Moritz Thomsen
Encyclopedia
Moritz Thomsen was an American
farmer
, writer
, and Peace Corps
volunteer who worked in the small Ecuadorian town of Rio Verde. His books have been praised by writers such as Paul Theroux
, Thomas Cahill
and Larry McMurtry
.
During World War II, Thomsen served as a B-17 Flying Fortress bombardier in the Eighth Air Force
. At age 44 he was working as a farmer in California when he decided to join the Peace Corps. After serving as a volunteer for four years, he remained in Ecuador. He died in 1991 of cholera
.
bombardier.
The Saddest Pleasure: A Journey on Two Rivers won a 1991 Governor’s Writers Award (now the Washington State Book Awards). In his introduction to The Best Travel Writing, 2005, author Tom Miller
writes that The Saddest Pleasure “embodies some of the very finest elements of travel literature
: constant doubt, a meddlesome nature, and a disregard for nationalism.”
Miller
calls Thomsen “one of the great American expatriate writers of the twentieth century” and describes him as “A soft-hearted cuss, a man of almost insufferable integrity, a lousy farmer and a terrific writer.” He describes Thomsen’s style as one that “pledged allegiance to nothing except his station as an expatriate. And as an expat he was free to judge us all, an undertaking he finessed with acute observations, self-deprecation, and a flavorful frame of reference that ranged from a Tchaikovsky symphony to a Sealy Posturpedic mattress.”
A fifth Thomsen book, Bad News From the Black Coast, is still unpublished.
Article at peacecorpswriters.org:
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
farmer
Farmer
A farmer is a person engaged in agriculture, who raises living organisms for food or raw materials, generally including livestock husbandry and growing crops, such as produce and grain...
, writer
Writer
A writer is a person who produces literature, such as novels, short stories, plays, screenplays, poetry, or other literary art. Skilled writers are able to use language to portray ideas and images....
, and Peace Corps
Peace Corps
The Peace Corps is an American volunteer program run by the United States Government, as well as a government agency of the same name. The mission of the Peace Corps includes three goals: providing technical assistance, helping people outside the United States to understand US culture, and helping...
volunteer who worked in the small Ecuadorian town of Rio Verde. His books have been praised by writers such as Paul Theroux
Paul Theroux
Paul Edward Theroux is an American travel writer and novelist, whose best known work of travel writing is perhaps The Great Railway Bazaar . He has also published numerous works of fiction, some of which were made into feature films. He was awarded the 1981 James Tait Black Memorial Prize for his...
, Thomas Cahill
Thomas Cahill
Thomas Cahill is an American scholar and writer. He is best known for The Hinges of History series, a prospective seven-volume series in which the author recounts formative moments in Western civilization.-Biography:...
and Larry McMurtry
Larry McMurtry
Larry Jeff McMurtry is an American novelist, essayist, bookseller and screenwriter whose work is predominantly set in either the old West or in contemporary Texas...
.
Life
Thomsen was born in 1915 into a wealthy American family in Seattle. Charlie, his father was President of Centennial Mills (Krusteaz Brand) and a multi-millionaire at the turn of the Century. As detailed in his memoirs, his relationship with his father was extremely strained, with Thomsen describing the man as "tyrannical."During World War II, Thomsen served as a B-17 Flying Fortress bombardier in the Eighth Air Force
Eighth Air Force
The Eighth Air Force is a numbered air force of the United States Air Force Global Strike Command . It is headquartered at Barksdale Air Force Base, Louisiana....
. At age 44 he was working as a farmer in California when he decided to join the Peace Corps. After serving as a volunteer for four years, he remained in Ecuador. He died in 1991 of cholera
Cholera
Cholera is an infection of the small intestine that is caused by the bacterium Vibrio cholerae. The main symptoms are profuse watery diarrhea and vomiting. Transmission occurs primarily by drinking or eating water or food that has been contaminated by the diarrhea of an infected person or the feces...
.
Writings
Thomsen published four books, three of them memoirs. Living Poor: A Peace Corps Chronicle, was published in 1969 and is ranked as one of the best Peace Corps memoirs ever written. The Farm on the River of Emeralds is a memoir of his years in Ecuador. My Two Wars (published posthumously) looks at both his "tempestuous" relationship with his father and his experiences as a World War IIWorld War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
bombardier.
The Saddest Pleasure: A Journey on Two Rivers won a 1991 Governor’s Writers Award (now the Washington State Book Awards). In his introduction to The Best Travel Writing, 2005, author Tom Miller
Tom Miller (travel writer)
Tom Miller is an American author primarily known for travel literature. His ten books include The Panama Hat Trail, On the Border, Trading With the Enemy, and Jack Ruby's Kitchen Sink...
writes that The Saddest Pleasure “embodies some of the very finest elements of travel literature
Travel literature
Travel literature is travel writing of literary value. Travel literature typically records the experiences of an author touring a place for the pleasure of travel. An individual work is sometimes called a travelogue or itinerary. Travel literature may be cross-cultural or transnational in focus, or...
: constant doubt, a meddlesome nature, and a disregard for nationalism.”
Miller
Tom Miller (travel writer)
Tom Miller is an American author primarily known for travel literature. His ten books include The Panama Hat Trail, On the Border, Trading With the Enemy, and Jack Ruby's Kitchen Sink...
calls Thomsen “one of the great American expatriate writers of the twentieth century” and describes him as “A soft-hearted cuss, a man of almost insufferable integrity, a lousy farmer and a terrific writer.” He describes Thomsen’s style as one that “pledged allegiance to nothing except his station as an expatriate. And as an expat he was free to judge us all, an undertaking he finessed with acute observations, self-deprecation, and a flavorful frame of reference that ranged from a Tchaikovsky symphony to a Sealy Posturpedic mattress.”
A fifth Thomsen book, Bad News From the Black Coast, is still unpublished.
Worldview
Thomsen's worldview is reflected in a statement he once made: "Living Poor is like being sentenced to exist in a stormy sea in a battered canoe, requiring all your strength simply to keep afloat; there is never any question of reaching a destination. True poverty is a state of perpetual crisis, and one wave just a little bigger or coming from an unexpected direction can and usually does wreck things."External links
Article at SpokesmanReview.com:http://www.spokesmanreview.com/interactive/bookclub/interviews/interview.asp?IntID=15Article at peacecorpswriters.org: