A curiosity

[Eyskens]

Tom

When I first decided to go on my pilgrimage, a close friend suggested I
bring music CD's to pass the time and make the walk easier.  Another
friend made a stronger suggestion that I use the walk as a time to
listen to my inner voice, and not the latest hits, and that the
pilgrimage was about the journey, not the destination.  I glad I chose
the latter advice.

Ludlum writes adventure fiction to entertain, not enlighten.  Nothing
about his book suggests its about the Camino even if a few sections have
some erroneous background info.

Buen Camino

Jim

-----Original Message-----
From: Road to Santiago Pilgrimage [mailto:GOCAMINOaPETE.URI.EDU] On
Behalf Of Tom Priestly
Sent: Wednesday, July 09, 2003 4:45 AM
To: GOCAMINOaPETE.URI.EDU
Subject: A curiosity


Hi all,
For my practice walks in Edmonton's river valley (I start the Camino in
about 6 weeks' time) I have been listening to sets of CD's from the
public library. Novels mostly. Most of them well worth listening to. But
the last one . . . not so. I bring it to your attention NOT, repeat NOT
because it is to be recommended: I find its plot preposterous, its
characters predictable, and its clichés pervasive. I am reporting about
it because of two passages in it.

The hero of Robert Ludlum's *The Prometheus Deception* (2000) is, with
another "operative", washed ashore at Finisterre/Fisterra. They assume
that they are being pursued. They commandeer a truck and drive off
towards Santiago. Later our hero "noticed that the road was becoming
crowded with people . . ." There follows a description of dense crowds
of pilgrims, also gypsy vendors along the roadside selling souvenirs. It
is all very colorful (and has several things right - the locals speak
Galician, the scallop shell emblem, and so
on) but when an inevitable shoot-out takes place, we read of a "frenzied
stampeding crowd." Later, in Santiago centre, they are in the crowded
Praza de Obradoiro, and once again there is a shootout (and once again a
stampede).

Not having been in Santiago yet, I cannot judge the accuracy of Ludlum's
description. Perhaps he has the latter part right.  But given what I
assume to be inaccurate (am I correct?) - massive crowds on the road
into Santiago from the WEST - I have to wonder. It may be that Ludlum is
confusing the western approach to Santiago with the approach from the
east, which this summer (and next year) does sound as if it will be
thronged. He does indeed mention "the pilgrim's road of some one hundred
kilometers from the pass at Roncesvalles to the ancient shrine of St.
James in Santiago. It usually took a month to make the journey on foot."
[Yes, 100! That makes four km per day average. Poor proof-reading!]

You may imagine my surprise and anticipation, as I walked, to be
transported aurally to the Fisterra-Santiago road; and my annoyance when
I guessed that I was being short-changed. This looks like being one
Camino reference to be tucked away in a corner of the archives. Using
these locales, with their actual connotations, for descriptions of
mayhem and bloodshed is of course unfortunate, but there is so much of
these elements throughout the book that it would be inconsistent if or
hero did NOT make harrowing escapes in these places.

A quick search of movie internet pages tells me of a 2001 movie "The
Prometheus Factor" with 2 writers whom I have never heard of but, oddly,
no further details: no cast, no crew. It seems not to have been
released. If it is based on Ludlum's book, this may be just as well . .
.

¡Buen camino!
Tom Priestly