Geoffrey Moorhouse

Douglas Cooper and George O'Brien joined Geoffrey Moorhouse at his New York home, for an interview about his [at the time] latest, The Fearful Void.

The Interview

George O’Brien and Doug Cooper interview Geoffrey Moorhouse, author of The Fearful Void. The book describes Moorhouses’ journey east across the Sahara desert from Nouakchott in Mauritania. He was thought to be the first European to have made this journey by camel. 

Moorhouse tells Cooper and O'Brien that he wrote the book in order to deal with fears like annihilation, hostility, being lost, and losing. His own journey took place in the desert but he hopes that others will undertake a similar exploration in their daily lives. 

They also cover the details of his trip including his companions, the topography of the desert itself, his visit in Timbuktu, and his difficulties with language. Moorhouse reflects on desert life, calling it a "primitive, subsistence sort of existence," and they discuss the role of women in desert societies. 

Finally, they discuss the sheer tedium of some parts of the trip. During one afternoon, Moorhouse tells them, he thought almost exclusively about cooking up cheese and onions—a flavorful alternative to desert food. He rehearsed all the different cheeses he would use, and how he would cut the onion.