Eldon's powerful photographs of the escalating war in Somalia were instrumental in bringing international attention to that troubled region, and he seemed poised on the brink of an important career as a Reuters photojournalist when, in 1993, at the age of 22, he was stoned to death by a Somali mob. The posthumous The Journey Is the Destination,
based on his journals, was one of the most enthusiastically received books of 1997. Eldon's youthful mastery of a fluid and vibrant collage style—derived in part from the similar journals of Peter Beard, but charged with originality—fully justified their publication. New's biography allows for a further selection from Eldon's 17 volumes of journals, which fittingly dominate the text both visually and thematically. Unfortunately, Eldon was in many ways a typical young man, confused, temperamental and capricious, if extraordinarily driven, and the hagiographic tone of this book is at odds with the details of his life. It is very hard to resist the temptation to make a cult of those who die young and full of promise, a temptation that New, an educational consultant in Iowa City, does not always avoid. And even granting the intrinsic interest of the journals, they are still clearly the apprentice work of someone who would have gone on to further discourses. (Oct.)
Forecast:As the flipside to the young, introspective collagistes like Sabrina Ward Harrison (
Brave on the Rocks, etc.), Eldon's life and work set an example of engagedness that might be tough to emulate, but should inspire younger readers. A film is in the works.
