. •
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About the Author:
Mary Pope Osborne is the award-winning author of more than fifty books for young people, including
novels, picture books, biographies, and many collections of mythology and folklore. She is best known for the Magic Tree House Series, time-travel books that take young readers on
journeys to different times and places throughout the world. The series has sold over twelve million books and been translated into fifteen languages. During the 1990's Ms. Osborne was elected to
two terms as president of the Authors Guild, the country's leading organization for published authors. She is only the second children's book author in the Guild's eighty-eight-year
history to serve as president.
Recent books by Mary Pope Osborne include:
One World, Many Religions (Random House, 1996)
Christmas in Camelot (Random House, 2001)
Kate and the Bean Stalk (Atheneum, 2000)
Adaline Falling Star (Scholastic, 2000)
My Secret War (Scholastic, 2000)
After the Rain (Scholastic, 2002)
My Brother's Keeper (Scholastic, 2000)
To contact this author or illustrator, please use the information for his or her publisher provided on our list of CBC member publishers.
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