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ĀúĆÖÿĎêøýĉúðýćÿêøïĆèæĉêǰ ÿć×ćüĉßćõćþćĂĆÜÖùþǰõćÙüĉßćõćþćêąüĆîêÖǰǰǰ ÙèąēïøćèÙéĊǰöĀćüĉì÷ćúĆ÷ýĉúðćÖø õćÙÖćøýċÖþćêšîǰðŘÖćøýċÖþćǰ���� ñϚߊü÷ýćÿêøćÝćø÷Ťǰéø�ǰóîĉéćǰïčâìüĊđüß
êĈøćðøąÖĂïÖćøÿĂîøć÷üĉßć ���ǰ���ǰüøøèÖøøöìŠĂÜđìĊę÷ü
Travel Literature
ĀúĆÖÿĎêøýĉúðýćÿêøïĆèæĉêǰ ÿć×ćüĉßćõćþćĂĆÜÖùþǰõćÙüĉßćõćþćêąüĆîêÖǰǰǰ
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Travel LiteratureǰàċęÜđðŨîøć÷üĉßćĔîĀúĆÖÿĎêøýĉúðýćÿêøïĆèæĉêǰÿć×ćüĉßćõćþćĂĆÜÖùþǰÙèąēïøćèÙéĊǰ
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1) ĔĀšñĎšđøĊ÷îÿćöćøëĂíĉïć÷ÖúüĉíĊÖćøðøąóĆîíŤüøøèÖøøöìŠĂÜđìĊę÷üøĎðĒïïêŠćÜǰė
2) ĔĀšñĎšđøĊ÷îÿćöćøëüĉđÙøćąĀŤĒúąüĉóćÖþŤüøøèÖøøöìŠĂÜđìĊę÷üĔîĒÜŠöčöìćÜÿčîìøĊ÷ýćÿêøŤǰ
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3) ĔĀšñĎšđøĊ÷îÿćöćøëĒúÖđðúĊę÷îÙüćöÙĉéđĀĘîđßĉÜüĉßćÖćøñŠćîÖćøóĎéĒúąÖćøđ×Ċ÷î
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PLO10 ĔßšõćþćĂĆÜÖùþđóČęĂÖćøÿČęĂÿćøĕéšĂ÷ŠćÜöĊðøąÿĉìíĉõćóēé÷ĂćýĆ÷ÙüćöøĎšìćÜõćþćýćÿêøŤ
õćþćĂĆÜÖùþ đìĊ÷ïđìŠćøąéĆïǰC1 (Proficient User) êćööćêøåćîÿćÖúǰCommon European
Framework of Reference for Languages: learning, teaching, assessment (CEFR)
PLO14ǰüĉđÙøćąĀŤĒúąüĉÝćøèŤüøøèÖøøöĒúąêĆüïìðøąđõìêŠćÜǰėǰĕéšĂ÷ŠćÜđðŨîøąïïēé÷ÖćøĂšćÜĂĉÜĒîüÙĉéĒúąìùþãĊìĊęđÖĊę÷üךĂÜ
ÖćøúĈéĆïïìđøĊ÷î
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ēé÷ÿĆÜđ×ð×ĂÜǰüøøèÖøøöìŠĂÜđìĊę÷üǰĀøČĂǰTravel Literature ÿŠüîìĊęǰ�ǰïììĊęǰ���ǰüŠćéšü÷øĎðĒïïêŠćÜėǰ
×ĂÜüøøèÖøøöìŠĂÜđìĊę÷üǰðøąÖĂïÖĆïÖćøüĉđÙøćąĀŤøĎðĒïïêĆüĂ÷ŠćÜïìüøøèÖøøöǰÿŠüîìĊęǰ�ǰïììĊęǰ����ǰüŠć
éšü÷ĒîüìćÜÖćøýċÖþćĔîéšćîĂČęîėǰĕéšĒÖŠǰðøąüĆêĉýćÿêøŤǰÿĆÜÙöǰĒúąüĆçîíøøöǰĂčéöÖćøèŤĒúąĂčéöÙêĉêŠćÜėǰ
ìĊęÿąìšĂîĀøČĂĒòÜöćĔîÜćîđ×Ċ÷îǰðøąÖĂïÖĆïÖćøüĉđÙøćąĀŤĒúąüĉóćÖþŤêĆüĂ÷ŠćÜïìüøøèÖøøöǰēé÷ĒêŠúąïì
ÝąöĊĒïïòřÖĀĆéĒúąÙĈëćöđßĉÜüĉđÙøćąĀŤðøąÖĂïĔîêĂîìšć÷
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ÖĉêêĉÖøøöðøąÖćý
ñĎšÝĆéìĈêĈøćđøČęĂÜǰĶüøøèÖøøöìŠĂÜđìĊę÷üǰTravel Literatureķǰ×Ă×ĂïóøąÙčèÿć×ćüĉßć
õćþćĂĆÜÖùþǰõćÙüĉßćõćþćêąüĆîêÖǰÙèąēïøćèÙéĊǰöĀćüĉì÷ćúĆ÷ýĉúðćÖøǰìĊęĕéšÝĆéÿøøÜïðøąöćèđÜĉî
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Contents
Page No.
Section I Introduction to Travel Literature 1
Chapter 1 Introduction to Travel Literature 2
Section II Forms of Travel Literature 35
Chapter 2 Travel Poetry 36
Chapter 3 Scientific Travel Writing 60
Chapter 4 Diurnal Form 74
Chapter 5 Guidebook 85
Chapter 6 Travel Blog 99
Chapter 7 Travel Documentary 116
Mid-term Exam 133
Section III Critical Approaches to Travel Literature 135
Chapter 8 Authority and Veracity 136
Chapter 9 Objectivity and Subjectivity 147
Chapter 10 Gender 158
Chapter 11 Others and Stereotypes 184
Chapter 12 Authenticity and Nostalgia 198
Chapter 13 Words and Images 220
Section IV Conclusion 255
Conclusion 256
Final Exam 257
References 258
- 1 -
Section I
Introduction to Travel Literature
ÙĈîĈ
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Travel LiteratureǰàċęÜđðŨîøć÷üĉßćĔîĀúĆÖÿĎêøýĉúðýćÿêøïĆèæĉêǰÿć×ćüĉßćõćþćĂĆÜÖùþǰÙèąēïøćèÙéĊǰ
öĀćüĉì÷ćúĆ÷ýĉúðćÖøǰĀúĆÖÿĎêøðøĆïðøčÜǰó�ý�ǰ����ǰēé÷øć÷üĉßćéĆÜÖúŠćüöĊüĆêëčðøąÿÜÙŤéĆÜêŠĂĕðîĊĚ
1) ĔĀšñĎšđøĊ÷îÿćöćøëĂíĉïć÷ÖúüĉíĊÖćøðøąóĆîíŤüøøèÖøøöìŠĂÜđìĊę÷üøĎðĒïïêŠćÜǰė
2) ĔĀšñĎšđøĊ÷îÿćöćøëüĉđÙøćąĀŤĒúąüĉóćÖþŤüøøèÖøøöìŠĂÜđìĊę÷üĔîĒÜŠöčöìćÜÿčîìøĊ÷ýćÿêøŤǰ
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3) ĔĀšñĎšđøĊ÷îÿćöćøëĒúÖđðúĊę÷îÙüćöÙĉéđĀĘîđßĉÜüĉßćÖćøñŠćîÖćøóĎéĒúąÖćøđ×Ċ÷î
àċęÜñúúĆóíŤÖćøđøĊ÷îøĎšìĊęÙćéĀüĆÜ×ĂÜøć÷üĉßćǰCourse Learning Outcomesǰ:ǰCLOsǰéĆÜÖúŠćüöĊÙüćöÿĂéÙúšĂÜÖĆïñúúĆóíŤÖćøđøĊ÷îøĎšìĊęÙćéĀüĆÜ×ĂÜĀúĆÖÿĎêøǰ(ProgramǰLearning Outcomesǰ: PLOsǰêćöđÖèæŤöćêøåćîǰAUN-QA Version 3.0 éĆÜêŠĂĕðîĊĚ
PLO10 ĔßšõćþćĂĆÜÖùþđóČęĂÖćøÿČęĂÿćøĕéšĂ÷ŠćÜöĊðøąÿĉìíĉõćóēé÷ĂćýĆ÷ÙüćöøĎšìćÜõćþćýćÿêøŤ
õćþćĂĆÜÖùþ đìĊ÷ïđìŠćøąéĆïǰC1 (Proficient User) êćööćêøåćîÿćÖúǰCommon European
Framework of Reference for Languages: learning, teaching, assessment (CEFR)
PLO14ǰüĉđÙøćąĀŤĒúąüĉÝćøèŤüøøèÖøøöĒúąêĆüïìðøąđõìêŠćÜǰėǰĕéšĂ÷ŠćÜđðŨîøąïïēé÷ÖćøĂšćÜĂĉÜĒîüÙĉéĒúąìùþãĊìĊęđÖĊę÷üךĂÜ
ÖćøúĈéĆïïìđøĊ÷î
đîČĚĂĀć×ĂÜđĂÖÿćøÙĈÿĂîßčéîĊĚĒïŠÜđðŨî � ÿŠüîǰÿŠüîĒøÖǰïììĊęǰ�ǰüŠćéšü÷ÙĈîĉ÷ćöĒúąðøąüĆêĉ
ēé÷ÿĆÜđ×ð×ĂÜǰüøøèÖøøöìŠĂÜđìĊę÷üǰĀøČĂǰTravel Literature ÿŠüîìĊęǰ�ǰïììĊęǰ���ǰüŠćéšü÷øĎðĒïïêŠćÜėǰ
×ĂÜüøøèÖøøöìŠĂÜđìĊę÷üǰðøąÖĂïÖĆïÖćøüĉđÙøćąĀŤøĎðĒïïêĆüĂ÷ŠćÜïìüøøèÖøøöǰÿŠüîìĊęǰ�ǰïììĊęǰ����ǰüŠć
éšü÷ĒîüìćÜÖćøýċÖþćĔîéšćîĂČęîėǰĕéšĒÖŠǰðøąüĆêĉýćÿêøŤǰÿĆÜÙöǰĒúąüĆçîíøøöǰĂčéöÖćøèŤĒúąĂčéöÙêĉêŠćÜėǰ
ìĊęÿąìšĂîĀøČĂĒòÜöćĔîÜćîđ×Ċ÷îǰðøąÖĂïÖĆïÖćøüĉđÙøćąĀŤĒúąüĉóćÖþŤêĆüĂ÷ŠćÜïìüøøèÖøøöǰēé÷ĒêŠúąïì
ÝąöĊĒïïòřÖĀĆéĒúąÙĈëćöđßĉÜüĉđÙøćąĀŤðøąÖĂïĔîêĂîìšć÷
øĎðĒïïìćÜïøøèćîčÖøö
đĂÖÿćøÙĈÿĂîßčéîĊĚĔßšÖćøĂšćÜĂĉÜìćÜïøøèćîčÖøöøĎðĒïïǰTurabian Style
ÖĉêêĉÖøøöðøąÖćý
ñĎšÝĆéìĈêĈøćđøČęĂÜǰĶüøøèÖøøöìŠĂÜđìĊę÷üǰTravel Literatureķǰ×Ă×ĂïóøąÙčèÿć×ćüĉßć
õćþćĂĆÜÖùþǰõćÙüĉßćõćþćêąüĆîêÖǰÙèąēïøćèÙéĊǰöĀćüĉì÷ćúĆ÷ýĉúðćÖøǰìĊęĕéšÝĆéÿøøÜïðøąöćèđÜĉî
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ÿîĆïÿîčîÖćøÝĆéìĈêĈøćßčéîĊĚǰĒúą×ĂĒÿéÜÙüćö×ĂïÙčèñĎšìøÜÙčèüčçĉìĆĚÜǰ�ǰìŠćîìĊęĕéšÿúąđüúćóĉÝćøèćĒúą
ĔĀšÙüćöđĀĘîìĊęđðŨîðøąē÷ßîŤĔîÖćøðøĆïðøčÜđîČĚĂĀć×ĂÜøŠćÜêĈøćéĆÜÖúŠćü
Contents
Page No.
Section I Introduction to Travel Literature 1
Chapter 1 Introduction to Travel Literature 2
Section II Forms of Travel Literature 35
Chapter 2 Travel Poetry 36
Chapter 3 Scientific Travel Writing 60
Chapter 4 Diurnal Form 74
Chapter 5 Guidebook 85
Chapter 6 Travel Blog 99
Chapter 7 Travel Documentary 116
Mid-term Exam 133
Section III Critical Approaches to Travel Literature 135
Chapter 8 Authority and Veracity 136
Chapter 9 Objectivity and Subjectivity 147
Chapter 10 Gender 158
Chapter 11 Others and Stereotypes 184
Chapter 12 Authenticity and Nostalgia 198
Chapter 13 Words and Images 220
Section IV Conclusion 255
Conclusion 256
Final Exam 257
References 258
- 1 -
Section I
Introduction to Travel Literature
- 2 -
Chapter 1
Introduction to Travel Literature
Procis
In this chapter, we consider the varied definitions and peculiar characteristics of travel
literature. It starts with the definitions RI�ęWUDYHOĚ�DQG explores various reasons of travel as well as
types of traveler. It then moves on to discuss WKH�WHUP�ęWUDYHO�OLWHUDWXUH�Ě Afterwards, we
contemplate a history of travel literature and its readership.
Objectives
After studying this chapter, students will be able to:
1. *LYH�GHILQLWLRQV�RI�ęWUDYHOĚ�DQG�ęWUDYHO�OLWHUDWXUH�Ě
2. Explain the reasons people travel and different types of travelers.
3. Give a brief history of travel literature.
Definitions of Travel
According to Cambridge English dictionary �RQOLQH���ęWUDYHOĚ�PHDQV ęto make a journey,
usually over a long distanceĚ��ęto move or go from one place to anotherĚ��ęjourney�Ě�Meanwhile,
ętUDYHO�Ě�WR�-DPHV�&OLIIRUG���������LV�DQ�LQFOXVLYH�WHUP�HPEUDFLQJ�D�UDQJH�RI�SUDFWLFHV�RI�OHDYLQJ�
ęKRPHĚ�WR�JR�WR VRPH�ęRWKHUĚ�SODFH��7KH�H[SHULHQFH�RI�GLVSODFHPHQW�WDNHV�SODFH�IRU�WKH�SXUSRVH�
of material, spiritual, or scientific gain (Clifford 1997, 66). Yet, the OOG�(QJOLVK�QRXQ�ęWUDYHOĚ��LQ�
WKH�VHQVH�RI�D�MRXUQH\��ZDV�RULJLQDOO\�WKH�VDPH�ZRUG�DV�ęWUDYDLOĚ��PHDQLQJ�ęWURXEOH�Ě�ęZRUN�Ě�RU�
ęWRUPHQWĚ���7KH�ZRUG�ęWUDYDLOĚ�KDV�GHULYHG�IURP�WKH�/DWLQ�trepalium through the French. Thus, to
journey ė WR�ęWUDYDLO�Ě�RU��ODWHU) to travel ė then is to do something laborious or troublesome
(Johnson 1983, n.pag.).
This probably rings true when one considers the fact that traveling is a physically
GHPDQGLQJ�DFWLYLW\��+RZHYHU��LW�DOVR�EULQJV�DERXW�ęa condition of deracination and cultural
disorientation, a source of identity based on itinerary rather than bounded location�(Neill 2000,
4). Travelers, like translators, may, WR�D�FHUWDLQ�GHJUHH��EH�VHHQ�DV�ęliminal figures moving
between cultures, not quite or wholly belonging to any one exclusively�(Youngs 2014, 10) since
DO NOT C
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- 3 -
LW�UHTXLUHV�RQH�ęto negotiate a complex and sometimes unsettling interplay between alterity and
identity, difference and similarity >đ@�between self and other that is brought about by movement
in spaceĚ (Thompson 2011, 9).
Why Do We Travel?
For Sir Francis Bacon (c. 1561-1626), English philosopher and statesman, travel is
considered a form of education for adolescents and a way of building experiences for adults. In
RQH�RI�KLV�HVVD\V�ę2I�tUDYHO�Ě�KH�ZULWHV�
Travel, in the younger sort, is a part of education, in the elder, a part of
H[SHULHQFH��>đ@�7KH�WKLQJV�WR�EH�VHHQ�DQG�REVHUYHG�DUH��WKH�FRXUWV�RI�
princes, especially when they give audience to ambassadors; the courts of
justice, while they sit and hear causes; and so of consistories ecclesiastic; the
churches and monasteries, with the monuments which are therein extant; the
walls and fortifications of cities, and towns, and so the heavens and harbors;
DQWLTXLWLHV�DQG�UXLQV��OLEUDULHV��FROOHJHV��>đ@�DQG��WR�FRQFOXGH��ZKDWVRHYHU�LV�
memorable >đ@�,I�\RX�ZLOO�KDYH�D�\RXQJ�PDQ�WR�SXW�KLV�WUDYHO�LQWR�D�OLWWOH�
room, and in short time to gather much, this you must do. First, as was said,
he must have some entrance into the language before he goeth. Then he
must have such a servant, or tutor, as knoweth the country, as was likewise
said. Let him carry with him also, some card or book, describing the country
where he travelleth; which will be a good key to his inquiry. Let him keep
also a diary. (Bacon 2003, n.pag.)
Noticeably, for the young member of the English aristocracy travel prepares
him for his future career. (See Chapter 5 for details.) He should have some level of
skills of the local language before his departure. Accompanied by a servant or tutor,
he should take note of the local architecture and the administrative system.
,Q�$QWWL�$DUQHĜV�Types of the folktale: A classification and bibliography, ęjourneyĚ is
SODFHG�LQ�WKH�FDWHJRU\�RI�ęVXSHUQDWXUDO�WDVNVĚ��$DUQH�������������Under this category, a poor
youth embarks on a journey or a quest for the unknown. He is compelled to accomplish
impossible or supernatural tasks. Once he succeeds, he receives a reward in the form of riches or
a wealthy marriage (Aarne 1961, 156-159).
DO NOT C
OPY
- 4 -
Nonetheless, if we consider the mythological adventure of the hero, we will
find that the standard path represents the rite of passage.
A hero ventures forth from the world of common day into a region of
supernatural wonder: fabulous forces are there encountered and a decisive
victory is won: the hero comes back from this mysterious adventure with the
power to bestow boons on his fellow man. (Campbell 2004, 26; original
emphasis)
The first stage involves the separation or departure. The second stage is that of the
trials and victories of initiation. The final stage is the return and reintegration with society
(Campbell 2004, 31-32).
According to the anthropologist Arnold Van Gennep (1873 ė1957), each larger society
contains within it several distinctly separate social groupings ė the nobility, the world of finance,
and the working classes. In addition, all these groups further break down into still smaller
societies or subgroups (Van Gennep 1960, 1). The life of an individual in any society is thus a
series of passages from one age to another, from one social group to another, and from one
occupation to another (Van Gennep 1960, 2-3). Transitions from group to group and from one
social situation to the next are usually accompanied by ceremonies whose essential purpose is to
enable this individual to pass from one defined position to another which is equally well defined
(Van Gennep 1960, 3). These ceremonies are referred to as rites of passage that may be
subdivided into rites of separation (departure), transition rites (journey), and rites of
incorporation (return) (Van Gennep 1960, 11).
One particular type of passage is territorial passage. A territory, for Van Gennep, usually
defined by a boundary. Examples of the natural boundary include a rock, tree, river, or lake.
More often, notwithstanding, the boundary is marked by an object ė a stake, portal, milestone,
or landmark (Van Gennep 1960, 15). ,Q�WRGD\ĜV�ZRUOG��HDFK�FRXQWU\�LV�VXUURXQGHG�E\�D�VWULS�RI�
neutral ground as an area of transition from one country to another. The neutral zones are
ordinarily deserts, marshes, and most frequently virgin forests (Van Gennep 1960, 17-18). In the
case of a village, a town, a temple, or a house, the neutral zone shrinks to a simple stone, a
beam, or a threshold. It is noted that the rites of territorial passage as one crosses the threshold
are considered transition rites (Van Gennep 1960, 19-20). The acts of embarking and
disembarking are often accompanied by rites of separation at the time departure and rites of
incorporation upon return (Van Gennep 1960, 23).
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Reading along these lines, the heroĜV�MRXUQH\�LV�FRPSDUDEOH�WR�WKH�ULWH�RI�SDVVDJH��+H�
departs from his hometown, embarks on a journey of adventures, and finally returns home.
During the voyage, he transitions from one social situation to another, from one place to
another, while crossing several thresholds along the way.
:KLOH�&DPSEHOO�UHJDUGV�WKH�KHURĜV�WUDYHO�DV�WKH�ULWH�RI�SDVVDJH��the idea of travel as a
form of education still resonates in the twenty-ILUVW�FHQWXU\��,Q�ę7UDYHOLQJ�WHDFKHV�VWXGHQWV�LQ�D
ZD\�VFKRROV�FDQĜW�Ě�$PDQGD�Machado, US-Ecuadorian writer, relates that her trip to Ecuador
when she was 15 was a rite of passage. It not only turned her into a lifelong traveler, but also
made her appreciate what she had earlier taken for granted. She explains:
%XW�WKHVH�WULSV�GLGQĜW�RQO\�WHDFK�PH�WR�DSSUHFLDWH�ZKDW�,�KDG��WKH\�DOVR�
moved me to consider why I had it in the first place. I realized that much of
what I thought was necessity was, in fact, luxury and began to realize how
easily I could survive off of much less. >đ@�Traveling to these places made me
UHDOL]H�WKDW�WKH�ęDGYDQWDJHVĚ�,�LQLWLDOO\�WKRXJKW�,�KDG�RYHU�RWKHUV�ZHUH�QRt
necessarily advantages to everyone. Many actually preferred living with the
challenges they faced over living in a country like mine, where other things
are missing. (Machado 2014, n.pag.)
For Machado, her trip to Ecuador was an eye-opener. Comparing her life in the US and
her experience in Ecuador, she realizes that she is in a more privileged position than an
Ecuadorian. She enjoys a lifestyle that is considered more luxurious. Meanwhile, Pico Iyer (b.
1957), British-born American essayist and novelist, further elaborates on the significance of travel
LQ�ę:K\�ZH�WUDYHO.Ě He argues:
We travel, initially, to lose ourselves; and we travel, next, to find ourselves.
We travel to open our hearts and eyes and learn more about the world than
our newspapers will accommodate. We travel to bring what little we can, in
our ignorance and knowledge, to those parts of the globe whose riches are
differently dispersed. >đ@�7KXV�WUDYHO�VSLQV�XV�URXQG�LQ�WZR�ZD\V�DW�RQFH��,W�
shows us the sights and values and issues that we might ordinarily ignore;
but it also, and more deeply, shows us all the parts of ourselves that might
otherwise grow rusty. For in traveling to a truly foreign place, we inevitably
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travel to moods and states of mind and hidden inward passagHV�WKDW�ZHĜG�
otherwise seldom have cause to visit. (Iyer 2000, n.pag.)
For Iyer, travel teaches us about the world as well as ourselves. We come to learn
about diverse cultures around the globe while developing an insight into our own personality.
Types of Travelers
In ę7KH�philosophy of tUDYHOĚ��1968), George Santayana (1863-1952), Spanish-born
American philosopher and essayist, places travelers into categories based on their travel
experiences. The first type of traveler is the emigrant.
7KH�PRVW�UDGLFDO�IRUP�RI�WUDYHO��DQG�WKH�PRVW�WUDJLF��LV�PLJUDWLRQ��>đ@�LQ�
travel, as in being born, interest may drown the discomfort of finding oneself
in a foreign medium: the solitude and liberty of the wide world may prove
more stimulating than chilling. Yet migration like birth is heroic: the soul is
signing away her safety for a blank cheque. A social animal like man cannot
change his habitat without changing his friends, nor his friends without
changing his manners and his ideas. An immediate token of all this, when he
goes into a foreign country, is the foreign language which he hears there,
and which he probably will never be able to speak with ease or with true
propriety. The exile, to be happy, must be born again: he must change his
moral climate and the inner landscape of his mind. (Santayana 1968, 9-10)
Living in exile, the migrant feels a sense of insecurity while struggling with a foreign
language in an unfamiliar environment. In order to stay comfortably in a new habitat, he needs
WR�UHDGMXVW�KLV�PLQGVHW�DQG�EH�ęUHERUQ�Ě
Another kind of travelers is the explorer, WKH�JUHDW�WUDYHOHU�ZKRVH�ęventures are less
PRPHQWRXV�EXW�PRUH�GDVKLQJ�DQG�PRUH�SURORQJHG��>đ@�WKH�SRWHQWLDO�FRQTXHURU�LQ�KLP�LV�RIWHQ�
subdued into a disinterested adventurer and a scientific observer. He may turn into a wanderer.
Your true explorer or naturalist sallies forth in the domestic interest; his heart is never uprooted;
he goes foraging like a soldier, out in self-defence, or for loot, or for elbow room. Whether the
reward hoped for be wealth or knowledge, it is destined to enrich his native possessions, to
perfect something already dear: he is the emissary of his home science or home politicsĚ
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(Santayana 1968, 11-12). With the spirit of an adventurer, the explorer wanders and observes the
world. His voyage will eventually enrich him either financially or intellectually.
The third type of traveler is the commercial traveler or the merchant.
Nowadays a merchant may sit all his life at a desk in his native town and
never join a caravan nor run the risk of drowning; he may never even go
down into his shop or to the VKLSĜV�VLGH�WR�H[DPLQH�RU�WR�VHOO�KLV�ZDUHV��>đ@�
But if the merchant now will not travel, others must travel for him. I know
that the commercial traveler is a vulgar man, who eats and drinks too much
DQG�ORYH�ULEDOG�VWRULHV�>đ@�DQG�LQ�WKRVH�SURYLQFLDO�LQQV where he is the ruling
spirit, I have found him full of pleasant knowledge, as a traveler should be.
(Santayana 1968, 12-13)
The traveling merchant leaves his hometown and joins a caravan, exposing himself to
all kinds of risk. On the road, he enjoys eating, drinking, and listening to stories.
The last and most notorious type of traveler is the tourist.
[A]ll tourists are dear to Hermes, the god of travel, who is patron also of
amicable curiosity and freedom of mind. There is wisdom in turning as often
as possible from the familiar to the unfamiliar: it keeps the mind nimble, it
NLOOV�SUHMXGLFH��DQG�LW�IRVWHUV�KXPRXU��>đ@�WKH�ODVW�WKLQJ�D�PDQ�ZLVKHV�ZKR�
really tastes the savour of anything and understands its roots is to generalise
or to transplant it; and the more arts and manners a good traveler has
assimilated, the more depth and pleasantness he will see in the manners and
arts of his own home. (Santayana 1968, 14)
The tourist travels to fulfill his curiosity and to free his mind. He immerses himself in
another culture and, in return, better appreciates his own culture.
All these types of traveler, noticeably, profess various possible reasons for traveling.
They can be politically, economically, or recreationally-motivated. Yet, the traveler is tasked with
the challenge of negotiating cultural heterogeneities.
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Definitions of Travel Literature
In English travel writing from pilgrimages to postcolonial explorations (2000), Barbara
Korte defines WKH�ętravelogueĚ�DV�ęaccounts of travel that depict a journey in its course of events
and constitute narrative texts (usually composed in prose). The accounts claim that and their
readers believe that the recorded journey actually took place, and that it is presented by the
traveler him or herselfĚ (Korte 2000, 1). Meanwhile, Carl Thompson defines ęWUDYHO�ZULWLQJĚ as
ęa retrospective, first-SHUVRQ�DFFRXQW�RI�WKH�DXWKRUĜV�RZQ�experience of a journey, or of an
unfamiliar place or people�(Thompson 2011, 14). The exclusive definition of travel literature is
SRVVLEO\�ęD�UHSUHVHQWDWLRQ�RI�D�MRXUQH\��DQG�RI�HYHQWV�RQ�WKDW�MRXUQH\��that really took placeĚ�
(Thompson 2011, 15). It is preferably told in prose.
Later, in The Cambridge introduction to travel writing (2014), Tim Youngs posits that
WUDYHO�ZULWLQJ�ęconsists of predominantly factual, first-person prose accounts of travels that have
been undertaken by the author-narrator.Ě They are distinguished from other types of narrative in
which travel is narrated by a third party or is imagined (Youngs 2014, 3). More importantly, for
texts to count as travel writing, the authors must have traveled to the place they describe
(Youngs 2014, 4).
In ę'HILQLQJ�WUDYHO��2Q�WKH�WUDYHO�ERRN��WUDYHO�ZULWLQJ�DQG�WHUPLQRORJ\�Ě�-DQ�%RUP��������
argues that travel writing is not a genre, but a collective term for a variety of texts both
predominantly fictional and non-fictional whose main theme is travel. Since the literary is at work
LQ�WUDYHO�ZULWLQJ��LW�WKHUHIRUH�VHHPV�DSSURSULDWH�WR�FRQVLGHU�WKH�WHUPV�WKH�ęOLWHUDWXUH�RI�WUDYHO�Ě�RU�
VLPSO\�ęWUDYHO�OLWHUDWXUH�Ě�DV�V\QRQ\PV�RI�WUDYHO�ZULWLQJ��%RUP����������� (See more in Chapter 8
for details.)
Nonetheless, in this course, the term ęWUDYHO�OLWHUDWXUHĚ�LV�XVHG�LQWHUFKDQJHDEO\�ZLWK�
ęWUDYHO�ZULWLQJ�Ě ĚWUDYHO�QDUUDWLYH�Ě�ęWUDYHO�DFFRXQW�Ě�DQG�ęWUDYHORJXH�Ě The course would also like
WR�SURSRVH�DQ�LQFOXVLYH�GHILQLWLRQ�RI�ęWUDYHO�OLWHUDWXUHĚ�DV�D�OLWHUDU\�JHQUH�WKDW�WKHPDWL]HV�
mobility. It relates actual or fictional accounts of a journey, composed in prose or poetry, in first
or third person. It may be in oral or written form, and include visuals, such as diagrams,
illustrations, sketches, etc.
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Readership of Travel Literature
In ęThe self-reflexive traveler: Paul Theroux on the art of travel and travel writing,Ě�Elton
Glaser (1989) argues that travel books attract three categories of readers. The first type includes
ęthose who travel frequently and want to test their own experiences in Paris or Cairo against the
adventures and insights of the travel writers�(Glaser 1989, 205). The second type is made up of
people who, for one reason or another, do not travel��$OVR�FDOOHG�ęDUPFKDLU�WUDYHOHUV�Ě�WKH\�will
never visit Venice or Mozambique or the Cajun parishes of Louisiana, and can only experience
these places vicariously, through the senses of the travel writers (Glaser 1989, 205; Glaser 1992,
161). The third type of readers are the students of travel writing, whose emphasis is more on
the writing than the travel (Glaser 1989, 205; original emphasis). To a certain extent, they will
UHDOL]H�WKDW�ę>W@ravel books offer a kind of recovery of innocence, a childlike reentry into a world
WKDW�DJDLQ�VHHPV�DOLYH�ZLWK�SRVVLELOLWLHV��>đ@�7UDYHO�ERRNV�EULQJ�XV�QHZ�GDWD�WKDW�HQDEOH�XV�WR�
confirm, modify, or reject our visions of the world��Glaser 1992, 161).
These three kinds of readers might as well be located in one individual. At one time,
they can be both a physical and an armchair traveler vicariously enjoying works of travel writers.
At another, they can critically examine those works as a form of discourse.
A History of Travel Literature
Ancient Greece and Rome
The origins of travel writing probably date back thousands of years. One of the earliest
written texts of the travel theme is The epic of Gilgamesh (c.1000 BCE) (Thompson 2011, 35;
Youngs 2014, 19). It has been hypothesized that initially written accounts of travelers appeared
in the form of sea-IDUHUVĜ�ORJV��SURYLGLQJ�LQIRUPDWLRQ�DERXW�GLVWDQFHV��ODQGPDUNV�DQG�KDUERUV�WR�
facilitate future voyages. These are probably the origins of periploi (PHDQLQJ�ęVDLOLQJ�DURXQGĚ�in
Greek) or navigationes (in Latin), ancient texts listing of sites along a particular coastline and
providing navigational directions for sea captains, and of stadiasmus (in Greek) or itineraria (in
Latin), ancient texts documenting places and distances along overland routes (Youngs 2014, 20;
Thompson 2011, 35-36; Hutton 2020, 106).
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Meanwhile, the term periegesis �PHDQLQJ�ęOHDGLQJ�DURXQGĚ�LQ�*UHHN��is applied to a
wide variety of descriptions of places. The only two periegeseis that survive in more than
fragments are the poetic and thoroughly derivative Periegesis of the inhabited world (second
centXU\�&(��E\�'LQRQ\VXV�RI�$OH[DQGULD��DQG�3DXVDQLDVĜV�Periegesis of Greece (c. 175 CE), which
is E\�IDU�WKH�ORQJHVW�ZRUN�LQ�*UHHN�EDVHG�RQ�WKH�DXWKRUĜV�RZQ�WUDYHOV. All these terms are the
closest the ancients come to using as separate labels for genres of travel writing (Hutton 2020,
106).
The most famous model of travel from classical times is found in Homer, whose
Odyssey (700-600 BCE) is probably the earliest extended travel narrative to survive in Greek. It
has influenced literary journeys for nearly 3,0000 years, and is also one of the earliest examples
of Greek literature of any sort (Youngs 2014, 20; Hutton 2020, 102). The Aeneid, by Virgil (70-19
BCE), is also a travel narrative. Like Odysseus, Aeneas and his companions are blown off course,
to be shipwrecked on foreign shores (Hutton 2020, 103).
Travel writing itself is often traced back to Herodotus, whose Histories (c.600 BCE)
relates the wars between the Persian Empire and the Greeks, drawing on his own journeys in the
Middle East, North Africa, Central Asia and the Balkans. The Histories frequently showcases the
wisdom that the author has gained on his travels (Youngs 2014, 20-21; Hutton 2020, 105).
The Bible and Medieval Times
There are also accounts of travels in the Bible, which reached the final written forms in
F�����%&(��IURP�WKH�EDQLVKPHQW�RI�$GDP�DQG�(YH�IURP�(GHQ��&DLQĜV�SXQLVKPHQW�WR�ZDQGHU��WKH�
exodus of thH�+HEUHZV�IURP�(J\SW��WR�0RVHVĜV�MRXUQH\�XS�WR�0RXQW�6LQDL��<RXQJV���������-23;
Thompson 2011, 35). After the Bible came Christian pilgrimage, one of the most important
institutions of late medieval culture, such as that of Apollonius, whose journey in the second
century became a metaphor for spiritual progress (Youngs 2014, 23-24). One of the earliest
accounts of Christian pilgrimage is the Pilgrimage of Egeria (c.381-84 CE), the epistolary account
in Latin of a nun who traveled from Spain or Western Gaul to the biblical lands (Thompson 2011,
36-37). In her letters to her community of Christian women back home, Egeria gives us a
glimpse of the early Christian communities in places like Mount Sinai and Jerusalem, and ęattests
to the development of infrastructure for receiving pilgrims in the biblical landscape�(Hutton
2020, 109).
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It should be noted that Christian pilgrimages are structured around movement from
place to place with a telos (ęendĚ or ęgoalĚ) in the relic or shrine to be visited, where prayers
were offered and, in the later Middle Ages, an indulgence (a pardon of temporal punishments in
SXUJDWRU\�GXH�IRU�VLQV��UHFHLYHGĚ (Bale 2020, 152). 7KH\�DUH�FRQVLGHUHG�ęWUDYHO�QDUUDWLYHVĚ�LQ�ILUVW-
person or third-person, but these accounts are seldom personal in terms of conveying the
DXWKRUĜV�LQQHU�ZRUOG�DQG�WKHLU�VXEMHFWLYH�WKRXJKWV�DQG�IHHOLQJV��%DOH������������
With its helpful tips of prices, and information for a future trip, medieval travel writing
was often read after or in place of visiting the actual site. In other words, it is designed for
remembering a place (Bale 2020, 153). In the mid-fourteenth century, with the development of
the Franciscan-controlled pilgrimage industry in the Holy Land, Christian travelersĜ texts
increasingly combined the spiritual benefits of pilgrimage with its practical elements. It is
common to read lists of expenses and prices alongside extravagant prayers and miracle stories
(Bale 2020, 153).
One of the most famous of medieval travelers is probably Marco Polo (1254-1324),
whose Travels (1298) (also known as The description of the world) recounts the adventures of
himself, his father and his uncle to the Far East. They traveled along an established trade and
diplomatic route on a mission of business venture that ended with the job of serving the Great
Khan as part of his extensive foreign contingent in China. While it is generally accepted that
Marco dictated his story while in prison in Genoa in the late thirteenth century to the Italian
novelist Rusticiano, it remains the chief authority for parts of Central Asia, and the vast Chinese
Empire (Youngs 2014, 25). More importantly, it gained a wide readership and played a key role
in establishing a medieval Western tradition in which the East was a land of prodigies and
monsters (Bale 2020, 157).
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Figure 1.1 Dust jacket of The travels of Marco Polo (The Modern Library, 1953)
>%RRQWKDYHYHM��3DQLGD��ęThe travels of Marco Polo�Ě�'LJLWDO�LPDJH��April 13, 2022. Personal
collection.]
,W�VKRXOG�EH�QRWHG�WKDW�/DWLQ�ZDV�WKH�GRPLQDQW�ODQJXDJH�RI�SLOJULPVĜ�ZULWWHQ�DFFRXQWV�
until the thirteenth century, when narratives in the vernacular began to appear, first in French
and then in other languages (Youngs 2014, 24; Thompson 2011, 38). They include 0DQGHYLOOHĜV�
prose Book of marvels and travels, which emerged in England and France around 1356, and very
quickly became widely read and translated into almost all the major European languages.
Actually, it is not an eyewitness account, but rather a compilation of other accounts of those
places (Bale 2020, 158)
Interestingly, medieval travel writing did not necessarily glorify travel or attempt to
HQJDJH�WKH�UHDGHUĜV�GHVLUH�IRU�ZRQGHU. In fact, it frequently made travel deeply unappealing
(Bale 2020, 158). An important part of the travel writing genre in medieval times is the anti-
travel narrative. Therefore, travel harbors a potential for sin. The Jerusalem pilgrimage is evoked
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LQ�WKH�ILJXUH�RI�)UDWH�&LSSROOD�LQ�*LRYDQQL�%RFFDFFLRĜV�Decameron (1349-1353). This corrupt friar
describes a journey through the Mediterranean to the Holy Land. Boccaccio was probably known
to Geoffrey Chaucer, whose Canterbury tales (c. 1387) takes from the Decameron the form of a
sequence of stories, but puts this into the frame of a travel narrative: a group pilgrimage from
Southwark to the shrine of St Thomas at Canterbury. Yet, the pilgrims never reach their
destination. As the Canterbury tales suggests, ęto travel in the Middle Ages was to build a world
RXW�RI�VWRULHV��LW�LV�WKH�MRXUQH\�QRW�WKH�MRXUQH\ĜV�HQG��ZKLFK�VXVWDLQs the making of narrativeĚ�
(Bale 2020, 159).
Early Modern Period
In the early modern period, advances in navigational techniques, combined with
developing European military power, made possible a rapid expansion in travel. Correspondingly,
travel writing emerged from being relatively non-existent as a genre to having diverse literary
traditions. It extended in geographical scope, increased in quantity and developed offshoots in a
range of literary forms including the novel, drama, and poetry. In England, by the middle of the
eighteenth century, ęvoyages and travelsĚ ZHUH�ILUPO\�HVWDEOLVKHG�DV�RQH�RI�WKH�SHULRGĜV�PRVW�
frequently printed genres. This upsurge of travel writing reflected an enormous increase in
European travelers in the early modern period. Most notable was the rise of extended oceanic
voyages (Day 2020, 161).
Later, one sees the move towards empiricism that would gather momentum in travel
literature of the Renaissance. The four voyages of Christopher Columbus (1492-1504)
inaugurated an era of European discovery, led in the first instance by the navigators of Spain
and Portugal. Vasco da Gama (c. 1460s-1524) sailed from Lisbon to India via the Cape of Good
Hope in 1497; in the same year, Amerigo Vespucci (1451-1512) reached for the first time the
mainland of South America; and in 1519, Ferdinand Magellan (1480-1521) led the first successful
circumnavigation of the globe. These missions were driven not by intellectual curiosity, but
rather by an awareness of the opportunities they opened up for trade, conquest and
colonization, and also proselytization (Thompson 2011, 41).
Remarkably, much early modern travel writing and colonial writing was written to
participate in social debates and political discourse (Youngs 2014, 30). Bartolomp GH�ODV�&DVDVĜV�
Brief account of the destruction of the Indies (1552), for instance, greatly influenced the French
thinker Michel de Montaigne (1533-1592)��ZKRVH�HVVD\�ę2Q�cDQQLEDOVĚ��������TXHVWLRQHG the
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- 14 -
VXSSRVHG�VXSHULRULW\�RI�(XURSHDQ�FLYLOL]DWLRQ�WR�QDWLYH�$PHULFDQ�ęVDYDJHVĚ (Thompson 2011, 43).
Based on European discoveries, these themes and debates also rippled through the imaginative
literature of the period. In fiction, Thomas More (1478-1535) satirically imitated the new travel
accounts in Utopia ��������ęLQYHQWLQJ�DQ�LPDJLQDU\�QHZ�FXOWXUH�WKDW�FRXOG�VHUYH�DV�DQ�XQVHWWOLQJ�
PLUURU�WR�(XURSHDQ�VRFLHW\�(Thompson 2011, 44).
The early modern period travel was limited by both physical constraints and
governmental regulations. Long-distance journeys within England were slow and dangerous. A
trip to any country except Scotland or Wales required a voyage by ship and a royally issued
license (William H. Sherman 2007, 20; Youngs 2014, 30). However, the English did not have a
figure to set alongside Columbus in the national imagination until 1580, when Francis Drake
(c.1540-1596) returned from his three-year voyage around the world. Spain and Portugal had
already secured the safest and most profitable trade routes. The belatedness of the role of the
English dominance as a world power might have explained that fact that the first English travel
publications were translations of foreign works (William H. Sherman 2007, 18-19; Youngs, 2014:
30).
Moreover, the early modern period gave rise to great collections of travel in English.
Richard Hakluyt (1552-1616), the British geographer, was first to bring English achievements to
the forefront. Taking inVSLUDWLRQ�IURP�*LRYDQQL�%DWWLVWD�5DPXVLRĜV�Navigationi et viaggi (Voyages
and travels, 1550-59), the most significant Italian collection of travel narratives and related
material, he drew on the English voyage material in compiling the Principall navigations, voyages
and discoveries of the English nation, dividing it into distinct geographical areas (Day 2020, 164).
Manifesting the connections between travel, nation, commerce and colonial expansion, it reveals
the dual purpose of encouraging colonization and nationalistic propaganda would appear again
in the mid to late nineteenth century (Youngs 2014, 30-32; William H. Sherman 2007, 22). The
collection was first published as a single volume in 1589 and then expanded into three volumes
in 1598-1600, inaugurating an English tradition of large compilations. In the years from 1580 to
1616, Hakluyt influenced or was directly responsible for the printing of numerous travel books
printed in England during the period, such as $ZQVKDP�DQG�-RKQ�&KXUFKLOOĜV�Collection of
voyages and travels (1704) (Youngs 2014, 31; William H. Sherman 2007, 24; Day 2020, 164).
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Figure 1.2 Title page of Principall navigations, voyages and discoveries of the English nation
(London : G. Bishop, R. Newberie, and R. Barker, 1599)
[Unknown��ęPrincipall navigations, voyages and discoveries of the English nation�Ě�Digital image.
April 12, 2011. University Library, University of Carolina at Chapel Hill. Accessed April 13, 2022.
https://archive.org/details/principalnavigat1and2hakl/page/n7/mode/2up.]
Travel narratives in those collections of voyages and travels first appeared in
manuscript produced by the English East India Company, established in 1600, and the Verenigde
Oostindische Compagnie or VOC (Dutch East India Company), established in 1602. Both
produced enormous amounts of literature, although much remained in manuscript. Published
accounts focused on the navigation and conditions of the voyages, the availability of
commodities, rivalries with other European nations, and trading exchanges with non-Europeans.
As European countries extended their involvement in India and the East Indies, so their activities
became increasingly colonial (Day 2020, 166). Meantime, the search for the Northwest Passage
(between the Atlantic and Pacific oceans via the North Pole) was one motive driving Europeans
to North America, but the predominant reason for the westward enterprise was colonization.
Beginning with the Spanish in the early sixteenth century, European nations increasingly
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established control in the Americas. Their efforts were motivated by a number of factors
reflected in the surviving literature (Day 2020, 167).
2QH�VLJQLILFDQW�WUDYHO�ZULWLQJ�RI�WKH�VL[WHHQWK�FHQWXU\�LV�6LU�:DOWHU�5DOHJKĜV�The
discoveries of the large, rich, and beautifull empire of Guiana (1595). Relating his quest for El
'RUDGR��LW�LV�FRQVLGHUHG�ęD�WUDQVLWLRQDO�WH[W��EULGJLQJ�WKH�PHGLHYDO�DQG�PRGHUQ�HUDVĚ��<RXQJV�
2014, 34). On the one hand, modeled on the chivalric quest inherited from medieval writers, it
casts the explorer as a secular knight on a golden quest for the sake of his Queen, providing a
PRGHO�IRU�HSLF�SRHWU\�VXFK�DV�(GPXQG�6SHQVHUĜV�Faerie Queene (1590) (William H. Sherman
2007, 24-25). On the other hand, it is distinguished for its unprecedented attention to
geographic and ethnographic detail and its autobiographical strategies (William H. Sherman
2007, 26).
The Eighteenth Century
Travel as an information-gathering exercise was regarded as a crucial arm of scientific
learning of the late seventeenth century, and to this end the Royal Society, founded in London
in 1660, did much to promote travel and coordinate the activities of travelers. Also influential in
the English-speaking world in this regard was the empiricist philosophy propounded by John
Locke (1632-1704), most notably in his Essay concerning human understanding (1690). For
Locke, knowledge was generated by experience of the world, and as a consequence travel was
regarded as obligatory for the person to know the world (Thompson 2011, 45-46).
At the start of the eighteenth century, travel writing was not a clear, well-defined
genre. A generic norm emerged only slowly, while much diversity of style and form remained.
Authors adopted different strategies depending on their purposes and aspirations for self-
fashioning (Day 2020, 163). Ambassadorial reports, histories of colonized locations, sailing
directions, and tour guides were just some of the diverse forms of direct or reported travel
literature of the period. These texts also contributed to other literature including drama, poetry,
and the novel, as well as informing the geographical information contained in maps such as
$EUDKDP�2UWHOLXVĜV�Theatrum Orbis Terrarum (Theatre of the world, 1570) (Day 2020, 164).
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- 17 -
Figure 1.3 $EUDKDP�2UWHOLXVĜV�Theatrum Orbis Terrarum (1570)
[Unknown��ęTheatrum Orbis Terrarum�Ě�Digital image. Undated. /LEUDU\�RI�&RQJUHVVĜV�Geography
and Map Division. Accessed April 13, 2022. http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.gmd/g3200m.gct00126.]
It should be noted that maps were an obvious adjunct to eighteenth-century travel
narratives, but they were less common than we might expect. This is partly because they were
expensive to produce and partly because (in an age of intense national and commercial rivalry)
they would be handled as state or trade secrets. By the end of the period, however, readers
would have expected to see illustrations, not just of harbors and important cities, but that of
native costumes and exotic flora and fauna (William H. Sherman 2007, 30-31). In a similar vein,
buccaneer-VFLHQWLVW�:LOOLDP�'DPSLHUĜV�A new voyage round the world, for example, combined a
lively narrative with careful descriptions of people, plants, and animals, and in subsequent
editions he would add groundbreaking accounts of hydrography and meteorology (William H.
Sherman 2007, 29).
Afterwards, the extended travel narrative ė i.e. an eyewitness account, usually framed as
a journal or diary, by someone who had actually made the journey ė had emerged as the central
DQG�PRVW�FKDUDFWHULVWLF�PRGH�LQ�WKH�JHQUH�QRZ�ODEHOOHG�ęYR\DJHV�DQG�WUDYHOVĚ��'D\�������������
Detailed notes about the external world ė especially natural-historical and ethnographical
information about humans, animals and plants ė were presented within a text purporting to be a
first-person journal. This practice underscored the eyewitness authority of the traveler, even
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- 18 -
though in reality many journals comprised manuscript material which had been adapted and
ZULWWHQ�XS�IRU�SXEOLFDWLRQ��,W�DOVR�IUDPHG�WKH�WUDYHOHUĜV�REVHUYDWLRQV�ZLWK�D�QDUUDWLYH�WKDW�PDGH�
the volume more readable. The focus remained, however, very much on the external world; not
until the latter part of the eighteenth century would travel writing begin to explore in any detail
the inner world of the traveler (Day 2020, 165). (See also Chapter 9 for details.)
Maritime discoveries proceeded quickly in the eighteenth century. The proliferation of
accounts of voyages and travels may be attributed to the improving technologies and
infrastructures that enabled travel. In 1765 John Harrison designed a chronometer that enabled
longitude to be determined at sea for the first time (Thompson 2011, 45). By 1720, among the
European powers, Spain and Portugal had been eclipsed by France, Britain, and the Netherlands.
Larger numbers of travelers and explorers made journeys to accumulate a comprehensive
knowledge of the natural world (Bridges 2007, 54). (See also Chapter 4 for details.)
By the mid-eighteenth century, indeed, travel writing was well established as one of the
most respectable and intellectually important genres of the age. Offering a blend of useful
information and literary pleasure, the travelogue was by this date a form that was central to
ongoing debates in science, philosophy, and many other disciplines, while remaining accessible
and interesting to less sophisticated readers on account of its narrative element (Day 2020, 163).
The desire to explore and chart unknown regions received further stimulus with the
publication in 1735 of Systema Naturae (The system of nature), by the Swedish naturalist Carl
Linnaeus (1707-1778). In this work, Linnaeus established a classificatory system that could
possibly be used to catalogue the whole of the natural world, and this taxonomic project was
eagerly taken up in the latter half of the eighteenth century. The three voyages of Captain James
Cook (1728-1779) to the Pacific Ocean (1768-80) inaugurated an era of more overtly scientific
exploration by European and American travelers. Especially noteworthy amongst these explorers
are James Bruce (1730-1794), Mungo Park (1771-1806) and Franoois Le Vaillant (1753-1824) in
Africa; Louis Antoine de Bougainville (1729-1811) and the Comte de La Perouse (1741-1788) in
the South Pacific; Matthew Flinders (1774-1814) in Australia; Alexander von Humboldt (1769-
1859) in South America; and in North America, Alexander MacKenzie (c. 1764-1820) (Thompson
2011, 46). The knowledge and specimens these explorers brought back were usually intended to
be put to practical use, and to be harnessed to the larger economic and strategic goals of the
European great powers. In this spirit, for example, Sir Joseph Banks (1743-1820), President of the
Royal Society and effectively Director of the Royal Botanic Gardens at Kew from about 1773,
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- 19 -
sent plant collectors to all parts of the world (Thompson 2011, 47; Bridges 2007, 55). (See
Chapter 3 for more details.)
The sheer volume and variety of travel writing since around 1760 should not be
understated. However, there are two major contexts in which travel and its narration were
centrally entwined: the rise of the West to global dominance, and the spread of Western
modernity, both these processes being essentially linked. Ideologically, they are based on the
(QOLJKWHQPHQWĜV�SKLORVRSKLFDO�GHEDWH�DERXW�WKH�VWDWXV�RI�KXPDQLW\�DQG�WKH�QDWXUH�RI�VRFLHW\�
and civilization, as well as its production of an allegedly ęuniversalĚ but essentially Western
knowledge that is embodied in the monumental French (QF\FORSpGLH (1751-72) and similar
projects in other European countries (Korte 2020, 173). The centrality of travel and cultural
encounters in the intellectual life of this period is reflected in the work of one of its most
influential thinkers, Jean-Jacques Rousseau (1712-1778), who also represents the gradual
WUDQVLWLRQ�IURP�(QOLJKWHQHG�WR�5RPDQWLF�LGHDV�DQG�LGHDOV��5RXVVHDXĜV�WZR�Discourses, and
especially the second on the origins of inequality and the idea of ęnatural manĚ (1755), are
impregnatHG�ZLWK�WKHLU�DXWKRUĜV�UHDGLQJ�DERXW�YR\DJHV�RI�H[SORUDWLRQ (Korte 2020, 173-174).
The Enlightenment concept of humanity is reflected in the Pacific voyages of Louis
Bougainville and James Cook, which were perceived as epoch-making and became media events
of their day. Their narratives presented Tahiti as a fascinating, sophisticated society on the
opposite side of the globe, while other Pacific societies were perceived to exemplify humanity in
a more EUXWDO�VWDWH��7KH�PRVW�LQIOXHQWLDO�DFFRXQW�RI�&RRNĜV�YR\DJHV�ZDV�ZULWWHQ�E\�*HRUJ�)RUVWHU
(1754-1794), first in English and then in German (A voyage round the world, 1777; Reise um die
Welt, 1778-80). Narratives of Pacific exploration provided pleasurable instruction for their general
readers, but they also engaged philosophers because they could both confirm and challenge
ideas about the perfectibility of man and civil progress (Korte 2020, 175).
The eighteenth century also saw the consolidation of the Grand Tour, a phenomenon
usually identified as having begun in the seventeenth century (Youngs 2014, 44). It had its
origins in an early-PRGHUQ�DULVWRFUDWLF�SUDFWLFH��$�\RXQJ�PDQĜV�VRFLDOL]DWLRQ�ZDV�ILQLVKHG�ZLWK�
protracted exposure to other European countries and their manners, languages, history and arts,
which would prepare him for his later public roles. Italy and France were the most important
destinations, but the typical Tour could also include Switzerland, Germany and the Netherlands.
More unofficially, the Tour afforded pleasures and sexual freedoms that fuelled a lively debate
concerning the usefulness of extensive and expensive absence from home (Korte 2020, 178).
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- 20 -
Among intellectuals, the continental tour was the time during which a young man
would not only accumulate knowledge, manners and competences, but also educate and
cultivate his entire personality. The tour turned inwards, and its narratives began to focus on the
WUDYHOHUĜV�VXEMHFWLYLW\�DQG�KRZ�KLV�LQWHOOHFW��VHQWLPHQWV�DQG�DHVWKHWLF�VHQVLELOLW\ were affected and
GHYHORSHG�WKURXJK�WUDYHO��2QH�VXFK�MRXUQH\�ZDV�*RHWKHĜV�IDPRXV�WRXU�RI�,WDO\�EHWZHHQ������
and 1788, which followed a conventional outward itinerary. Notwithstanding, the narrative of his
Italienische Reise (Italian Journey, 1816-18) presHQWV�LW�DV�D�WUDQVIRUPDWLYH�HYHQW�IRU�*RHWKHĜV�
personality and his understanding of art. It is in this sense that conventional and other forms of
tourism now also entered the plots of European novels, and notably the Bildungsroman. (See
more about Bildungsroman in Chapter 9.) It was an earlier EnglisK�QRYHO��KRZHYHU��WKDW�KDG�ęD�
decisive impact on travel writing itself and on how it could artistically respond to the new
FXOWXUDO�YDORUL]DWLRQ�RI�VHQVLELOLW\��VHQVDWLRQ�DQG�IHHOLQJ�WKDW�HPHUJHG�LQ�WKH�����V��.RUWH�������
178-179).
The eighteenth-century institution of the Grand Tour JDYH�ULVH�WR�WKH�WHUP�ęWRXULVW�Ě�
which had been coined by the end of century for those engaged in the Grand Tour (Thompson
2011, 47). Earlier, -RVHSK�$GGLVRQĜV�Remarks on several parts of Italy (1705) for many years
became a virtual handbook for the Grand Tourist (Thompson 2011, 47). Tourism began as an
elite practice; however, it was increasingly taken up by the emergent middle classes. From the
1760s especially, the number of middle-class travelers to the continent rose sharply. And when
in the 1770s the domestic tour to regions within Britain became fashionable, this new mark of
status became available to an even wider portion of British society (Thompson 2011, 48). At the
end of the century and in the early nineteenth century, the Grand Tour was interrupted by the
French Revolution and the Napoleonic Wars. It was undermined by the invention of steam travel
and the development of package tourism for a middle-class clientele (Youngs 2014, 46).
The eighteenth century also witnessed the rise of the modern novel that was
accompanied by the advent of contemporary travelogues. There emerged also picaresque
fictions whose plots are structured around the travels of their heroes and that draw on the
conventions of the mock-heroic narrators who experience misadventures and misfortunes
(Youngs 2014, 38). Some argue that the picaresque tradition provided a model for some travel
books in the twentieth century, in which the protagonist/traveler is set on the road to encounter
a sequence of adventures and misadventures (Thompson 2011, 44). This is illustrated in Daniel
'HIRHĜV�Moll Flanders ��������+HQU\�)LHOGLQJĜV�Joseph Andrews (1742) and Tom Jones (1749);
/DXUHQFH�6WHUQHĜV�Tristram Shandy (1759-67); Tobias SmollHWWĜV�Humphrey Clinker (1771)
DO NOT C
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- 21 -
(Thompson 2011, 51-52). /DXUHQFH�6WHUQHĜV�A sentimental journey through France and Italy
(1768) was widely remarked for its radically subjective first-person narrator who hardly makes
progress in space but explores every nuance of his sensations and emotional reactions to the
people he meets (Korte 2020, 179). Additionally, travel writing was often harnessed as a vehicle
for satire (William H. Sherman 2007, 32-33)��'DQLHO�'HIRHĜV�The life and strange surprising
adventures of Robinson Crusoe (1719), for instance, is a fictional version of the spiritual-
DXWRELRJUDSKLFDO�VKLSZUHFN�QDUUDWLYHV��0HDQWLPH��-RQDWKDQ�6ZLIWĜV�GulliverĜV travels (1726) is a
parody of the voyage narratives produced by William Dampier and similar figures (Thompson
2011, 51-52).
Notably, there are also similarities between the adventures of the protagonists of
eighteenth-century novels, travel writing and the Romantic poets. Images and motifs from earlier
voyages and travels were incorporated by Romantic poets, such as SDPXHO�7D\ORU�&ROHULGJHĜV�
Rime of the ancient mariner (1798) (Youngs 2014, 40). For the Romantic, travel was not simply
about seeing new sights, acquiring new information, making new contacts; it could also be
about becoming a new person. This transformational aspect of travel would place the narrative
emphasis on the introspection, or association between the external and internal, that
accompanies Romanticism (Youngs 2014, 46-47). Mary Wollstonecraft (1759-97), for instance,
shows that how one ORRNV�DW�DQG�MXGJHV�D�FRXQWU\�LV�DIIHFWHG�E\�RQHĜV�WKRXJKWV�DQG�PRRGV��E\�
RQHĜV�SULYDWH�FLUFXPVWDQFHV��+HU�SHUVRQDO�PRRG�PD\�KDYH�DQ�LPSDFW�RQ�KHU�REVHUYDWLRQV�
(Youngs 2014, 48). (See more about Wollstonecraft in Chapter 4.)
The Nineteenth Century
In the nineteenth century, the autobiographical material in travel narratives was often
EOHQGHG�ZLWK�FRORQLDO��LPSHULDO�DQG�PLVVLRQDU\�DLPV��,Q�&RRNĜV�MRXUQDO��ZH�FDQ�FOHDUO\�VHH�WKH�
mixture of personal, scientific, commercial and exploration discourses. TherH�LV�LQ�KLV�ZULWLQJ�ęD�
PpODQJH�RI�GLVFRXUVHV��RIILFLDO�DQG�LQGLYLGXDO��VFLHQWLILF�DQG�URPDQWLF��IRUPDO�DQG�SHUVRQDO��UDFLDO�
VXSHULRULW\�EXW�VWURQJ�FULWLFLVP�RI�WKH�FRXQWU\�KH�VHUYHV��<RXQJV���������-52). One of the most
important forms of travel writing in this era of high imperialism was the exploration narrative.
)URP�&KDUOHV�'DUZLQĜV�Voyage of the Beagle �������WR�$OIUHG�5XVVHO�:DOODFHĜV�DFFRXQWV�RI�WKH�
Amazon basin and the Malay archipelago (1853 and 1869 respectively), they worked to
legitimate the imperial project to domestic audiences, while simultaneously inspiring readers
with fantasies of the heroic exploits they might themselves perform in distant regions of the
world (Thompson 2011, 53).
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- 22 -
European colonialism in Asia and Africa intensified during the second half of the
nineteenth century. The huge body of travel writing during the heyday of Empire reflects the
ongoing role that the accumulation of geographic and anthropological knowledge played in the
imperial project. Even its most personal and adventurous narratives are fraught with
comprehensive descriptions of people, manners and customs as well as maps and statistics. At
the same time, they reveal the ęimperial eyesĚ with which many travelers perceived lands and
people as available for European domination and possession. Examples include David
/LYLQJVWRQHĜV�Missionary travels ��������DQG�+HQU\�0RUWRQ�6WDQOH\ĜV�In darkest Africa (1890). The
popularity of such books is explained by a close relationship with contemporary imperial
DGYHQWXUH�ILFWLRQ�VXFK�DV�+HQU\�5LGHU�+DJJDUGĜV�King Solomon mines (1886), in which travels
and quests were a prominent theme (Korte 2020, 176). (See also Chapter 3 for details.)
The nineteenth century was also the age of the missionary narrative. Often in the form
of letters home to family or missionary societies, or of diary entries, it may be considered
another subgenre of travel writing (Youngs 2014, 57). Later, the second half of the nineteenth
century saw DQ�HPHUJHQW�ZRPHQĜV�PRYHPHQW�DQG�DQ�LQFUHDVLQJ�QXPEHU�RI�ZRPHQ�ZKR�
ventured beyond the European continent as tourists and, sometimes, as explorers. Even though
these women faced a restrictive gender order and gendered exclusion in their home societies,
their travel writing is not necessarily more sympathetic towards the non-European other and
GHPRQVWUDWHV�HTXDOO\�GLYHUJHQW�DQG�DPELYDOHQW�DWWLWXGHV�DV�WKDW�RI�PHQ��,VDEHOOD�%LUGĜV�DFFRXQW�
of China in The Yangtze valley and beyond (1899), for instance, reveals her sense of European
superiority, but Mary Kingsley, in Travels in West Africa (1897), constructed herself as a traveler
critical of missionary interference, who was open to African life and on friendly terms with her
African porters. In their texts, Bird and Kingsley had to be concerned about their reputation and
thus were unable to fully emulate the heroic self-fashioning of Richard Francis Burton (1821-
1890) or Henry Morton Stanley (1841-1904). But they did not suppress the perils they underwent
and emphasized their proficiency as collectors of data and specimens for male-dominated
scientific institutions such as the Royal Geographical Society. They took obvious satisfaction from
their mobility and the crossing of gender gaps between private and public life, and they paved
the way for later adventurers and explorers such as Gertrude Bell (1868-1926), who crossed
gender boundaries with even greater confidence in The desert and the sown: Travels in Palestine
and Syria (1907) (Korte 2020, 176-177). (See more in Chapter 10 for details.)
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OPY
- 23 -
Much travel writing of the 1800s owes its existence to new forms of transport and
communications: the steamship, the railway, the bicycle, and the motorcar. Huge increases in
literacy rates and book production facilitated the circulation of travel narratives. These
developments affected how people traveled and how the accounts of their journeys were
written, distributed and read (Youngs 2014, 53). Steam power, on the rails and on the water,
greatly increased the speed and decreased the cost of traveling, resulting in the authoritative
SRUWDEOH�UDLOZD\�WLPHWDEOH�DQG�WKH�HPHUJHQFH�RI�WKH�ęWUDYHO�DJHQW�Ě�HVSHFLDOO\�LQ�WKH�FRUSRUDWH�
SHUVRQ�RI�7KRPDV�&RRN�DQG�6RQ��WKH�PRGHUQ�WRXULVWĜV�JXLGHERRN��DV�LW�was separately invented
by Karl and Fritz Baedeker in Germany and by John Murray III in England (in 1835 and 1836,
respectively) (Buzard 2007, 47-48). (See more about guidebooks in Chapter 5.)
The spread of industrialized tourism during the second half of the nineteenth century
generated a dilemma for travel writers. All the sights seemed already to have been seen, not
only during actual travel but also because the world was increasingly turned into a spectacle,
reproduced in museums and panoramas, colonial exhibitions and ethnographic shows, and
above all through print illustrations and photography. However, literary travelers appear to have
always found their way out of this dilemma: by traveling differently, by dramatizing themselves
as interesting or even eccentric tourists, or by putting emphasis on their personal experiences.
Contempt for the ęmereĚ WRXULVWĜV�DOOHJHGO\�VXSHUILFLDO�DQG�LQGLVFULPLQDWH�FRQVXPSWLRQ�RI�VLJKWV�
survived as a trope of literary travel books in the twentieth century (Korte 2020, 181).
Significantly, the Victorian era saw many writers with established reputations in other
literary genres take up the travelogue form (Thompson 2011, 55). For instance, the young United
States was visited and depicted as a social experiment and an increasingly important destination
for emigrants in &KDUOHV�'LFNHQVĜV�American notes (1842), and Anthony TrollopeĜV North America
(1862). England, the vanguard of modern capitalism, was often traveled with an eye on its
economic situation, its modernity arousing admiration but also radical critique, such as in
:LOOLDP�&REEHWWĜV�Rural rides (1830), and Friedrich EngelsĜV�The condition of the working class in
England (1845) (Korte 2020, 177). In 0DUN�7ZDLQĜV�The innocents abroad (1869), the invented
WUDYHOHU�VHUYHG�DV�ęWKH�YHKLFOH�IRU�D�ERG\�RI�NQRZOHGJH�DERXW�IRUHLJQ�FRXQWULHVĚ (Youngs 2014,
49). As a countermovement to organized tourism, it also satirizes practices both of tourism and
touristic writing (Korte 2020, 181).
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- 24 -
The Twentieth Century
In the twentieth century travel writing in general began to lose the critical prestige and
popularity it had enjoyed between 1750 and 1900. Several factors appear to have contributed to
such developments. Scientific specialization and the fact that Western expansionism had reached
its limits created the impression that the time for adventurous exploration was SDVVp. The two
world wars, although they brought other forms of mobility with them, proved a significant hiatus
for traveling and accelerated the disintegration of the European empires (Korte 2020, 182).
Three factors have been especially dominant in the shaping of travel writing since 1900.
First is the motorcar. Second, intellectual and aesthetic movements have radically influenced
ideas of the self, of truth and authority, and of artistic representation. Third, the politics of race
and decolonization, accompanied by the rise of liberation movements, have produced travel
texts that challenge colonial stereotypes through the revision or reversal of colonial-era journeys
(Youngs 2014, 68).
Arguably, the motorcar epitomized innovations in technologies of travel that made
people more aware of how their experiences were affected by the mode of transport. This in
turn resulted in a narrative self-consciousness about how they traveled previously and now. J.E.
9LQFHQWĜV�Through East Anglia in a motor car (1907), for example, informs its tourist readers of
the need for a new species of guidebook that would rely less on the train timetable. The
preference for automobile travel over journeying by rail is also expressed by the American
Thomas Murphy (1866-1928), whose narrative is a record of a fifty-day, 5,000 mile trip around
England and Scotland. The new mode of transport was seen as permitting a closer view of
nature than that afforded by the train (Youngs 2014, 69).
As far as the intellectual and aesthetic movements are concerned, twentieth-century
travel writing developed a more subjective form, and often an alternative form of writing for
novelists. A remarkable number of novelists and poets were traveling writers, whether or not
they were in addition actual travel writers (Carr 2007, 73-74; original emphasis). Besides
recounting their own journeys in their travel books and essays, they explore the significance of
journeys in their fiction, poetry and drama also, as in 9�6��1DLSDXOĜV�The middle passage (1962),
with elements of both autobiography and travel writing (Hulme 2007, 89).
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- 25 -
This is indicative of Modernism, a product of the more mobile and more globalized
society that thus came into being. Much Modernist literature and art bears the imprint of the
faster lifestyle and the sense of disorientation and displacement that is seemingly characteristic
RI�PRGHUQLW\��0DQ\�0RGHUQLVW�ZULWHUV�DQG�DUWLVWV�ZHUH�DOVR�GHHSO\�IDVFLQDWHG�E\�WKH�ęSULPLWLYHĚ�
societies described by explorers and anthropologists (Thompson 2011, 57). This propelled a
Romantic desire to visit sites of unspoiled natural beauty, and/or cultures seemingly untouched
by modernity, such as the islands of the South Pacific, which attracted, among others, Paul
Gauguin (1848-1903) and Robert Louis Stevenson (1850-1894) (Thompson 2011, 54; Youngs
2014, 73).
Twentieth-century travel literature has been shaped by the politics of race and
decolonization. Travel writers became increasingly aware that they were describing fragmented,
K\EULGL]HG�FXOWXUHV��ęWKH�VKDEE\�UHPQDQWV�of the tapestry of otherness their predecessors had
ZRYHQ��&DUU������������2QH�RI�WKH�PRVW�SHUYDVLYH�PRRGV�LQ�WUDYHO�ZULWLQJ�RI�WKH�LQWHU-war years
is a certain world-weariness, springing from disillusionment with European civilization and
dismay at its impact on the rest of the world. Much of travel writing in the 1920s questions
European progress and suggests the vanity of its attempts to maintain a supremacy that was
increasingly contested (Korte 2020, 182). Critically acclaimed travelogues of the 1920s included
7�(��/DZUHQFHĜV�The seven pillars of wisdom ��������'�+��/DZUHQFHĜV�Sea and Sardinia (1921), and
*UDKDP�*UHHQHĜV�Journey without maps (1936). Even 7�6��(OLRWĜV�The waste land encapsulates
many of the themes of inter-war travel writing (Thompson 2011, 58; Carr 2007, 81). And as the
use of trains, planes and automobiles steadily grew across the twentieth century, so travel
increasingly became a mass activity, available to almost all members of Western society. These
new technologies contributed significantly to a dramatic increase in what one might label global
interconnectedness, the sheer volume of exchanges and transactions between the different
regions and different cultures of the world (Thompson 2011, 57).
Noteworthily, the travelogue seemed to enable a more direct engagement with worldly
affairs and with politics in the twentieth-century than was possible in the traditional literary
genres. Writers took up the travel writing genre, and utilized it to diverse ends. It was
appropriated as a form of political and cultural commentary. George Orwell (1903-1950) used
travel to observe the social conflict in British inter-war society in The road to Wigan pier (1937).
He was also one of many writers who participated in and reported about the Spanish Civil War
in Homage to Catalonia (1938) (Korte 2020, 182). The several conflicts of the 1930s also
JHQHUDWHG�PDQ\�WUDYHO�QDUUDWLYHV��(YHO\Q�:DXJKĜV�Waugh in Abyssinia (1936) deals with the
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OPY
- 26 -
Italian invasion of Abyssinia (1935-���ZKLOH�:�+��$XGHQĜV�SRHP�Spain (1937) covers the Spanish
Civil War (1936-����$GGLWLRQDOO\��:�+��$XGHQ�DQG�&KULVWRSKHU�,VKHUZRRGĜV�Journey to a war
(1937) relates the Japanese aggression against China (Youngs 2014, 71).
Yet prevalent in much British travel writing of both the 1930s and the post-war era is a
self-deprecating persona, and a strategy of understatement that presents the narrator in ironic
and belated counterpoint to the more overtly heroic travel writing of Victorian explorers
�7KRPSVRQ������������)RU�LQVWDQFH��5REHUW�%\URQĜV�The road to Oxiana (1937) displays the anti-
heroic self-representation that will come to characterize many travel books of the twentieth
century (Youngs 2014, 74). Travel writing serves as a source of comic adventures, such as Bill
%U\VRQĜV�Notes from a small island �������DQG�7RQ\�+DZNVĜV�Round Ireland with a fridge (1998).
Meanwhile, it functions as a means of exploring subjectivity, memory and the unconscious,
reminding one that ęIĚ in travel writing is a construction, not a straightforward correspondence
with the author. Many interwar and modernist travel texts admit that they are partial, in the
sense both of ELDVHG�DQG�LQFRPSOHWH��VXFK�DV�LQ�*UDKDP�*UHHQHĜV�SUHIDWRU\�QRWH�WR�The lawless
roads (1939). He claims that it is his personal impression of a small part of Mexico in the spring
of 1938 (Youngs 2014, 72).
In the post-war period, English gentlemen were still able to travel the world and to
write with witty nonchalance about what they encountered. Interest in the nomadic life has
remained a constant theme in subsequent travel writing as travel writing rediscovers its
connections with journalism and cultural history (Hulme 2007, 88). Twentieth-century travel
writing is characterized by the emphasis on the lone traveler, on the seer instead of the seen.
Being alone is esteemed by some as a valuable and enriching condition of travel. Works such as
On the road (1951) and Dharma bums �������ZHUH�ILFWLRQDOL]HG�DFFRXQWV�RI�-DFN�.HURXDFĜV�RZQ�
WUDYHO�H[SHULHQFHV��ęWKH\�HVWDEOLVKHG�D�SLFDUHVTXH��ORZ-life agenda, and a fast-SDFHG�ěKLSVWHUĜ�
style that would become the hallmarks of a self-consciously alternative, counter-cultural tradition
LQ�WUDYHO�ZULWLQJ��7KRPSVRQ������������7KH�ILJXUH�RI�WKH�QRPDGLF�RU�URRWOHVV�WUDYHOHU�KDV�
become a popular one in recent years. Their identity predicates on the lack of affiliation or on
multiple affiliations, such as 3LFR�,\HUĜV�The global soul (2000) (Youngs 2014, 77-80).
In the late 1970s a wave of new travelogues ė PRVW�QRWDEO\��3DXO�7KHURX[ĜV�The great
railway bazaar: By train through Asia (1975) and The old Patagonian Express (1979), Peter
0DWWKLHVHQĜV�The snow leopard ��������%UXFH�&KDWZLQĜV�In Patagonia (1977) and Robyn
'DYLGVRQĜV�Tracks (1980) ė achieved both commercial success and critical acclaim, thereby
DO NOT C
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- 27 -
helping to revitalize the form. In 1979, the British magazine Granta was launched, with travel
writing as one of its specialties (Thompson 2020, 196). In The great railway bazaar: By train
through Asia, the narrator takes the center stage in the travelogue, and readers pay as much
attention to the details of his journey as to the characteristics of the travel writer himself. (See
Chapter 9 for more details.) Meanwhile, in In Patagonia, Chatwin questions the clear demarcation
line between what is factual and fictional in his travel account. (See Chapter 8 for more details.)
Subsequently, Davidson demonstrates, in Tracks, how women writers can discover and express
their individuality through travel and travel writing. (See Chapter 10 for more details.)
By the end of the 1980s, travel writing regained its popularity, and has seen a profound
transformation of the form. The postcolonial era and the postmodern era have shaken the
intellectual and moral certainties that underpinned much Western travel writing in the
nineteenth and early twentieth centuries (Thompson 2020, 196-197). Nonetheless, the imbalance
of wealth, in terms of mobility, leisure and access to cultural production, has ensured that travel
writing since 1950 has remained overwhelmingly a genre produced by and for First-World
Westerners (Thompson 2020, 201-202). It is still rooted in the romanticizing vein which reassures
UHDGHUV�WKDW�WKH�GLVWLQFWLRQV�EHWZHHQ�ęWKHPĚ�DQG�ęXVĚ�UHPDLQ�strongly demarcated, even in a
decolonized, increasingly hybridized world (Thompson 2020, 204). Refusing to acknowledge the
contemporary and modernity of the cultures they visit, these First-World travelers offer simplified
portraits which fix and trap theLU�ęWUDYHOHHVĚ�LQ�DQ�LGHDOL]HG�SDVW��WXUQLQJ�WKHP�LQWR�PXVHXP�
SLHFHV�DQG�RYHUHPSKDVL]LQJ�WKHLU�H[RWLFLVP�WR�VXLW�WKH�WUDYHOHUĜV�RZQ�IDQWDVLHV�RI�HVFDSH�DQG�
renewal. This idealizing tendency, which is also fundamental to the tourism industry, may
obscure or downplay the hardships and challenges actually faced today by communities and
HQYLURQPHQWV��,Q�%UXFH�&KDWZLQĜV�The songlines (1987), for example, an innovative, fragmentary
structure is used to deliver what is essentially a romanticized, mystical depiction of Australian
Aborigine culture (Thompson 2020, 204-205). (See Chapter 11 for details.)
Globalization, as one may notice, has unsettled, or at least complicated, the traditional
binarisms of ęhomeĚ and ęabroad,Ě ęthemĚ and ęus,Ě that we tend to assume are fundamental to
travel writing. On the one hand, for most travelers today ęhomeĚ is no longer a clearly bounded
locality from which they depart to encounter the wider world; rather, a range of global
connections, commodities and influences are everywhere apparent in our supposedly ęlocalĚ
environments. Many travelers now hail from multicultural societies, making it harder to assume
any singular, shared cultural identity at home. Conversely, travelers now frequently encounter an
ęabroadĚ that does not match conventional expectations of foreigners and exotic difference. For
DO NOT C
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- 28 -
instance, 5HGPRQG�2Ĝ+DQORQĜV�Into the heart of Borneo (1984) relates an encounter with the
young tribespeople who want to learn disco dance (Thompson 2020, 204).
Another important development has been an increasing number of travel writers from
postcolonial backgrounds. The emergence of the Third World means more travel writers hail
from formerly colonized nations or from expatriate, immigrant communities of former colonies
(Thompson 2020, 197). With travel writers from non-Western nations, or alternatively from
minority ethnic communities in the West undoubtedly sharing a sense of writing back against
the dominant traditions of the genre, postcolonial travel writers have pursued this project in
diverse ways. &DU\O�3KLOOLSVĜV�The European tribe (1987) reverses the standard trajectories of
Western travel writing by having a black man of Caribbean/African descent visit the mostly white
populations of Europe, in a version of the traditional Grand Tour which reveals that the tribalism
routinely ascribed to other cultures by European travelers is alive and well in the supposed
center of civilization. -DPDLFD�.LQFDLGĜV�In a small place �������RIIHUV�D�ORFDOĜV�SHUVSHFWLYH�RQ�WKH�
seemingly idyllic island of Antigua, and incorporates some scathing discussion of how foreign
tourists appear to native Antiguans (Thompson 2020, 211).
Taken in tandem, globalization and the escalation in tourism have brought to recent
travel writing a pervasive mood of belatedness. In itself this is not a new theme; nostalgia for a
supposedly lost age of heroic travel, and a sense that the scope for epic expeditions and major
new discoveries was rapidly diminishing. Yet this mood has undoubtedly become more
pronounced in the genre, as demonstrated by the surfeit of recent accounts which retrace the
journeys of earlier travelers (Thompson 2020, 206). This may have led to ę)RRWVWHSVĚ�RU�ę6HFRQG�
journey,�DQRWKHU�VXbgenre that offers a sense of renewal by recycling itineraries previously
taken by well-UHFRJQL]HG�SHUVRQDOLWLHV�RU�OLWHUDU\�ILJXUHV��)RU�LQVWDQFH��-RQDWKDQ�5DEDQĜV�Old
glory (1981) provides an account of journeying in the Mississippi Valley in the wake of Huck Finn
(Youngs 2014, 182-185). (See Chapter 12 for details.)
As the twentieth century draws to an end, new approaches to travel and travel writing
emerge. For example, the travel writer often doubles as a journalist, such as Peter Robb, who
addresses the Mafia problem in Sicily in Midnight in Sicily (1996). 3KLOLS�*RXUHYLWFKĜV�We wish to
inform you that tomorrow we will be killed with our families: Stories from Rwanda (1998) tries to
understand the genocide in 1994 and combines travel writing with investigative report (Hulme
2007, 98-99). However, post-war travel writing also had to compete with television, which
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- 29 -
created a new mediascape in which pictures and narratives about the wider world were brought
LQWR�HYHU\ERG\ĜV�KRPH��.RUWH������������
ęE[WUHPH�WUDYHOĚ�KDV�also EHFRPH�D�QHZ�VXEJHQUH��&ROLQ�7KXUERQĜV�Behind the wall: A
journey through China (1987) and The lost heart of Asia (1994) explore the vast areas of Asia
DIWHU�WKH�FROODSVH�RI�WKH�6RYLHW�8QLRQ��-RQDWKDQ�5DEDQĜV�Passage to Juneau: A sea and its
meanings (1999) relates his journey from Seattle to Alaska (Hulme 2007, 95-96). Travelogues can
also be an important medium for the investigation of ecological disaster and mismanagement,
or alternatively for generating a more sophisticated and respectful understanding of specific
regions, habitats and ecosystems, such as George MonbiotĜV Poisoned arrows: An investigative
journey through Indonesia (1989), relating his adventures into West Papua, where the indigenous
people were divested of their culture and natural resources.
The Twenty-First Century
The twenty-first century sees globalization and new technologies usher in novel travel
experiences and kinds of travel writing. Several factors that have transformed travel and travel
writing in this century include the rapid growth of low-cost carriers, the widespread use of the
Internet, the advent of smartphones, and the arrival of sharing economy.
,Q�������3DFLILF�6RXWKZHVW�$LUOLQHV��WKH�ZRUOGĜV�ILUVW�ORZ-cost carrier, was established. By
2017, low-cost carriers carved out more market share, accounting for 57.2% in South Asia, 52.6%
in Southeast Asia, 37.9% in Europe, and 32.7% in North America (Wall and Carey 2017, n.pag.).
With an emphasis on minimizing operating costs and dropping some of the traditional services
and amenities, they resulted in greater democratization of travel, making it more affordable to
travel domestically as well as internationally.
In the 1960s, the Internet was initiated by the US Department of Defense that initially
funded research into time-sharing of computers. In 2019, 4.1 billion people (or 54 per cent of
WKH�ZRUOGĜV�SRSXODWLRQ��ZHUH�XVLQJ�WKH�,QWHUQHW��6LQFH�WKHQ�WKH�QXPEHU�RI�XVHUV�KDV�VXUJHG�E\�
800 million to reach 4.9 billion people in 2021, or 63 per cent of the population (International
Telecommunication Union 2021, 1).
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- 30 -
With smartphones and mobile broadband network, the World Wide Web has become
increasingly accessible. Ninety-five per cent of the world population now has access to a mobile
broadband network. Between 2015 and 2021, 4G network coverage doubled to reach 88 per
FHQW�RI�WKH�ZRUOGĜV�SRSXODWLRQ� (International Telecommunication Union 2021, 10). Moreover, in
almost half of the countries for which data are available for the 2018-2020 time-frame, more
than 90 per cent of the population own a mobile phone (International Telecommunication
Union 2021, 17). Concurrently, the emergence of sharing economy, such as Airbnb in 2008, has
contributed to new travel experiences.
As travel writing responds to new technologies, the means and speed of motion affect
the way people experience their travel as well as how they write about it. The Internet presents a
special case. As the traveler sees the destination through the lens of the familiar, s/he views the
world through a new perspective. While undertaking physical travel, s/he simultaneously refers
to the experiences of cybertravel. Not only does the Internet provide a new mental geography, it
also alters how one reconfigures the landscape outside (Youngs 2014, 178-179).
The Internet is widely seen as democratic, bringing about greater collaboration and
more open access. (Youngs 2014, 179). This is evidenced in the collaborative nature of travel
writing as well as the increasing ease of self-publishing. Forms of travel writing have become
more diverse. One might question whether tweets, emails, blogs and text messages count as
travel writing at all (Youngs 2014, 187). Meanwhile, one sees a blurred demarcation line between
the guidebook and travel documentary when conventional guidebook publishers branch out into
online media. Thus, the Lonely Planet website and smartphone application provide contents, that
used to be found in printed forms, in digital forms, along with vlogs and reviews. (See more
about travel blogs in Chapter 6 and travel documentaries in Chapter 7.)
While the world was enjoying the speed and ease of travel, this was brought to a
screeching halt by the global pandemic in the early 2020, sending a tremendous effect on travel
and travel writing. What kind of travel literature can be produced while most of the world is in
lockdown? There have been several solutions to this conundrum.
One of them is to reminisce about a place one has visited with reference to a historical
account of the same place. ( See Chapter 12 for more details.) A good example is found in
Travel writing in an age of global quarantine (2021), a collection of travel writers relating their
travel experiences in relation to previous accounts of the same places by earlier writers. For
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- 31 -
LQVWDQFH��LQ�ęě2II-VWDJH��$�ZDUĜ��:XKDQ�������Ě�-RQDWKDQ�&KDWZLQ�UHPLQLVFHV�RI�KLV�YLVLW�WR Wuhan
in July 2018. On one morning he walked around the old city of Hankow, ęSHHNLQJ�WKURXJK�
fences at repurposed colonial buildings and consulting my old 1930s map RI�WKH�FLW\�(Chatwin
2021, 13). He strolled along the bank of the Yangtze, where Mao Zedong took the legendary
swim in the river on 16 July 1966 to demonstrate his physical vigour. In 2018, Chatwin found
bronze letters that ęVSHOO�RXW�WKH�GDWH�RI�WKLV�V\PEROLF�HYHQW����������Ě�(Jonathan Chatwin 2021,
14)
Figure 1.4 Front cover of Travel writing in an age of global quarantine
(Anthem Press, 2021)
[Anders, J|rg P��ęTravel writing in an age of global quarantine�Ě Digital image. Undated. Anthem
Press. Accessed April 13, 2022. https://anthempress.com/memory-place-and-travel-writing-in-an-
age-of-global-quarantine-hb.]
In the article, he refers to the journey of W. H. Auden and Christopher Isherwood, who
arrived in Wuhan in 1938 after having been commissioned by Faber and Faber in London to
report the situation in Central China. Afterwards, Journey to a war was published, a travel book
consisting of prose and poetry. Chatwin read Journey to a war before his own journey, and
UHDOL]HG�WKDW�ERWK�$XGHQ�DQG�,VKHUZRRG�ęKDG�QR�SDUWLFXODU�H[SHUWLVH�ZKLFK�TXDOLILHG�WKHP�IRU�
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OPY
- 32 -
WKH�MRE�RI�FRUUHVSRQGHQWV�LQ�ODWH�����V�&KLQD�(Jonathan Chatwin 2021, 15). In the foreword,
they write:
This was our first journey to any place east of Suez. We spoke no Chinese,
and possessed no special knowledge of Far Eastern affairs. It is hardly
necessary, therefore, to point out that we cannot vouch for the accuracy of
many statements made in this book. (Auden and Isherwood 1939, 13)
Actually, modern-day Wuhan city was the tri-cities of Wuchang, Hanyang and Hankou
on the banks of the Han and Yangtze rivers. It is has been known in China as the ę7KRURXJKIDUH�
RI�1LQH�3URYLQFHV��DQG�WUDGH�DQG�WUDQVSRUW�LQ�&HQWUDO�&KLQD�KDG�EHHQ�IRFXVHG�Rn its three cities
since long before the British arrived in the nineteenth century (Jonathan Chatwin 2021, 13). In
1938, Auden and Isherwood stayed in the European enclave of Hankou (Hankow). This was
before the Second Sino-Japanese war in northern China began. From there, the Japanese swept
southwards to Shanghai before moving up the Yangtze to Nanjing where the Japanese army
committed the atrocities that became collectively known as the ę5DSH�RI�1DQMLQJ�Ě�NLOOLQJ�WHQV�RI�
thousands of civilians and engaging in the mass rape of Chinese women (Jonathan Chatwin
2021, 12). On 29 April 1938, the Japanese launched an air raid killing five hundred civilians
(Jonathan Chatwin 2021, 17). By the end of October 1938, Wuhan had fallen, and the
Nationalists relocated up the Yangtze to the city of Chongqing in Sichuan province. (Jonathan
Chatwin 2021, 12). Nonetheless, by March 2020, everyone knew Wuhan differently. It was no
longer a city of 11 million people at the confluence of the Han and the Yangtze. It was no
longer the place Chatwin had visited. It had become synonymous with the birthplace of the
global pandemic that claimed millions of lives (Jonathan Chatwin 2021, 17).
In addition to revisiting past travels, one can travel virtually during lockdown. For
instance, Lucy Lovell and other editors of Time Out introduce virtual tours of museums around
the world. Visitors can indulge in the online collections of British Museum in London, Solomon
R. Guggenheim Museum in New York, Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam, to name a few. Meanwhile,
WKH�)DURH�LVODQGV�RIIHU�ę5HPRWH�7RXULVP�WRXUV�Ě�LQ�ZKLFK�virtual visitors from all over the world
could experience the Faroe Islands through the eyes and body of the local guide. The local
was equipped with a live video camera, allowing virtual visitors to not only see views from an
on-the-spot perspective, but also to ask questions in real time. Using a joypad as in the
computer game, the main player (the virtual visitor) controlled the moves of the Faroese
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- 33 -
islander, who explored unspoilt, wild and natural countryside on foot, by boat, and by
helicopter (Visit Faroe Islands 2022, n.pag.).
Instead of virtual travel, for some, domestic travel is still possible between lockdowns.
Simon Parker, a travel writer and cyclist, cycled around Britain in the midst of a global pandemic.
Starting from the Muckle Flugga lighthouse in Shetland, he met the people and heard their
stories during the 3,427-mile journey, split into two legs from 2020 to 2021. Afterwards, he told
his own story in a weekly column for The Daily Telegraph. He was also interviewed by Andrew P.
Sykes in Episode 37 of The Cycling Europe Podcast (Sykes 2022). From March to October 2022,
he is on the book tour after his new book Riding out: A journey of love, loss and new
beginnings (2022) was launched. It relates his travel experiences from the northernmost point of
Britain through 55 counties on his bicycle (Parker 2022, n.pag.).
In 2021, some travelers mustered up their courage and traveled internationally only to
discover that post-Covid travel would never be the same. For example, Alisha Prakash, senior
digital editor at Travel + Leisure, traveled to St. Barts, one of the Caribbean islands. Compared to
the French Riviera, it LV�QRWHG�IRU�ęWDOFXP�EHDFKHV�ULQJHG�E\�ZLQGVZHSW�KLOOV��EULJKW�ERXJDLQYLOOHD�
VSLOOLQJ�IURP�WKH�URRIWRSV��DQG�WXUTXRLVH�FRYHV�IOHFNHG�ZLWK�ULW]\�VDLOERDWV��3UDNDVK�������
n.pag.). She had earlier visited the island twice. This time she and her husband chose the
destination for its low overall Covid cases and mostly outdoor, socially distanced activities, and
easier access from the U.S. There she experienced the unusual procedure and transformed
tourist vibe. The 14-GD\�WULS�ZDV�SHSSHUHG�ZLWK�PXOWLSOH�&RYLG�WHVWV��ę:H�VSHQW�RXU�WLPH�GRLQJ�
typical vacation things, as far as the before times go anyways, but everything felt brand-new in
WKH�DJH�RI�&29,'��3UDNDVK�������n.pag.). In the pre-Covid times, she did not pay much
attention to the travel details. But on that day when the plane took off,
[T]he small details came into focus. Seats were mostly empty, and the eerie
look of masked passengers joining in a synchronized choreography of
disinfecting their seats and tray tables was apparent, but the nervous, excited
energy in the air was palpable, too. As the plane banked away from Newark,
I watched a couple Ę dressed in shorts and sandals despite the snow on the
ground outside Ę begin to beam. No, I could not see their smiles behind
masks, but the enthusiasm in their eyes and words as they pointed at the
plane window was unmistakable. (Prakash 2021, n.pag.)
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- 34 -
When will unrestricted travel fully resume? One can only guess. But one can be sure
that the global lockdown will remain in the memories of travelers for years to come.
Conclusion
,Q�WKLV�FKDSWHU��ZH�GHILQH�ęWUDYHOĚ�DV�D�WURXEOHsome and laborious activity of moving or
going from one place to another. Travel may be considered a form of education, teaching us
about the world as well as ourselves. Travelers can also be classified into the emigrant, the
explorer, the merchant, and the toXULVW��$IWHUZDUGV��ęWUDYHO�OLWHUDWXUHĚ�LV�GHILQHG�DV�D�OLWHUDU\�
genre that thematizes mobility. Whether in an oral or written form, in prose or poetry, in first or
third person, it relates stories of journeys, and is enjoyed by three kinds of readers. Finally, a
short history of travel literature spans over the period from ancient times to the twenty-first
century.
Class Activities
Chapter-end Exercise
1. *LYH�GHILQLWLRQV�RI�ęWUDYHOĚ�DQG�ęWUDYHO�OLWHUDWXUH�Ě
2. Explain why people travel and different types of travelers.
3. Relate a brief history of travel literature.
Discussion Questions
1. Tell your class about one of your memorable trips.
2. What makes it memorable?
3. What type of traveler are you?
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- 35 -
Section II
Forms of Travel Literature
DO N
OT COPY
- 36 -
Chapter 2
Travel Poetry
Procis
This chapter discusses travel poetry that is marked for its various forms and peculiar
characteristics. Poets rely on rhythmic expression to narrate travel experiences of people from
diverse backgrounds, highlighting a wide range of social voices, and, as a result, creating the
condition of heteroglossia. Travel poetry is also noted for its blending of forms, giving rise to the
distinctive feature of novelistic hybridization unique to modern literature (Bakhtin 1981). And as
the advancement in transportation technology is taken into consideration, travel poetry reflects
the experiences of the body in motion and the new vantage point the innovation has brought
about.
Objectives
After studying this chapter, students will be able to:
1. Give a GHILQLWLRQ�RI�ęWUDYHO�SRHWU\�Ě
2. Identify the condition of heteroglossia and novelistic hybridization in travel poetry.
3. Explain the relationship between transportation technology and traveling
experiences in travel poetry.
4. Discuss English travel poetry in relation to Nirat, a genre of Thai travel poetry.
Definition of Travel Poetry
7KH�WHUP�ęSRHWU\Ě�LV�DSSOLHG�to ęthe many forms in which human beings have given
rhythmic expression to their most intense perceptions of the world, themselves, and the relation
of the two�(Harmon 2009, 425). Peculiar characteristics of poetry include rhythm and
compactness. Furthermore, poetry is marked for its concreteness, insisting on the specific, the
concrete, and the bodily because one function of poetry is to present images concretely
(Harmon 2009, 425). Thus, one might confer that travel poetry is an artistic expression of
physical and emotional experiences while traveling. It relies on a combination of different modes
of writing, e.g. description, narration, and reflection. Meanwhile, the experiences may be real or
fictional.
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- 37 -
,Q�FODVVLFDO�OLWHUDWXUH��+RPHUĜV�HSLF�SRHP�The Odyssey can be considered one of the
best known stories that features travel. Mainly focusing on the Greek hero Odysseus, it tells the
story of his journey home after the Trojan War. Meantime, several works in English literature can
probably be subsumed under travel poetry. Earlier in the Middle Ages, Geoffrey Chaucer (c.
1343-1400) started composing The Canterbury tales. It begins at the contemporary Tabard Inn
across London Bridge in Southwark, where the pilgrims depart for the shrine of St. Thomas j
Becket in Canterbury.
It befell that one day in that season,
as I was in Southwark at the Tabard Inn,
ready to go on my pilgrimage
to Canterbury with a most devout heart,
at night there came into that hostelry
a company of nine-and-twenty people ė
all sorts of people, who had met by chance;
and all of them were pilgrims
who were riding toward Canterbury.
(Chaucer 1982, 3)
Ninety-two pilgrims from various walks of life come together at the inn on their way to
the shrine in Canterbury. In actuality, the Inn was a real establishment in London, where Chaucer
lived and worked with lawyers and merchants (Benson 2005, 74-75). He also frequently went to
the Continent on Crown business, and the normal route from London to France was through
Canterbury and on to Dover and then across the Channel to Calais. As the pLOJULPVĜ�way was
rough, lonely, and dangerous, we may assume that he would travel in company when he could
find it, and the most readily available company would usually be bands of pilgrims (Howard
1964, 118-119). It is EHOLHYHG�WKDW�DOVR�LQ������&KDXFHUĜV�ZLIH�3KLOLSSD�GLHG��DQG�KH�PLJKW�KDYH�
made a pilgrimage to Canterbury because of her death (Howard 1964, 118).
Since Chaucer shows us London only fleetingly and from a distance (Benson 2005, 70),
nowadays we are apt WR�WKLQN�RI�D�SLOJULPDJH�WR�D�VDLQWĜV�VKULQH�DV�D�VROHPQ�UHOLJLRXV�RFFDVLRQ��
But in the Middle Ages such matters were treated more lightly. The fact of the matter is that
ZKHQ�&KDXFHUĜV�pilgrims departed from the Tabard Inn in Southwark, the age of great veneration
for St. Thomas was a thing of the past. People in large numbers still made the pilgrimage, but
the old fervor that had originally elevated Thomas to the status of a saint, in spite of the efforts
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- 38 -
of the Church to prevent it, had largely died out (Howard 1964, 120). In fact, pilgrimages to
shrines were as likely to be vacations as religious observances (Hieatt and Hieatt 1982, xi).
According to the Prologue, the narrator in The Canterbury tales gives memorable
descriptions of about thirty ill-assorted people and a plan for a trip (Howard 1964, 119). It has
been said that the pilgrims represent a complete cross section of the English society of
&KDXFHUĜV�GD\��7KLV�LV�KDUGO\�WKH�WUXWK��LW�ZRXOG�EH better to say that they represent a cross
section of middle-class society. Members of the nobility are absent, as are the serfs and villeins
who composed almost three-fourths of the population (Howard 1964, 121). At the behest of the
host of the inn, the pilgrims are to tell two tales each on a pilgrimage from London to
Canterbury, and two more tales on the way back.
ę<RX�DUH�JRLQJ�WR�&DQWHUEXU\�ė God speed you;
may the blissful martyr give you your reward.
Well I know that as you go along the way
you plan to tell tales and amuse yourselves,
for surely there is no consolation or mirth
in riding along the way dumb as a stone;
and therefore I wish to amuse you,
DV�,�VDLG�EHIRUH��DQG�JLYH�\RX�SOHDVXUH��>đ@Ě
(Chaucer 1982, 37)
The journey to Canterbury would be arduous and boring. The storytelling should while
away the time and physical exhaustion. The poem is composed in iambic pentameter. However,
Chaucer liveG�WR�FRPSOHWH�RQO\�ę7KH�*HQHUDO�3URORJXHĚ�DQG�WZHQW\-two of his tales (two others
are unfinished) (Hieatt and Hieatt 1982, xxii). According to the most widely held theory, Chaucer
began the composition of The Canterbury tales in 1387. When he embarked on the project, he
was thoroughly familiar with the principle of the frame-story or group of tales (Howard 1964,
118). Wherever he got his idea for this scheme (there were a number like it in the fourteenth
century, including Giovanni Boccaccio (1313-1375)ĜV�Decameron (c. 1492), what he made of it
was different from anything else in literary history (Hieatt and Hieatt 1982, xi). The stories which
the pilgrims tell are in widely different literary genres and styles, and almost each of these
traditional medieval forms is turned into something surprisingly new. In addition, a story is often
VR�ZHOO�ILWWHG�WR�D�SLOJULPĜV�FKDUDFWHU�DQG�RSLQLRQ�WKDW�WDOH�DQG�WHOOHU�LOOXminate each other; and
the interplay between the often very discordant temperaments and views of the pilgrims, both in
DO NOT C
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- 39 -
direct interchanges and in their tales, is a further element in this highly complex and satisfying
literary pattern (Hieatt and Hieatt 1982, xi).
The multiplicity of social voices represented by the pilgrims, or heteroglossia,
constitutes the basic distinguishing feature of the novel as a genre (Bakhtin 1981, 263). It also
permits the incorporation of various genres, creating the novelistic hybridization, or ęan
artistically organized system for bringing different languages in contact with one anotherĚ
(Bakhtin 1981, 320; 361). To illustrate the point, ę7KH�kQLJKWĜV�tDOH�Ě�WKH�ORQJHVW�RI�WKH�VHOHFWLRQV�
here, belongs to the flexible genre of the medieval romance ė that is to say, it is a story in which
men might see idealized images of human behavior, in the persons of the highest social classes
behaving according to an exacting code in their special sphere of love and war (Hieatt and
Hieatt 1982, xiii). ę7KH�mLOOHUĜV�tDOHĚ is a fabliau, a metrical tale, typically a bawdily humorous one,
of a type found chiefly in early French poetry (Hieatt and Hieatt 1982, xiv). ęThe mRQNĜV�taleĚ is
considered a beast fable, or beast epic ZKHUHDV�ę7KH�0HUFKDQWĜV�7DOHĚ�LV classified as a verse
novella (Hieatt and Hieatt 1982, xv-xvi).
The hybridization of genres in The Canterbury tales is unknown to traditional stylistics
of the Middle Ages, but befitting the demographics of the pilgrims who travel on land and
within a somewhat familiar territory. Later in the eighteenth century, when Samuel Taylor
Coleridge (1772-1834) composed The rime of the ancient mariner (1797-1798, first published in
1798), he resorted to ballad as the form to narrate a voyage of maritime discovery. Coleridge
took the popular narrative of exploration and turned it into an articulation of mental as well as
physical voyaging. By so doing, he found a form in which the inward self could be staged
outwardly. But the inward self is itself shaped by social and political conditions, and crystalized
in the action of the poem are &ROHULGJHĜV�SROLWLFDO�DQ[LHWLHV (Fulford 2002, 49). Staging a physical
MRXUQH\��WKH�SRHP�VWDUWV�ZLWK�WKH�PDULQHUĜV�VKLS�OHDYLQJ�WKH�KDUERU�
ę7KH�VKLS�ZDV�FKHHUHG��WKH�KDUERXU�FOHDUHG�
Merrily did we drop
Below the kirk, below the hill,
Below the light-house top.
The sun came up upon the left,
Out of the sea came he!
And he shone bright, and on the right
Went down into the sea.
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Higher and higher every day,
Till over the mast at noon ėę�
(Coleridge 2004, 1-2)
As the sun shone brightly, the crew seemed joyous while leaving the harbor.
Afterwards, the storm blew the ship southward to an uncharted territory. This resonates with the
voyage of Captain Cook, who had reached further south than ever before in 1774. He had
become a national hero because he was seen to have ventured beyond all previously known
limits (Fulford 2002, 50).
ę$QG�QRZ�WKH�6WRUP-blast came, and he
Was tyrannous and strong:
+H�VWUXFN�ZLWK�KLV�RĜHUWDNLQJ�ZLQJV�
And chased us south along.
With sloping masts and dipping prow,
As who pursued with yell and blow
Still treads the shadow of his foe,
And forward bends his head,
The ship drove fast, loud roared the blast,
And southward aye we fled.
And now there came both mist and snow,
And it grew wondrous cold:
And ice, mast-high, came floating by,
As green as emerald.
(Coleridge 2004, 2)
The ship is wrapped in mist and snow, and the emerald-green ice is seen floating by.
The scene is reminiscent of the South Pole. The narrative of sea voyage during the Age of
Discovery and colonialism is meant to deliver a message of social criticism. &ROHULGJHĜV�FRQIODWLRQ�
of a physical disease with the moral disease of colonialism was apt. In the interests of sustaining
its slave colonies, Britain exposed thousands of black Africans and British sailors to yellow fever,
smallpox, yaws, plague and other fatal infections. In other words, WKH�ęWKRXVDQG�WKRXVDQG�VOLP\�
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WKLQJVĚ�LQ�ęWKH�URWWLQJ�VHDĚ�DUH�ęthe diseases of empireĚ (Fulford 2002, 49-50). After his
shipmates dropped dead, the mariner was left:
Alone, alone, all, all alone,
Alone on a wide, wide sea!
And never a saint took pity on
My soul in agony.
The many men, so beautiful!
And they all dead did lie:
And a thousand thousand slimy things
Lived on; and so did I.
I looked upon the rotting sea,
And drew my eyes away;
I looked upon the rotting deck,
And there the dead men lay.
(Coleridge 2004, 15)
ColeridgeĜV ballad may have arisen from his radical opposition to slavery, but it is not
about it. In The rime of the ancient mariner, he makes UHDGHUV�VKDUH�ęWKH�WHUURU��GHVSHUDWLRQ�DQG�
GHVLUH�RI�D�PDQ�HQVODYHG��LQ�PLQG�DQG�ERG\�(Fulford 2002, 50). He was wise to choose a sea
story for this purpose because his contemporaries were fascinated by the extraordinary
discoveries made on recent voyages in which human psychology was put under intense pressure
by isolation, danger, and fear (Fulford 2002, 50).
On the physical level, the shipmates were plagued by the diseases of empire. On the
spiritual level, the mariner was haunted by his own sense of guilt after shooting the albatross.
The very deep did rot: O Christ!
That ever this should be!
Yea, slimy things did crawl with legs
Upon the slimy sea.
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About, about, in reel and rout
The death-fires danced at night;
7KH�ZDWHU��OLNH�D�ZLWFKĜV�RLOV�
Burnt green, and blue, and white.
And some in dreams assured were
Of the Spirit that plagued us so;
Nine fathom deep he had followed us
From the land of mist and snow.
(Coleridge 2004, 17)
The shooting of the bird is given supernatural significance and the mariner becomes a
SDULDK��EHOLHYLQJ�KLPVHOI�WR�EH�VXIIHULQJ�IURP�ęD�VWLOO�ZRUVH�IRUP�RI�DOLHQDWLRQ�DV�KH�ZRUNV�ZLWK�
the living dead, so near but yet so far from those dearest to himĚ (Fulford 2002, 51).
ę7KH�ERG\�RI�P\�EURWKHUĜV�VRQ
Stood by me, knee to knee:
The body and I pulled at one rope,
%XW�KH�VDLG�QRXJKW�WR�PH�Ě
(Coleridge 2004, 19)
7KH�PDULQHUĜV�]RPELH�FUHZPDWHV�DUH�HPERGLPHQWV�RI�WKH�SROLWLFDO�SOLJKW�to which
Coleridge was oppoVHG��+LV�GLDJQRVLV�ZHQW�OLNH�WKLV��ęslavery produced superstition which in turn
produced mental enslavement, perpetuating slavery. In proportion to their own powerlessness,
subjugated peoples granted others powers that seemed supernatural. Unscrupulous tyrants took
advantage of this tendency to cement their authority: they ensured those they oppressed stayed
VSHOOERXQG�E\�WKHLU�SRZHU��Fulford 2002, 46; original emphasis). Both the shipmates and slaves
subscribe to the curse because it articulates what they now know they had repressed. The
supposed exercise of magical power always involves some moral guilt, directly or indirectly
(Fulford 2002, 48).
However, it was not simply guilt that produced superstition. It stemmed from
powerlessness ė a powerlessness of which the slave was the extreme case. Moreover, ignorance
was also a form of this powerlessness: superstition sprang from ęthe conscious of the vast
disproportion of our knowledge to the terra incognita yet to be knownĚ (Fulford 2002, 48). In
this case, it was towards the terra incognita australis ė the uncharted southern continent ė that
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the Ancient Mariner was sailing. In ColeridgeĜs most famous poem, a sea voyage into unknown
areas forms an outward dramatization of the inward conditions that, in ColeridgeĜV�GLDJQRVLV��
produced superstition. The mariner journeys beyond the limits of geographic knowledge, where
he finds himself helpless before powers and events over which he has no control. The further he
penetrates into a physical terra incognita, a place of green ice and red ocean, the more he
discovers his own powerlessness (Fulford 2002, 49).
The mariner becomes uncanny, a traveler haunted ė or touched ė by the dead (Fulford
2002, 51). He is redeemed only when he becomes capable of empathizing with natural creatures,
and praying for them.
Beyond the shadow of the ship,
I watched the water-snakes:
They moved in tracks of shining white,
And when they reared, the elfish light
Fell off in hoary flakes.
Within the shadow of the ship
I watched their rich attire:
Blue, glossy green, and velvet black,
They coiled and swam; and every track
Was a flash of golden fire.
O happy living things! no tongue
Their beauty might declare:
A spring of love gushed from my heart,
And I blessed them unaware:
Sure my kind saint took pity on me,
And I blessed them unaware.
The selfsame moment I could pray;
And from my neck so free
The Albatross fell off, and sank
/LNH�OHDG�LQWR�WKH�VHD�Ě
(Coleridge 2004, 16-17)
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To underscore the natural beauty of the snakes, the poet resorts to the rhyming
pattern, whereby ęZDWHU-VQDNHVĚ�UK\PHV�ZLWK�ęKRDU\�IODNHV�Ě�ęZKLWHĚ�ZLWK�ęOLJKW�Ě�ęULFK�DWWLUHĚ�ZLWK�
ęJROGHQ�ILUH�Ě�ęEODFNĚ�ZLWK�ęWUDFN�Ě�ęGHFODUHĚ�ZLWK�ęXQDZDUH�Ě�DQG�ęIUHHĚ�ZLWK�ęVHD�Ě�
As the dead albatross fell off from the marinerĜV�QHFN��KH�ZDV�UHOLHYHG�RI�WKH�FXUVH��<HW��
he was doomed to repeat the tale of his ordeal to strangers, one of whom happened to be the
wedding guest he had detained before he could join the party.
After the Age of Discovery, technological innovations, such as train, ushered in another
chapter of traveling experiences. The body in motion is depicted through the shaken objects and
bodies in ę$�WULS�WR�3DULV�DQG�%HOJLXP�Ě�D�WUDYHO�SRHP�E\ Dante Gabriel Rossetti (1828-1882),
painter and poet of the Pre-Raphaelites.1 5RVVHWWLĜV�LQWHUHVWV�LQ�ZULWLQJ�DQG�SDLQWLQJ�DSSHDUHG�
early, encouraged by his immediate family life as well as by the literary interests of his
grandfather (McGann 2003, xvii). On September 27th, 1849, he and William Holman Hunt
boarded a train in London on the first leg of a trip that would take them to Folkstone, and from
there by ferry to Boulogne, where they would catch another train to Amiens and Paris (Bentley
2012, n.pag.). After Paris, they would continue to Brussels, Waterloo, Antwerp, Ghent, and
Bruges, before returning to London via Dover.
William MichaeO�5RVVHWWL�HQWLWOHG�ę$�tULS�WR�3DULV�DQG�%HOJLXPĚ�WKH�YHUVH�MRXUQDO�KLV�
brother kept during the trip and sent in letters to his fellow Pre-Raphaelites (Bentley 2012,
n.pag.)��,W�RIIHUV�YLJQHWWHV�RI�WKH�SRHWĜV�WUDYHO�H[SHULHQFHV��)RU�LQVWDQFH��views outside the
window from London to Folkstone are rendered like motion pictures. Trees are passing by; wires
move like a chain dragging clouds along.
1 A group of writers and artists formed by William Holman Hunt, John Everett Millais, and Dante
Gabriel Rossetti, devoted to bringing about a revolution in artistic practice and cultural
sensibilities. The three men soon gathered together a number of artists and writers who met
PRQWKO\�WR�GLVFXVV�WRSLFV�RI�PXWXDO�LQWHUHVW��7KH\�LQFOXGHG�5RVVHWWLĜV�EURWKHU��:LOOLDP�0LFKDHO��
the young sculptor Thomas Woolner (1825-1892), James Collinson (1825?-1881), and F.G.
Stephens (1828-1907), who would later become an influential art critic. The group made its
debut early in 1849 when Hunt and Millais put up works at the Royal Academy Exhibition and
Rossetti at the Free Exhibition at Hyde Park Corner (McGann 2003, xviii).
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A constant keeping-past of shaken trees,
And a bewildered glitter of loose road;
Banks of bright growth, with single blades atop
Against white sky; and wires ė a constant chain ė
That seem to draw the clouds along with them
(Things which one stoops against the light to see
Through the low window; shaking by at rest,
Or fierce like water as the swiftness grows);
And, seen through fences or a bridge far off,
Trees that in moving keep their intervals
6WLOO�RQH�ěWZL[W�EDU�DQG�EDU��DQG�WKHQ�DW�WLPHV
Long reaches of green level, where one cow,
Feeding among her fellows that feed on,
Lifts her slow neck, and gazes for the sound.
(Rossetti 2003, 345-346)
Noticeably, the poem vividly reflects on the new mode of transportation of the
nineteenth century, which turned travel into a mass activity, available to almost all members of
Western society. The railway journey introduced travelers to ęa new sense of speed, and a new
sense of disorientation, as the landscape in the immediate foreground of a window-view sped by
in a blurĚ (Thompson 2011, 56-57). Meanwhile, traveling by train, the persona felt the physical
motion from Boulogne to Amiens. He was kept awake, being jolted from one station to another.
Most of them slept; I could not ė held awake
By jolting clamour, with shut eyes; my head
Willing to nod and fancy itself vague.
Only at stations I looked round me, when
Short silence paused among us, and I felt
A creeping in my feet from abrupt calm.
At such times Hunt would jerk himself, and then
Tumble uncouthly forward in his sleep.
>đ@
So, after the sore torments of the route: -
Toothache, and headache, and the ache of wind,
And huddled sleep, and smarting wakefulness,
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And night, and day, and hunger sick at food,
And twentyfold relays, and packages
To be unlocked, and passports to be found,
And heavy well-kept landscape; - we were glad
Because we entered Brussels in the sun.
(Rossetti 2003, 348-349; 357)
As his body was carried along, he negotiated meanings with the outside world. Upon
his visit to Palace of Bastille, he was reminded of the historic event on July 14, 1789 when it was
attacked, heralding the demise of French absolute monarchy.
How dear the sky has been above this place!
Small treasures of this sky that we see here
Seen weak through prison-bars from year to year;
(\HG�ZLWK�D�SDLQIXO�SUD\HU�XSRQ�*RGĜV�JUDFH
To save, and tears which stayed along the face
Lifted at sunset. Yea, how passing dear
Those nights when through the bars a wind left clear
The heaven, and moonlight soothed the limpid space!
So was it, till one night the secret kept
Safe in low vault and stealthy corridor
Was blown abroad on gospel-tongues of flame.
O ways of God, mysterious evermore!
How many on this spot have cursed and wept
That all might stand here now and own Thy name.
(Rossetti 2003, 349-350)
6LQFH�WKH�PDLQ�SXUSRVH�RI�WKH�WULS�ZDV�WR�WRXU�FRQWLQHQWDO�DUW�JDOOHULHV��5RVVHWWLĜV�
interest turned to the pictorial and poetic. To the enthusiastic but inexperienced and insular
youths, the Louvre and Luxembourg seemed chiefly filled with ancient incompetence ė ęVORVKĚ�
(Doughty 1949, 82). He expressed his disgust with the ubiquity of Peter Paul Rubens (1577-1640)
in Antwerp (Doughty 1949, 85).
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ę0HVVLHXUV��OH�'LHX�GHV�SHLQWUHVĚ��:H�IHOW�RGG�
ě7ZDV�5XEHQV��VFXOSWXUHG��$�PHDQ�IORULG�FKXUFK
Was the next thing we saw, - from vane to porch
His drivel. The museum: as we trod
Its steps, his bust held us at bay. The clod
Has slosh by miles along the wall within.
�ę,�VD\��,�VRPHKRZ�IHHO�P\�JRUJH�EHJLQ
7R�ULVH�Ě��ė His chair in a glass case, by God!
đ7R�WKH�Cathedral. Here too the vile snob
+DV�IRXOHG�LQ�HYHU\�FRUQHU���ę:KHUHIRUH�EUDYH
2XU�IDWH"�/HWĜV�JR�Ě��7KHUH�LV�D�PRQXPHQW
:H�SDVV��ę0HVVLHXUV��\RX�WUHDG�XSRQ�WKH�JUDYH
2I�WKH�JUHDW�5XEHQV�Ě�ę:HOO��WKDWĜV�RQH�JRRG�MRE�
What time this evening is the train foU�*KHQW"Ě
(Rossetti 2003, 359-360)
Later, the Can-Can dance DW�9DOHQWLQRĜV�moved Rossetti to write a sonnet of such moral
indignation (Doughty 1949, 82).
>đ@�$�WRRWKVRPH�IHDVW
Of blackguardism and whoreflesh and bald row,
No doubt for such as love those same. For me,
I confess, William, and avow to thee,
(Soft in thine ear!) that such sweet female whims
As nasty backsides out and wriggled limbs
Are not a passion of mine naturally;
Nor bitch-squeaks, nor the smell of heated quims.
(Rossetti 2003, 350-351)
To him, the bare flesh and the squeaking noise of the dancers proved unpalatable. The
ęQDVW\�EDFNVLGHVĚ�DQG�ęZULJJOHG�OLPEVĚ�looked off-putting. Furthermore, in a spirit of nationalistic
pride and insular superiority, he recalled grumbling incessantly because France was not England.
+H�IURZQHG�XSRQ�WKH�SRRU�3DULVLHQQHV��FDOOLQJ�WKHP�ęEODQG�VPLOLQJ�GRJV�ZLWK�PDQHVĚ�DW�ZKRP��
ęNQRZLQJ�RI�(QJODQG�RQHĜV�H\H�GHPXUVĚ��Doughty 1949, 83).
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Chins that might serve the new Jerusalem;
Streets footsore; minute whisking milliners,
'XEEHG�JUDFHIXO��EXW�DW�ZKRP�RQHĜV�H\H�GHPXUV�
Knowing of England; ladies, much the same;
Bland smiling dogs with manes ė a few of them
At pains to look like sporting characters;
(Rossetti 2003, 352-353)
Whatever was unfamiliar seemed to their insularity absurd. He even anathematized the
police (Doughty 1949, 85).
Fierce sentinels (toy-size without the stands),
:KR�VSLW�WKHLU�RDWKV�DW�\RX�DQG�JULQG�WKHLU�UĜV
If at a fountain you would wash your hands;
One Frenchman (this is fact) who thinks he spars: -
Can even good dinners cover all their sins?
(Rossetti 2003, 353)
The French officers were quite provoking, using offensive language. Finally, he was
more than delighted to be back on his homeland when he went through the immigration
checkpoint at Dover.
On landing, the first voice one hears is from
An English police-constable; a man
Respectful, conscious that at need he can
Enforce respect. Our custom-house at home
Strict too, but quiet. Not the foul-mouthed scum
Of passport-mongers who in Paris still
Preserve the Reign of Terror; not the till
Where the King haggles, all through Belgium.
The country somehow seems in earnest here,
Grave and sufficient: - England, so to speak;
No other word will make the thing as clear.
ę$K��KDELW�Ě�\RX�H[FODLP��ęDQG�SUHMXGLFH�Ě
,I�VR��VR�EH�LW��2QH�GRQĜW�FDUH�WR�VKULHN�
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ę6LU��WKLV�VKDOO�EH�Ě�%XW�RQH�EHOLHYHV�LW�LV�
(Rossetti 2003, 362)
Compared to the French counterpart, the English police constable commanded respect
whereas the Customs officer waV�VWULFW�\HW�TXLHW��XQOLNH��WKH�ęIRXO-PRXWKHG�VFXPĚ�LQ�3DULV� The
protagonist admitted his sense of national pride and prejudice. He had been longing for the
return to England.
As the railway brought about new travel sensation, the airplane as a new means of
transportation generated new travel experiences for poets as well. In ę2YHU�.DQVDV�Ě�Allen
Ginsberg (1926 ė1997), one of the Beat poets (See Chapter 9 for details.), describes his business
trip across the continent from San Francisco to New York in December 1954. On his way to
Oakland airport, he finds himself RQ�WKH�EXV�WKDW�LV�DERXW�WR�OHDYH�ęWKH�GLP�EULFN�ORXQJH��PXWHG�
PRGHUQ�PXVLF��,Q�WKH�bar, the other businessmen are drinking cocktails with women in
ęIOXRUHVFHQW�VKDGRZĚ��*LQVEHUJ�����������. The plane would carry him over Kansas, but he
FDQQRW�ęVHH�RXWVLGH�LQ�WKH�GDUN�Ě�6XUURXQGHG�ZLWK�ęUHDO�GUHDU\�VWUDQJHUV�DERXW�Ě�he yearns for
ęVRPH�QDNHG�LVRODWLRQĚ�(Ginsberg 2010, 180). He is leaving the West Coast behind and heading
WR�ęDQFLHQW�1HZ�<RUN�Ě where he grew up and his parents were living. Flying over Kansas in the
GDUN��KH�IHHOV�KH�LV�QRW�PRYLQJ�DQ\ZKHUH�ęLQ�WKH�GDUN�YRLG�RI�WKH�VRXO�Ě�$IWHU�ZDNLQJ�XS��KH�VHHV�
KLV�RZQ�UHIOHFWLRQ�RQ�WKH�SODQH�ZLQGRZ��ęEDOG�EXVLQHVVPDQ�ZLWK�KRUQULPV�Ě�FRQGXFWLQJ�market
research for his family business (Ginsberg 2010, 181). The flight does not feel uncomfortable,
DQG�VXUURXQGHG�E\�RWKHU�SDVVHQJHUV��KH�IHHOV�ęWKH�HQGOHVV�HPSWLQHVV�RI�WKH�VRXOĚ��*LQVEHUJ�
2010, 181). The trip would take five days, and its purpose is not what he is looking forward to.
Meanwhile, tKH�FHOHEUDWLRQ�RI�RQHĜV�KRPHODQG�LV�HOHYDWHG�LQ�Leaves of grass, a
collection of poems by Walt Whitman (1819-1892). In July 1855, he issued the first edition,
LQWHQGLQJ�LW�WR�EH�ęQRWKLQJ�OHVV�WKDQ�D�ęQHZ�%LEOHĚ�IRU�WKH�QHZ�DJH�RI�GHPRFUDF\�DQG�VFLHQFHĚ
(McQuade et al 1987, 997)��2EYLRXV�LV�WKH�SRHWĜV�LGHRORJLFDO�XQGHUSLQQLQJ�LQ�KLV�SUHIDFH�WR�WKH�
1855 edition, in which he argues for the duty of the American poets in promoting the spirit of
democracy.
The American poets are to enclose old and new for America is the race of
races. Of them a bard is to be commensurate with a people. To him the other
continents arrive as contributions [đ] he gives them reception for their sake
and his own sake. His VSLULW�UHVSRQGV�WR�KLV�FRXQWU\ĜV�VSLULW [đ] he incarnates
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its geography and natural life and rivers and lakes. Mississippi with annual
freshets and changing chutes, Missouri and Columbia and Ohio and Saint
Lawrence with the falls and beautiful masculine Hudson, do not embouchure
where they spend themselves more than they embouchure into him. The blue
breadth over the inland sea of Virginia and Maryland and the sea off
Massachusetts and Maine and over Manhattan bay and over Champlain and
Erie and over Ontario and Huron and Michigan and Superior, and over the
Texan and Mexican and Floridian and Cuban seas and over the seas off
California and Oregon, is not tallied by him. When the long Atlantic coast
stretches longer and the Pacific coast stretches longer he easily stretches with
them north or south. He spans between them also from east to west and
reflects what is between them. (Whitman 1987, 1002)
The American poet, Whitman suggests, represents the spirit of the people, and reveals
himself in the diverse landscapes of the country. He does not measure the length or width of
the land, but lets the land embrace him. In the collection itself, Whitman is seen vacillating
between a poetry of precise observation and a poetry of ideas and large declarations (McQuade
et al 1987, 999). In ę&URVVLQJ�WKH�%URRNO\Q�)HUU\�Ě�KH�REVHUYHV�WKH�VXUURXQGLQJV��LQFOXGLQJ�IHOORZ�
commuters engaged in their daily routine.
Flood-tide below me! I see you face to face!
Clouds of the west ė sun there half an hour high ė I see you also face to
face.
Crowds of men and women attired in the usual costumes, how curious
you are to me!
On the ferry-boats the hundreds and hundreds that cross, returning
home, are more curious to me than you suppose,
And you that shall cross from shore to shore years hence are more to me,
and more in my meditation, than you might suppose.
>đ@
Ah, what can ever be more stately and admirable to me than mast-
KHPPĜG�0DQKDWWDQ"
River and sunset and scallop-HGJĜG�ZDYHV�RI�IORRG-tide?
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The sea-gulls oscillating their bodies, the hay-boat in the twilight, and the
belated lighter?
What gods can exceed these that clasp me by the hand, and with voices I
love call me promptly and loudly by my nighest name as I approach?
What is more subtle than this which ties to the woman or man that looks
in my face?
Which fuses me into you now, and pours my meaning into you?
(Whitman 1965, 159-160; 163-164)
0HDQZKLOH��ęSong of the open roadĚ�GHSLFWV�WKH�QDUUDWRU�DPRQJ�KLV�IHOORZ�$PHULFDQV�
while traveling.
Afoot and light-hearted I take to the open road,
Healthy, free, the world before me,
The long brown path before me leading wherever I choose.
>đ@
Strong and content I travel the open road.
>đ@
Allons! whoever you are come travel with me!
Traveling with me you find what never tires.
>đ@
To take your use out of the compact cities as you pass through,
To carry buildings and streets with you afterward wherever you go,
To gather the minds of men out of their brains as you encounter them,
to gather the love out of their hearts,
To take your lovers on the road with you, for all that you leave them
behind you,
To know the universe itself as a road, as many roads, as roads for
traveling souls.
(Whitman 1965, 149; 154; 157)
Here, the universe of the American nation is comparable to an open road waiting to be
explored. In the 1960s, the American open road was updated by Gary Snyder (b. 1930), another
Beat poet, in ę1LJKW�+LJKZD\���.Ě The epic poem was written sometime between 1960 and 1961.
It was inspired by two letters: one from Jack Kerouac in 1956, relating his hitchhiking adventures
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from Mill Valley outside San Francisco north to Washington state; the other from friend and
poet Lew Welch (1926 ė1971), in which he portrays the new Highway 5 that is destroying the
fabric of community he associates with the old, winding Highway 99 (Vincent 2010, 197-198).
ę1LJKW�+LJKZD\���Ě provides an account of the road trip along U.S. Route 99 (US 99),
which was assigned in 1926. Connected to British Columbia Highway 99 in Canada, it ran from
Washington state through Oregon to the US-Mexico border in California. By 1968, US 99 was
completely decommissioned, and was replaced for the most part by Interstate 5. 2QFH�ęZLQWHUĜV�
FRPLQJ�LQ�WKH�PRXQWDLQV�(Snyder 1996, 12), the traveler hitchhiked from Mt. Vernon in
Washington state to San Francisco in California.
Along the way he rode in several kinds of vehicles. He arrived in a purple Ford at
Centralia, where the car ran into and killed a doe by the Skookumchuck river in Washington
state (Snyder 1996, 15). He also rode in a Chevrolet driven by a fat man who wanted to go back
to Los Angeles (Snyder 1996, 15). He came across people from various walks of life, such as
ę>I@LIW\�ZHDU\�,QGLDQVĚ�ZKR�KDG�EHHQ�SLFNLQJ�VWUDZEHUULHV�DQG�KDG�to sleep in the bus station in
the city of Burlington, W.A. (Snyder 1996, 12). At one point during the journey he rode with a
prostitute from Los Angeles.
Caught a ride the only car come by
at seven in the morning
chewing froze salami
riding with a passed-out L.A. whore
glove compartment full of booze,
(Snyder 1996, 18)
At another time, he was sleeping in the back of a truck. Eventually, he woke up by the
river and had prunes for lunch.
All night freezing in the back of a truck
dawn at Smith River
EDWWHULQJ�RQ�LQ�ORJJHUVĜ�SLFNXSV
prunes for lunch
The next night, Siuslaw.
(Snyder 1996, 17)
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- 53 -
Eventually, at the end of the journey, as the traveler was approaching the city of San
Francisco, he realized that the highway was disappearing and San Francisco was gleaming in the
distance (Vincent 2010, 198).
City
gleaming far away
we make it into town tonight
get clean and drink some wine ė
SAN FRANCISCO
(Snyder 1996, 21)
Noteworthily, this is a poem WKDW�ęPRUH�IDLWKIXOO\�UHSUHVHQWV�WKH�PDWHULDO�FRQGLWLRQV�
QHFHVVDU\�WR�KHOS�VKDSH�D�VHQVH�RI�SODFH�LQ�WKH�:HVWHUQ�8QLWHG�6WDWHVĚ (Vincent 2010, 189). Walt
:KLWPDQĜV�SRHP�ę6RQJ�RI�WKH�RSHQ�URDGĚ�attempts to develop a new sense of place
commensurate with the New World, but it fails to make America a living homeland (Vincent
2010, 195). 2Q�WKH�FRQWUDU\��6Q\GHUĜV�SRHP�is a piece of cultural criticism. Responding to ęthe
anxieties of small town America, the poem dramatizes the deep-set contradiction in American
culture between nostalgia for roots on the one hand and the desire of freedom on the otherĚ
(Vincent 2010, 198). As US 99 was being replaced by Interstate 5, the local communities along
the highway lost their conviviality while people flocked to big cities.
Three conventional poetic subjects dominated the US in the 1950s: animals, the fine
arts, and travel (Von Hallberg 1992, 126). After 1945 the United States set about the job of
becoming a global power. Most of this was achieved after the withdrawing of Western European
imperial powers. And the US was militarily and economically prepared to assume the
responsibility (Von Hallberg 1992, 134). In the post-war period, more Americans traveled to
Europe than ever before. Poets were addressing a subject that had great pertinence to the time:
ęmany Americans were going abroad for the first time, and many of them were the first in the
families to conceive of a vacation as a tour of EuropeĚ (Von Hallberg 1992, 134). In 1949, W.S.
Merwin (1927 ė 2019) left America to live in France. A year later Robert Lowell (1917-1977) took
his first trip to Europe and stayed for three years. Elizabeth Bishop (1911-1979) had been
traveling since the mid-thirties; in 1951 she settled in Petropolis, near Rio de Janeiro (Von
Hallberg 1992, 126).
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Bishop was moved from one country to another in the course of a troubled childhood.
Later, in the course of a troubled life, she never settled for good in any one place. ęHomeĚ was,
variously, Nova Scotia, New England, Washington, Brazil, and Key West. Each place was located
somewhere along the eastern seaboard of the Americas (Delap 2003, n.pag.). She wrote
ęQuestions of travelĚ soon after taking up residence in Brazil and in the poem she explores the
GHWDLO�RI�WKH�IRUHLJQ�FRXQWU\�VKH�LV�H[SHULHQFLQJ�IRU�WKH�ILUVW�WLPH��ZULWLQJ�ZLWK�D�VWUDQJHUĜV��D�
WUDYHOHUĜV�H\H (Delap 2003, n.pag.). But in the process of defining her reactions to a new country,
Bishop also found herself opening up fresh perspectives on an old one, on the home ė or
homes ė she had just left. It was only when she got to Brazil that Bishop found herself able to
start writing effectively about her early childhood in Nova Scotia. In ę4XHVWLRQV�RI�WUDYHO�Ě�Bishop
records this paradoxical process, ęhow travel may throw new light not just on Here, but also on
ThereĚ (Delap 2003, n.pag.).
She ponders the benefits of staying home over traveling. On the one hand, she
questions whether she should have stayed home since it is such a waste of time.
Think of the long trip home.
Should we have stayed at home and thought of here?
Where should we be today?
Is it right to be watching strangers in a play
in this strangest of theatres?
What childishness is it that while there's a breath of life
in our bodies, we are determined to rush
to see the sun the other way around?
(Bishop 1983, 93)
On the other hand, she then realizes that if she had not traveled, she would have
missed out a chance to expose herself to new sensations which cannot be accessed while at
home.
But surely it would have been a pity
not to have seen the trees along this road,
really exaggerated in their beauty,
>đ@
ĘA pity not to have heard
the other, less primitive music of the fat brown bird
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- 55 -
who sings above the broken gasoline pump
in a bamboo church of Jesuit baroque:
three towers, five silver crosses.
(Bishop 1983, 93-94)
Although the poets traveled widely, their poems tend to gather around the sights and
monuments. In effect, they were all ęself-conscious tourists, with a missionĚ (Von Hallberg 1992,
135). A great many tourist poems have been written by American poets who were simply glad
for the chance to write descriptive poetry that is marked with ęOLJKWQHVV�Ě Writing in a tradition
that disapproves of superficiality, sometimes the poets feel squeamish about such things. Yet,
the motive comes naturally to a stranger in a new place (Von Hallberg 1992, 127-129).
The sense of alienation pertinent to an outsider is reflected in $GULHQQH�5LFKĜV�SRHP�
ę7KH�WRXULVW�DQG�WKH�WRZQĚ�������� Rich (1929-2012) traveled in Europe during the early 1950s.
The poem records her discovery upon a visit to Basilica di San Miniato al Monte in Florence,
central Italy. 6KH�FRPHV�WR�UHDOL]H�WKDW�ęRQH�LV�DW�KRPH�RQO\�LQ�VXUURXQGLQJV�RQH�FDQQRW�VHHĚ�
(Clemons 1975, 288). As a tourist, she sees only the beautiful surface of the town. She feels
ęGHWDFKHGĚ�DQG�ęXQWRXFKHG�Ě
We are only tourists under that blue sky,
Reading the posters on the station wall:
Come, take a walking-trip through happiness.
There is a mystery that floats between
The tourist and the town. Imagination
Estranges it from her. She need not suffer
Or die here. It is none of her affair,
Its calm heroic vistas make no claim.
(Rich 1995, 101-102)
2QFH�VKH�ęRSHQV�certain letters/Forwarded on from bitter origins�Ě�she begins to suffer
WKHUH��DQG�ęWKHQ�WKH�WRXULVW�DQG�WKH�WRZQ�DUH�RQH�Ě�Hence, she no longer feels alienated there.
To work and suffer is to be at home.
All else is scenery: the Rathaus fountain,
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- 56 -
The skaters in the sunset on the lake
At Salzburg, or, emerging after snow,
The singular clear stars of Castellane.
>đ@
>đ@�2QFH�XSRQ�D�WLPH
All these for you were fiction. Now, made free
You live among them. Your breath is on this air,
And you are theirs and of their mystery.
(Rich 1995, 102-103)
$PHULFDQ�SRHWV�DUH�XVXDOO\�DZDUH�RI�EHLQJ�ęWKH�XQDFNQRZOHGJHG�UHSUHVHQWDWLYHV�RI�
QDWLRQDO�FXOWXUH��RU�YXOJDULW\��ZHDOWK��DQG�SRZHU��DQG�LPSOLFDWHG�LQ�WKH�H[SDQVLRQ�RI�HPSLUH�
(Von Hallberg 1992, 145). Their critiques of American expansion reflected in these tourist poems
address a major experience shared by many middle-class Americans of the fifties and later (Von
Hallberg 1992, 147).
A strong sense of place is also evident in ę'XEOLQHVTXH,Ě�D�SRHP�E\�Philip Larkin (1922
ė1985). Once Larkin paid a visit to Dublin with his partner Monica Jones (1922-2001) in the
summer of 1969, and composed the poem around June 1 ė October 31, 1970 (Philip Larkin
2015, 944). It was later published in High windows (1974) (Philip Larkin 2015, 1477).
Nevertheless, the poem is an invocation of Dublin in the Victorian or Edwardian period.
The persona walks down ęVWXFFR�VLGHVWUHHWV�Ě�ZKHUH�OLJKW�LV�SHZWHU��7KH�VWXFFR�KRXVLQJ�DQG�WKH�
light in the shops above facilitate WKH�FRQMXQFWLRQ�RI�JDPEOLQJ�DQG�UHOLJLRQ�LQ�ęUDFH-guides and
rosaries.Ě There, he witnesses a funeral procession when the hearse passes by. It is followed by a
group of mourners, ę>D@�WURRS�RI�VWUHHWZDONHUVĚ�RU�SURVWLWXWHV�ZHDULQJ�ęZLGH�IORZHUHG�KDWV�Ě�
ęDQNOH-OHQJWK�GUHVVHV�Ě�ZLWK�ęOHJ-of-PXWWRQ�VOHHYHV�Ě�7KH�RXWILW�GDWHV�EDFN�WR�EHIRUH�WKH First
World War (Osborne 2005, n.pag.). The deceased is probably one of their own, or a procuress
since they are paying respect to the one they are fond of.
There is an air of great friendliness,
As if they were honouring
One they were fond of;
Some caper a few steps,
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- 57 -
Skirts held skilfully
(Someone claps time),
(Philip Larkin 2015, 212)
While there is a sense of joviality, the mourners show great sadness as well. ęKitty, or
.DW\�LV�SUREDEO\�WKH�QDPH�RI�WKH�GHFHDVHG�WKH�PRXUQHUV�KROG�dear to their hearts.
Nirat as a Genre of Thai Travel Poetry
Thai literature has its own JHQUH�RI�WUDYHO�SRHWU\�FDOOHG�ę1LUDW�Ě�7KH�WHUP�ę1LUDWĚ�LV�RI�
Sanskrit origin. It comes from nira PHDQLQJ�ęZLWKRXWĚ�DQG�asa PHDQLQJ�ęSDVVLRQ�RU�GHVLUH�Ě�,W�LV�
XVHG�LQ�7KDL�SRHWU\�WR�PHDQ�ęVHSDUDWLRQ��WR�EH�VHSDUDWHG�IURP��RU�WR�EH�ZLWKRXW�VRPHWKLQJ�
which iV�GHDUO\�GHVLUH�(Chitakasem 1972, 138-139). Nirat is a poetic genre that was recognized
as early as in the sixteenth century when Khlong Nirat Haripunchai is believed to have been
composed (Chitakasem 1972, 141). However, the more meaningful classification was not made
until the Ratanakosin period, in which titles were given to poems which appeared to fit this
FDWHJRU\��0DQ\�SRHPV�KDYH�EHHQ�UHQDPHG�ZLWK�WKH�WLWOH�ę1LUDWĚ�SOXV�WKH�QDPH�RI�WKH�SODFH�RI�
destination of the journey (Chitakasem 1972, 141).
Early Nirat poems represent the pangs of love separation expressed with strong feeling
and emotion. This is exemplified in the case of Rama and Sida in the Ramakian, who suffer long
separation (Chitakasem 1972, 141-142). From here, the Nirat poem carries forward the theme of
love-longing and separation and develops a genre in its own right (Chitakasem 1972, 142). In
ęThe emergence and development of the Nirat genre in Thai poetry�Ě�0DQDV�&KLWDNDVHP�
proposes that two models developed from the theme of separation and love-longing. One is the
fundamental structure of the Nirat poem expressed in term of time progression or chronological
process. The other is the fundamental structure of the Nirat poem expressed in the form of an
imaginary journey derived from literary sources (Chitakasem 1972, 143). An example of the first
model is the poem Khlong Thawathotsamat (The Twelve Months), believed to have been
composed in the fifteenth century. The poet sets out on his journey through the process of time
starting from the fifth lunar month going through the twelve months of the year ending in the
fourth month (Chitakasem 1972, 143-144). An example of the second model is Nirat Sida,
RULJLQDOO\�NQRZQ�DV�ę5DFKD�3KLODS�Ě�FRPSRVHG�GXULQJ�RU�EHIRUH�.LQJ�1DUDLĜV�UHLJQ������-1688).
The poem expresses the agony of Rama traveling through the jungle in search of Sida. Since the
journey is an imaginary one, no specific place names are available (Chitakasem 1972, 146).
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- 58 -
Later on, Chitakasem proposes the third model of Nirat, in which the chronological
process is converted into a time scale which is then applied to an actual journey instead of a
fictional excursion. He postulates that the timed personal itinerary is the true Nirat type. Two
examples of this model are Khlong Kamsuan Sriprat, composed between the fifteenth to the
seventeenth centuries, and Khlong Nirat Haripunchai, composed in the sixteenth century. In
these two Nirat poems, the main and most important part is the journey itself. Lists of place
names are presented as itineraries of the journeys, and the meanings of these names serve as
the vital link between the poet and his beloved as he expresses emotions and feelings of love-
longing through them (Chitakasem 1972, 147-148). Khlong Kamsuan Sriprat gives an account of
the journey from Ayuthaya to Nakhon Sri Thammarat while Khlong Nirat Haripunchai relates the
SRHWĜV�MRXUQH\�IURP�&KLDQJPDL�WR�/DPSRXQ to worship the Buddha relics enshrined at Phrathat
Haripunchai temple.
All Nirat poems of the Ayuthaya period (1350-1767) were composed in the Khlong
verse style while the Thonburi and Early Bangkok periods (1767-1782; 1782-1932) witnessed
certain changes and development. Sunthorn Phu (1786-1855) was the greatest innovator of Klon
Nirat and brought certain developments to the Nirat genre (Chitakasem 1972, 151). His Nirat
poems, such as Nirat Phukhao Thong (1828) and Nirat Muang Phet (1845), place an emphasis on
WKH�UHIOHFWLRQ�RI�WKH�SRHWĜV�SHUVRQDO�H[SHULHQFHV�RI�OLIH�LQ�JHQHUDO��3ODFH�QDPHV�DUH�XVHG�ęWR�
reflect ideas, observations, and attitudes toward human life and society in connection with the
UHFROOHFWLRQ�RI�WKH�SRHWĜV�SHUVRQDO KLVWRU\Ě�(Chitakasem 1972, 156). Nirat Phukhao Thong gives
DQ�DFFRXQW�RI�WKH�MRXUQH\�WR�3KXNKDR�7KRQJ�WHPSOH�LQ�$\XWKD\D�DIWHU�WKH�HQG�RI�.LQJ�5DPD�,,ĜV�
reign (1809-1824), and Nirat Muang Phet UHODWHV�WKH�SRHWĜV�WULS�WR�3KHWFKDEXUL��where his
PRWKHUĜV�UHODWLYHV�ZHUH�supposedly living.
Nirat poetry was further developed when it involves journeys to foreign countries. The
earliest Nirat poem of this type is Nirat Phraya Mahanuphap Pai Muang Chin, composed by
Phraya Mahanuphap when he was sent to Peking as a member of the Siamese embassy to the
&RXUW�RI�(PSHURU�&KĜLHQ�/XQJ�LQ�������7KH�JUHDWHU�SDUW�RI�WKLV�1LUDW�SRHP�LV�GHYRWHG�WR�WKH�
GHVFULSWLRQ�DQG�WKH�DFFRXQW�RI�WKH�SRHWĜV�WUDYHO�ZKHUHDV�WKH�WKHPH�RI�ORYH-longing is dismissed
(Chitakasem 1972, 165). After World War II, many government officials were sent on trips
abroad. More Nirat poems were composed, but they are merely travel accounts in verse. They
EHFRPH�PRUH�FRQFHUQHG�ZLWK�UHFRUGLQJ�WKH�SRHWVĜ�DFWLYLWLHV�ZKLOH�ęOHDYLQJ�DVLGH�WUDGLWLRQDO�LGHDV�
DQG�YLVLRQV�RI�SRHWLFDO�HPSDWK\�(Chitakasem 1972, 167).
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OPY
- 59 -
It is noted that Nirat as a Thai genre can possibly be integrated into the repertoire of
travel poetry with its distinctive aesthetics and techniques that have established and evolved this
Thai genre from the sixteenth century onwards. It gives the first-person account of an actual
journey during which the traveler laments the separation from his beloved and connects this
feeling of love-longing to the places or objects encountered along the way.
Conclusion
In this chapter, we discuss travel poetry of British and US poets from the Middle Ages
to the modern period, featuring human voices of diverse social backgrounds and professions.
These voices are revealed through their concerns, ideas, prejudices, and visions while their
traveling experiences are partly determined by the modes of transportation available to the time
period. Whether they travel on foot, by sea, by train, or by air, these traveling poets employ
various poetic forms to create hybridity, a distinctive feature of travel literature. Finally, the
chapter offers a brief discussion of Nirat as a genre of Thai travel poetry in relation to English
travel poetry.
Class Activities
Chapter-end Exercise
1. Give a GHILQLWLRQ�RI�ęWUDYHO�SRHWU\�Ě
2. Identify the condition of heteroglossia and novelistic hybridization in travel poetry.
3. Explain the relationship between transportation technology and traveling experiences in
travel poetry.
4. Discuss the similarities and differences between English travel poetry and Nirat poems.
Discussion Questions
1. Read the selected poems.
2. Paraphrase the poems, using prose in your own words.
3. Discuss how the poet negotiates meanings with the surroundings while traveling.
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Chapter 3
Scientific Travel Writing
Procis
This chapter discusses one particular form of travel literature ė scientific travel writing ė
and how seventeenth-century academics gave rise to the realistic prose style based on
observable facts, championing the use of plain language in expository writing. Moreover,
VFLHQWLILF�ZULWLQJ��VXFK�DV�ęJHRJUDSKLHV�Ě�UHYHDOV�WKH�DWWHPSW�WR�UHO\�RQ�WH[WXDO�SDWWHUQV�WR�
impose order on the destabilizing effect of mobility in travel experiences.
Objectives
After studying this chapter, students will be able to:
1. 'HILQH�WKH�WHUP�ęWKH�VFLHQWLILF�JD]H�Ě
2. Identify the use of plain language in scientific travel writing.
3. Analyze the knowledge structure in scientific travel writing.
The Scientific Gaze and Plain Language
One form of travel literature is scientific writing. In the seventeenth and eighteenth
centuries, when discovery literature proliferated, it was travel writing ęwhich provided the vehicle
for the development of modern scientific visionĚ (Hulme and Youngs 2007, 4). There emerged
WKH�ęVFLHQWLILF�JD]H�Ě�RU�WKH�DELOLW\�WR�VHH�LQ�RUGHU�WR�DFTXLUH�NQRZOHGJH��6WDIIRUG�����, 52). Here,
the scientific observer looks at, not over, that which he explores. The eyes ęseize things
differently when they focus on objects than when they automatically glide over themĚ (Stafford
1984, 40).
In natural history, more emphasis is placed on direct sensory experience and the
importance of observable facts (Hulme and Youngs 2007, 4). It is undergirded with a new way of
connecting what the eye sees and the discourse that represents it, of reducing the distance
EHWZHHQ�WKH�WZR�ęVR�DV�WR�EULQJ�ODQJXDJH�DV�FORVH�DV�SRVVLEOe to the observing gaze, and the
WKLQJV�REVHUYHG�DV�FORVH�SRVVLEOH�WR�ZRUGV��)RXFDXOW����������-132). Nonetheless, the act of
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observing is conducted within a particular system or structure whereby things are placed in
certain groups based on resemblances or differences (Foucault 1994, 134-140).
For instance, in The Malay archipelago (1893), Alfred Russel Wallace (1823-1913),
English naturalist, provides the average height of the volcano summits on the island of Java and
the measurements of the region. He even compares the boundaries of the British Isles with
Borneo by overlaying one map over the other (Wallace 2008, 2-4). Afterwards, he describes a
new species of bird he has discovered:
I saw a bird with a mass of splendid green feathers on its breast, elongated
into two glittering tufts; but what I could not understand was a pair of long
white feathers, which stuck straight out from each shoulder. Ali assured me
that the bird stuck them out this way itself, when fluttering its wings, and
that they had remained so without his touching them. I now saw that I had
got a great prize, no less than a completely new form of the Bird of
Paradise, differing most remarkably from every other known bird. The
general plumage is very sober, being a pure ashy olive, with a purplish tinge
on the back; the crown of the head is beautifully glossed with pale metallic
violet, and the feathers of the front extend as much over the beak as in
most of the family. The neck and the breast are scaled with fine metallic
green, and the feathers on the lower part are elongated on each side, so as
to form a two-pointed gorget, which can be folded beneath the wings, or
partially erected and spread out in the same way as the side plumes of most
of the birds of paradise. The four long white plumes which give the bird its
altogether unique character spring from little tubercles close to the upper
edge of the shoulder or bend of the wing; they are narrow, gently curved,
and equally webbed on both sides, of a pure creamy white colour. They are
about six inches long, equaling the wing, and can be raised at right angles
to it, or laid along the body at the pleasure of the bird. The bill is horn
colour, the legs yellow,, and the iris pale olive. This striking novelty has been
named by Mr. G.R. Gray of the British Museum, Semioptera wallacei, or
ę:DOODFHĜV�6WDQGDUG�ZLQJ�Ě (Wallace 2008, 251)
The development of such a utilitarian prose style which goes in tandem with the
development of modern scientific vision was sanctioned by the scientific academies of the
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- 62 -
seventeenth century (Stafford 1984, 34). The correspondences between verbal and visual
descriptions of reality and reality itself were promoted and found in the two stylistic features of
the factual travel accounts: the abolition of metaphorical extravagance and the cultivation of
ęSODLQ�ODQJXDJHĚ (Stafford 1984, 47). Underlining ęSODLQ�GHVFULSWLRQĚ�RI�VFLHQWLILF�WUDYHO�ZULWLQJ�
was the assumption that it was emphatically masculine, in contrast with the feminine and
ęIULYRORXVĚ�RI�WKH�EHDXWLIXO�ILQH�DQG�OLWHUDU\�DUWV��6WDIIRUG�����, 49; 52). The linguistic reforms
found a great proponent in Bishop Thomas Sprat (1635-1713), the historian of the Royal Society.
He maintains that literary images in scientific writing, if there are to be any, must be concrete
and based on direct sense experience (Stafford 1984, 35-36).
Meantime, a model of expository reports in scientific writing was laid down in General
heads for the natural history of a country drawn out for the use of travellers and navigators,
written by Robert Boyle, a member of the Royal Society. It was first published in 1666 in the
Philosophical transactions of the Royal Society, and was later published separately in 1692
(Marshall and Williams 1982, 45). ,W�HPSKDVL]HG�UDWLRQDO�HQTXLU\�DQG�UHIOHFWHG�WKH�6RFLHW\ĜV�
desire to establish a ęrevised natural philosophyĚ and expand knowledge of natural history
through travel accounts. These and other directives issued by the Royal Society sought to
regulate in the first place what travelers recorded, placing emphasis on the observable and
explicable in preference to hearsay or the fantastical. They also tried to regulate how
observations were made and relayed to readers. Travelers were encouraged to keep journals and
to make observations on the spot rather than from memory, and a plain style was encouraged,
avoiding excessive rhetorical ornamentation, which was typical in travelogues of the early
modern period (Day 2020, 165).
In this guideline, travelers and seamen are encouraged to observe, first, the longitude
and latitude of a place in relation to the variations in the climate, second, the temperature and
humidity, third, the nature of the sea and the waterways in terms of depth, salinity, currents, etc.,
and fourth, the earth (Boyle 1692, 2-����,QWHUHVWLQJO\��XQGHU�ęWKH�(DUWKĚ�DUH�OLVWHG�WKH�TXDOLW\�RI�
the soil, the topographical features, the flora and fauna, the mineral resources, the local
SURGXFWV��WKH�LQKDELWDQWV��ęSDUWLFXODUO\�WKHLU�6WDWXUH��6KDSH��)HDWXUHV��6WUHQJWK��,QJHQXLW\��'\HW,
,QFOLQDWLRQ��WKDW�VHHP�QRW�GXH�WR�(GXFDWLRQ��%R\OH�����, 7-9).
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- 63 -
Figure 3.1 Title page of Robert BoyleĜV�General heads for the natural history of a country drawn
out for the use of travellers and navigators (London: printed for John Taylor, 1692)
[Boyle, Robert. 1692. General heads for the natural history of a country drawn out for the use of
travellers and navigators. London: printed for John Taylor. Early Book Online. Accessed
November 29, 2008. http://eebo.chadwyck.com/.]
Lacking directives from such an academy, Christopher Columbus was a witness to the
historical reality, but unable to appreciate it for what it was, or would become. So, like countless
explorers before him, he invokes ancient myths and legends to make sense of the event
(Smethurst 2020, 228). On the contrary, Marco Polo shows himself to be a medieval traveler by
retaining these wonders. But in translating some wonders into real phenomena, he takes a step
towards the modern world. For example, he transforms the huge serpents with claws and teeth
found on medieval maps into the very real crocodiles of Karazan; and the fabled ęsalamandersĚ
that can survive fire are explained by the properties of asbestos (Smethurst 2020, 229).
Afterwards, William Dampier provided the Royal Society with useful information on the Trade
Winds, but found that wonders and miracles had greater public appeal. His New voyage round
the world (1697) was immensely popular, exciting great interest in the South Sea Islands largely
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- 64 -
by describing flora, fauna and Indians as exotic curiosities. While Dampier followed some of the
6RFLHW\ĜV�LQVWUXFWLRQV��LQ�GUDZLQJ�DWWHQWLRQ�WR�this, he merely added a scientific veneer to his
cabinet of curiosities (Smethurst 2020, 231).
Interestingly��DQ�H[DPLQDWLRQ�RI�WKH�ILUVW�SDUW�RI�'DQLHO�%HHFNPDQĜV�WUDYHO�DFFRXQW�WLWOHG
A voyage to and from the island of Borneo reveals that the writing style corresponds with the
5R\DO�6RFLHW\ĜV�PRGHO. )ROORZLQJ�LQ�%R\OHĜV�IRRWVWHSV��%HHFNPDQ�EHJLQV�WR�GHVFULEH the island.
The Island of Borneo (so called from a City of that Name) lies on the North
of Java, and on the East of Sumatra, and of the Peninsula of Malacca. It is
situate between the 7 Deg. 30 Min. of North Latitude, and the 4 Deg. 10
Min. of South, under the Equinoctial, which divides it into two unequal Parts,
7 Deg. 30 Min. lying Northward of it, and 4 Deg. 10 Min. Southward: So that
it is in Length 700 Miles, in Breath 480, and in Circuit about 2000. (Beeckman
1973, 34)
He then continues to point out that the climate is intolerably hot when there are no
sea breezes, and the hXPLGLW\�LV�FRQVLGHUHG�ęYHU\�XQZKROHVRPH�Ě�,Q�OLJKW�RI�WKH�ORFDO�SURGXFWV��
SHSSHU��GUDJRQĜV�EORRG��FDPSKRU��FRFRQXWV��SLQHDSSOHV��RUDQJHV��DQG�PHORQV�DUH�LQ�DEXQGDQFH��
Meanwhile, the mountains yield bezoar, diamonds, gold, tin, and iron. In the forests are found a
wide variety of animals, ranging from bears, tigers, elephants to monkeys (Beeckman 1973, 35-
37).
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Figure 3.2 Title page of 'DQLHO�%HHFNPDQĜV�Voyage to and from the island of Borneo
(London: printed for T. Warner and J. Batley, 1718)
[Beeckman, Daniel. 1718. A voyage to and from the island of Borneo. London: printed for
T. Warner and J. Batley. Eighteenth Century Collections Online. Accessed November 18, 2008.
http://galenet.galegroup.com/servlet/ECCO.]
In addition to the products, Beeckman meticulously describes the physical features,
character traits, and customs of the local inhabitants. Initially, he divides them mainly into the
Banjareens, who live near the coast, the Byajos 1 who live up on the mountain areas, and the
Chinese. However, economic interests are remarkably vested in this classification. The Banjareens
DUH�ęRI�D�PLGGOH�6WDWXUH��UDWKHU�XQGHU�WKDQ�RYHU��ZHOO�VKDSĜG�DQG�FOHDQ�OLPEĜG��EHLQJ�JHQHUDOO\�
EHWWHU�IHDWXUĜG�WKan the Guinea Negroes: Their Hair is long and black, their Complexion
somewhat darker than Mulattos [đ] 7KH\�DUH�YHU\�ZHDN�RI�%RG\��ZKLFK�LV�RFFDVLRQĜG�FKLHIO\�E\�
their lazy unactive Life, and mean Diet, not having the opportunity of Walking, or of any Land
1 One of the indigenous peoples living in the interior of Borneo, generally referred to under the
WHUP�ę'D\DNVĚ�RU�ęKHDG-KXQWHUV�Ě�7KH\�IDVFLQDWHG�(XURSHDQ�QDWXUDOLVWV�DV�HDUO\�DV�WKH�����V��
including Norwegian Carl Bock (1849-1932), who published The head-hunters of Borneo in 1881.
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Exercise, and working seldom, but are always in a sitting posture, either in their Boats or Houses;
QHLWKHU�GR�WKH\�VWLU�ZLWKRXW�LW�EH�RXW�RI�DEVROXWH�QHFHVVLW\��%HHFNPDQ�����, 40-41).
The predominance of observable facts in scientific travel accounts plays a very
significant role in constructing a model of the earth as well as an understanding of a certain
geographical region. While geographers attempt to depict the whole sphere, they realize that
details of particular regions supplied by travelers and explorers are indispensable (Bowen 1981,
131). It was very common in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries to see regular publication
of ęJHRJUDSKLHV�Ě�D�WHUP�XVHG�WR�GHVFULEH�D�FRPSLODWLRQ�RI�H[WUDFWV�DQG�summaries from travel
books, that could date back to Ptolemy (c. AD 90-168) (Marshall and Williams 1982, 47; Heylyn
1703, 831). Initially written mainly for adults, but by 1750 designed increasingly as instructional
texts for young readers, these books boasted a highly ordered representation of the facts
available on different parts of the world (Neill 2000, 88). Examples include Herman MollĜV View of
the coasts, countries, and islands within the limits of the South Sea Company (1711) and Atlas
Maritimus and Commercialis (1728) (Neill 2000, 92; 97).
Figure 3.3 Title page of The compleat geographer: or, the ghorography and
topography of all the known parts of the Earth (London: printed for Awnsham and
John Churchill; and Timothy Childe, 1709)
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[Awnsham and John Churchill?]. 1709. The compleat geographer: or, the ghorography and
topography of all the known parts of the Earth. London: printed for Awnsham and John
Churchill; and Timothy Childe. Eighteenth Century Collections Online. Accessed November 17,
2008. http://galenet.galegroup.com/servlet/ECCO.]
Structuring Knowledge
ęVoyages and travels�Ě�L�H��DQ�H\HZLWQHVV�DFFRXQW��XVXDOO\�IUDPHG�DV�D�MRXUQDO�RU�GLDU\��
by someone who had actually made the journey (Day 2020, 164), were a constitutive part of the
(QOLJKWHQPHQWĜV�SURMHFW�RI�FROOHFWLQJ�DQG�FDWDORJXLQJ�NQRZOHGJH�DERXW�WKH�ZLGH�ZRUOG��DQG�WKH\�
SOD\HG�DQ�HVVHQWLDO�UROH�LQ�SURPRWLQJ�WKH�SHULRGĜV�QHZ�VFLHQFH-based understanding of mankind
and human society. However, it is the huge maritime and landward expeditions sponsored by
governments and scientific institutions with which exploration writing of the later eighteenth
century is most prominently associated (Korte 2020, 174). Writing (including maps, charts and
WD[RQRPLHV��ZDV�(XURSHĜV�PRVW�HIIHFWLYH�VRIW�WHFKQRORJ\��)URP�WKH�ODWH�HLJKWHHQWK�FHQWXU\�
especially, accounts of scientific exploration, as well as collections of images, information,
specimens and souvenirs RI�IRUHLJQ�SODFHV�DQG�SHRSOH��ęIRUPHG�FRQGXLWV�EHWZHHQ�FHQWHUV�RI�
knowledge and the peripheries of the world, leading towards scientific projections on a global
VFDOH��6PHWKXUVW������������
By the eighteenth century, the Royal Society in England was sponsoring scientific
expeditions with naturalists aboard who were trained in collecting and preserving specimens.
Institutions in France soon followed suit, and natural history museums appeared in London and
Paris to house the staggering diversity of flora and fauna being returned from the southern
hemisphere. Following the system of classification devised by Carl Linnaeus in Systema Naturae
(The system of nature, 1735), naturalists began to piece together a map of nature based on the
differentiation of species. Scientific curiosity was often overtaken by commercial interest,
however, when the value of natural resources, such as tea, sugar, coffee and spices was fully
appreciated. Merely transporting exotic plants and animals (dead or alive) back to Europe for use
in botanic and zoological gardens and museums was highly profitable (Smethurst 2020, 231).
&RRNĜV�(QGHDYRXU�MRXUQDO��UHODWLQJ�KLV�ILUVW�YR\DJH�RI�����-71, exemplifies the empirical
method of eighteenth-century scientific exploration. It records how naturalists are conveyed from
place to place, while Cook himself completes his rigorous mapping of the South Seas (Smethurst
2020, 231). &RRNĜV�YR\DJHV�WR�WKH�6RXWK�6HDV�ZHUH�LQHYLWDEO\�DOLJQHG�ZLWK�(QJODQGĜV�LPSHULDO�
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- 68 -
designs. The maps, charts and scientific data on currents, weather systems, as well as
descriptions of flora, fauna and indigenous people brought back to London provided practical
information for colonization, as well as revealing an imperialist mindset (Smethurst 2020, 232).
Noteworthily, while mobility, considered a destabilizing force, is inherent in the idea of
travel, instability and potential disorder are necessarily suppressed within the knowledge
structures that give form to imperialist discourse. This is illustrated in scientific travel writing
which constitutes an orderly representation of traveling mobility (literal, metaphorical,
ontological, linguistic, and psychological), giving form to imperialist paradigm of control.
ęThrough the formal conventions of the travel narrative, mobility is spatialised and synchronised,
so the travel writer is able to present reality as an orderly representationĚ (Smethurst 2009, 2;
original emphasis). This orderliness can be found in the type of narrative voice the travel writer
chooses, as well as in the textual and figurative structure, and in the motifs, images, and
metaphors that circulate in the text (Smethurst 2009, 6-7).
In The Malay archipelago, for instance, Wallace divides the archipelago into five groups
of islands: the Indo-Malay Islands; the Timor Group; Sulawesi; the Maluku Group; the Papuan
Group (Wallace 2008, xx). Furthermore, his interest in the origin of species in relation to their
geographical distribution is revealed in the list of specimens he has collected (Wallace 2008, xxi).
The list is one of the several found in the travel account, which arguably demonstrates that
:DOODFHĜV�IRUPDWLRQ�DQG�UHSUHVHQWDWLRQ�RI�NQRZOHGJH�UHVRQDWHV�ZLWK�WKH�WD[RQRP\�XWLOL]HG�E\�
natural historians in the eighteenth century.
One distinctive nomenclature was initiated by Carl Linnaeus, whose binomial
QRPHQFODWXUH�LQ�ERWDQ\�LV�DWWULEXWHG�WR�WKH�ę6H[XDO�6\VWHPĚ�LQ�WKH�Systema Naturae, 12th ed.
(1767), whereby the scientific name of each plant consists of the genus name and the species
name, formed out of Latin or a Latinized version of words from other languages. Coffea arabica
(coffee) consists of the genus name Coffea, which derived from an Arabic word qahwah, and the
species name arabica. Wallace, consequently, treats the animals he has discovered in a similar
WD[RQRP\��,Q�ę&KDSWHU���Natural History of the Indo-0DOD\�,VODQGV�Ě�carnivores are referred to by
their scientific names in Latin, consisting of the genera and species:
Of Carnivore, thirty-three species are known from the Indo-Malay region, of
which about eight are found also in Burma and India. Among these are the
tiger, leopard, a tiger-cat, civet, and otter; while out of the twenty genera of
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Malayan Carnivora, thirteen are represented in India by more or less closely
allied species. As an example, the curious Malayan glutton (Helictis orientalis)
is represented in Northern India by a closely allied species, Helictis
nipalensis. (Wallace 2008, 108)
Apart from the distribution of the flora and fauna, ethnographical details of peoples
became a central feature of travel writing during the later eighteenth century (Turner 2001, 29).
7KH\�ZHUH�XVXDOO\�UHIHUUHG�WR�DV�ęPRUDO�KLVWRU\Ě�(moral as involving human rational capacities) or
ęPDQQHUV�DQG�FXVWRPVĚ (Rubips 2007, 242). For instance, Chapter 11 of The Malay archipelago is
GHGLFDWHG�WR�ę/RPERN��0DQQHUV�DQG�&XVWRPV�RI�WKH�3HRSOHĚ�(Wallace 2008, 125-140). Here, local
inhabitants are also subjected to taxonomy. Chapter 40 classifies the races of man in the Malay
Archipelago into two groups: the Malays and the Papuans.
The Malays proper inhabit the Malay peninsula, and almost all the coast
regions of Borneo and Sumatra. They all speak the Malay language, or
dialects of it; they write in the Arabic character, and are Muslims in religion.
>đ@�,Q�FKDUDFWHU�WKH�0DOD\�LV�LPSDVVLYH��+H�H[KLELWV�D�UHVHUYH��GLIILGHQFH��DQG�
even bashfulness, which is in some degree attractive, and leads the observer
to think that the ferocious and bloodthirsty character imputed to the race
must be grossly exaggerated. (Wallace 2008, 445-446)
Meanwhile, the typical Papuan race is quite the opposite of the Malay.
The colour of the body is a deep sooty-brown or black, sometimes
approaching, but never quite equaling, the jet-black of some negro races. It
varies in tint, however, more than that of the Malay, and is sometimes a
dusky brown. >đ@�The moral characters of the Papuan appear to me to
separate him as distinctly from the Malay as do his form and features. He is
impulsive and demonstrative in speech and action. His emotions and
passions express themselves in shouts and laughter, in yells and frantic
leapings. Women and children take their share in every discussion, and seem
little alarmed at the sight of strangers and Europeans. (Wallace 2008, 447-
448)
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The description of peoples, their nature, customs, religion, forms of government, and
language, became a representative form of travel writing and the travel collections published
from the sixteenth to the nineteenth centuries. They, therefore, constitute the empirical
foundation for a general rewriting of ęnatural and moral historyĚ made possible by the
navigations of the period (Rubips 2007, 242). But while there was much ethnography in travel
journals or in personal narratives of adventurous journeys, perhaps the most fundamental form
was the ęrelation.Ě The term refers to a synthetic descriptive account which could be narrative or
analytical and which throughout the sixteenth century was widely used by Iberian and Italian
writers as a vehicle for geographical (and occasionally historical) information concerning their
discoveries in Africa, America, and Asia (Rubips 2007, 244). In effect, the genre of travel writing
moved from the primary account of the traveler (a journal, RU�D�ęYR\DJHĚ) written for a variety of
practical purposes, ęto the more elaborate versions of the historian or cosmographer, dealing,
respectively, with an account of particular events organised chronologically, or with the
description of the world organised geographicallyĚ (Rubips 2007, 245).
Notwithstanding WallDFHĜV�FODLP�WKDW�ęWKH�FLYLOL]HG�FDQ�OHDUQ�VRPHWKLQJ�IURP�WKH�
VDYDJH�PDQĚ (Wallace 2008, 454), the collection of knowledge is invested with mercantile
interests of English explorers and travelers. In the introduction, Tony Whitten relates that:
Wallace was a delightful naturalist, not a specialist in any one branch of
ELRORJ\�>đ@�1HYHU�ULFK��KH�PDGH�KLV�OLYLQJ�E\�FROOHFWLQJ�DQLPDOV�DQG�VHOOLQJ�
WKHP��WKURXJK�DQ�DJHQW�LQ�/RQGRQ��WR�SXEOLF�DQG�SULYDWH�PXVHXPV��>đ@�7KH
agent sent money out to Wallace to sustain him, and it was not until he got
back to England that he discovered the agent had also been putting aside a
VXP�IRU�ZKHQ�KH�UHWXUQHG��>đ@�DIWHU�QLQH�\HDUV�LQ�$VLD�>đ@�KH�PHW�ZLWK�DOO�WKH�
elite in the exciting world of natural history ė people lLNH�&KDUOHV�'DUZLQ�>đ@�
Between 1845 and 1846 he wrote The Malay Archipelago and was awarded
the Royal Medal by the Royal Geographical Society. (Whitten 2008, xii-xiii)
While Wallace depended on his collections for income, Gresham College was partly
responsible for establishing the foundation for the advanced learning among men in general.
Founded by a merchant and financier and built on the revenue from the Royal Exchange, it
forged connections between scientific knowledge and those who were directly involved in
mercantile enterprises, from merchants to sailors and craftsmen (Neill 2000, 6-7). As geography
promotes commerce, trade becomes inseparable from learning (Neill 2000, 98). In the
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seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, the facts that travelers collected from around the world
were therefore combined into a body of knowledge at the same moment that their authors were
transformed from maritime renegades into men of science (Neill 2000, 10).2
Upon reading WallaceĜV�FKDSWHUV�RQ�WKH�QDWXUDO�KLVWRU\�RI�7LPRU�DQG�6XODZHVL�
(Chapters 14 and 18) and the manners and customs of Lombok (Chapter 11), one realizes that
the structuring of knowledge reflects on the connection between the empire and travel writing,
on how power structures are replicated in textual patterns of signification and narrative
authority. At one level, these power structures are acquired and maintained through clear-cut
binaries expressed in the narrative, such as superior culture/inferior culture,
modernity/primitiveness, enlightenment/darkness, and scientific worldview/superstition. At
another level, ęthe patterns of signification reflect an orderliness based on: binarism; hierarchy;
division of class, race, gender, and religion; and spatial order reflected in emphatic borders and
divisions, geometric boundaries, and polygons of imperial geographyĚ (Smethurst 2009, 6-7).
&RPSDUHG�WR�:DOODFHĜV��&KDUOHV�DarwinĜV�DFFRXQW�RI�KLV�VFLHQWLILF�H[SHGLWLRQ�from 1831-
1836 follows a different structure. It is divided into regions of the ship had visited. Yet, in his
preface to Journal of researches into the natural history and geology of the countries visited
during the voyage of H.M.S. Beagle around the world, he explains that the volume is presented
in the form of a journal with some observations in natural history and geology, leaving out
detailed results of the expedition.
2 The practice of collecting exotic species on scientific expeditions was continued well into the
1950s and 1960s by David Attenborough (b. 1926). In 1952, early in his career as a naturalist, he
got a job as a trainee producer for BBC (Attenborough 2018, 10). With Jack Lester, Curator of
Reptiles, he launched a new kind of animal programs for BBC in collaboration with the London
Zoo (Attenborough 2018, �����7KH�=RR�ZDV�IRXQGHG�LQ������E\�ęPHQ�RI�science who were, at
that time, still concerned with the important but almost impossible task of compiling a catalog
RI�DOO�WKH�VSHFLHV�RI�DQLPDOV�DOLYH�(Attenborough 2018, 10). The BBC and the London Zoo would
mount joint animal-collecting expeditions on which both Attenborough and Lester should both
go searching for and finally capturing creatures of particular interest (Attenborough 2018, 14).
Although Lester was unable to join every of these expeditions, the program was proved quite
successful. These expeditions took Attenborough and his team to Sierra Leone, Guiana,
Indonesia, etc.
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This volume contains, in the form of a Journal, a history of our voyage, and a
sketch of those observations in Natural History and Geology, which I think
will possess some interest for the general reader. I have in this edition
largely condensed and corrected some parts, and have added a little to
others, in order to render the volume more fitted for popular reading; but I
trust that naturalists will remember, that they must refer for details to the
larger publications, which comprise the scientific results of the Expedition.
(Darwin 1845, v)
Scientific travel, it should be reminded, is far from ideologically neutral or even
innocent. None of the great maritime expeditions of the late eighteenth and early nineteenth
centuries were exclusively driven by scholarly curiosity. The knowledge they produced about
routes, resources, peoples and languages served the agenda of European commercial and
SROLWLFDO�H[SDQVLRQ��6XFK�HQWDQJOHPHQWV�DUH�SDUWLFXODUO\�REYLRXV�LQ�QDUUDWLYHV�RI�WKH�SHULRGĜs
great landward expeditions. Mungo Park (1771-1806) had been sent to Africa by the African
Association (founded in 1788), which had hopes that European trade could be extended from
WKH�FRDVWDO�UHJLRQV�IXUWKHU�LQWR�WKH�FRQWLQHQW��3DUNĜV�Travels into the interior of Africa (1799)
included observations on human trafficking within Africa, and how it played into the hands of
the European slave trade at a time when British wealth in particular still depended on slave labor
in the West Indies. The infamous ęmiddle passageĚ of the Atlantic slave trade was described by a
slave victim as part of The interesting narrative of the life of Olaudah Equiano (1789). Such texts
are another reminder of how conflicted and contradictory relationships to non-Europeans were
in a culture that took pride in its Enlightenment principles. While sustaining slavery, Europeans
could be writing about the non-European ęother�Ě�ZKLFK could be used both to criticize Europe
and to corroborate its supremacy (Korte 2020, 175).
Ironically, originally devised for botanical classification, the Linnaean system eventually
helped construct an awareness of differences within humanity, and it could be used to
substantiate narratives in which such differences were interpreted as different stages of human
development. The seemingly natural progression from primitive to civilized societies was an
ideology suitable for legitimizing the domination of the former by the latter, and it developed
into one of the master narratives of European empire building. From the 1850s, this narrative
was bolstered further with a new scientific theory of race (Korte 2020, 175-176). (See Chapter 11
for more details.)
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Conclusion
In this chapter, we discuss the utilitarian prose style peculiar to scientific travel writing,
and how The Royal Society came to lay the groundwork for the use of plain language in
expository writing. Moreover, we take a look at examples of scientific writing in which knowledge
of the newly discovered regions is organized to establish orderliness and to provide form to the
imperialist discourse.
Class Activities
Chapter-end Exercise
1. 'HILQH�WKH�WHUP�ęWKH�VFLHQWLILF�JD]H�Ě
2. Read the assigned excerpt.
3. Identify the use of plain language in the excerpt.
4. Analyze the knowledge structure laid down by the explorer/writer and his prose style.
Creative Writing
1. You have found an exotic bird during your trekking into the jungle of Sarawak, Borneo.
You would like to describe it using simple prose style so that your naturalist friends
could picture it in their heads.
2. Use the image below as a visual guideline.
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Chapter 4
Diurnal Form
Procis
This chapter discusses the diurnal form of travel literature that encompasses diaries,
journals and letters. It also delineates the emergence of time-telling devices, the concept of time
in modern history and its relationship with the diurnal form of travel literature.
Objectives
After studying this chapter, students will be able to:
1. 'HILQH�WKH�WHUP�ęWKH diurnal form�Ě
2. Explain the impact of modern timekeeping technology on the concept of time and
the diurnal form of travel literature.
3. Identify the problematics of the diurnal form.
Counting Time
According to Western philosophy, every object extends in four directions: length,
breadth, thickness, and duration (time). As the fourth dimension, time goes hand in hand with
space (Gleick 2016, 17). In 1813, German philosopher Arthur Schopenhauer (1788-1860) wrote,
ę,Q�PHUH�7LPH��DOO�WKLQJV�follow one another, and in mere Space all things are side by side; it is
accordingly only by the combination of Time and Space that the representation of coexistence
DULVHĚ (Cited in Gleick 2016, 21). Time is imperceptible. We cannot see it, hear it, or touch it. The
passing of time is perceived via the ticking clock or the heartbeat. Whatever time is, it lies
outside the grasp of our senses (Gleick 2016, 214).
Now, time is measured by an instrument, such as a clock. Once we conceive of time as
a quantity, we can save it, spend it, accumulate it, and bank it (Gleick 2016, 214). Isaac Newton
(1642-1726) GLVWLQJXLVKHV�WZR�NLQGV�RI�WLPH��SK\VLFDO�WLPH��ęWLPH�DEVROXWH�WUXH�DQG�
PDWKHPDWLFDOĚ��DQG�SV\FKRORJLFDO�WLPH��ęUHODWLYHĚ�DQG�ęDSSDUHQWĚ���7UXH�WLPH�LV�LQIHUUHG�IURP�WKH�
consistency of clocks, a technological feature of his world. Relative time is conceived by the
common people (the vulgus) (Gleick 2016, 215).
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During the seventeenth century, a new technology for counting time on clocks
emerged. In 1656, Dutch inventor Christian Huygens (1629 ė1695) invented the spring-driven
pendulum clock. By attaching a pendulum regulator to the back of the clockwork, he changed
much in the precision with which clocks measured time (Stuart Sherman 1996, 2). In 1729, John
Harrison (1693 ė1776), an English clockmaker from Yorkshire, made his first attempt in crafting
the marine clock or chronometer� After six years, his first chronometer was completed in 1735,
DQG�LQ������LW�ZDV�WHVWHG�RQ�D�YR\DJH�WR�/LVERQ�DQG�EDFN�ZKHQ�WKH�VKLSĜV�FDSWDLQ�FRPPHQGHG�
its usefulness. With the funding from the Board of Longitude, he completed two more clocks in
1739 and 1741. In 1761, a watch-type timepiece, Chronometer No. 4, was completed and tested.
A IDFVLPLOH�RI�+DUULVRQĜV�IRXUWK�FKURQRPHWHU was commissioned. This model was carried by
Captain Cook on board the Resolution in 1772, and proved immensely valuable (Taylor 1957,
253; 259-262).
Time in Travel Writing
With the new horological invention, a new paradigm for recounting time emerged in
the new pattern of prose which numbered the days. Literature can thus mimic the newly
invented sense of time in a sensible, straightforward, linear way (Gleick 2016, 231). As clocks tell
WLPH��QDUUDWLYHV�WHOO�ZKDW�WUDQVSLUHV�LQ�WLPH��<HW��WLPH�LQ�QDUUDWLYH�LV�ęGLDORJLFĚ�DV�WKH�WHOOLQJ�ZLOO�
always entail an encounter between at least two temporalities: between the time the narrative is
deployed and the duration and sequence of the events narrated. All these new genres deployed
diurnal form as a means of enabling authors to write the time the new clocks told, and enabling
readHUV�ęWR�UHFRJQL]H��LQWHUSUHW��DQG�LQKDELW�WKH�WHPSRUDOLW\�E\�ZKLFK�WKH�ZKROH�QHZ�FXOWXUH�ZDV�
OHDUQLQJ�WR�OLYH�DQG�ZRUN��Stuart Sherman 1996, ix-xi).
According to Online Cambridge Dictionary and Online Merriam-Webster Dictionary, the
word diurnal PHDQV�ęhappening in a period of one day�Ě�DQG�ęrecurring every day�Ě�UHVSHFWLYHO\��
The consecutive daily dated accumulation of time had established itself like an omnipresence,
DQG�KHOSHG�VWUXFWXUH�ęVRPH�RI�WKH�PRVW�LQQRYDWLYH��ZLGHO\�LPSOHPHQWHG�SURVH�JHnres that the
period produced: not only diary and newspaper, but also periodical essay, journal letter, and
WUDYHO�ERRN��Stuart Sherman 1996, x-xi). These writings are collectively referred as the diurnal
form. It plots motion through remote space by a structure of incremental time (Stuart Sherman
1996, 162). The diary (1660-1669) of Samuel Pepys (1633-1703), for instance, gives the
impression of grabbing hold of everything the diarist encounters; it seems to cover whatever
topic interests the reader (Stuart Sherman 1996, 31). All the privileged elasticities of narrative
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- 76 -
time ė compression, selective emphasis, omission ė are deployed in the act of turning the day to
prose. Nonetheless, he endeavors throughout the diary to foster the textual illusion of temporal
FRQWLQXLW\��FRQVWUXLQJ�WKH�ęKRPRJHQHLW\Ě�RI�WLPH�VWUDLJKWIRUZDUGO\��Stuart Sherman 1996, 34).
-XVW�DV�FRQWLQXLW\�LQ�WLPH�GHULYHV�LQ�SDUW�IURP�FRQWLQXLW\�RI�VSDFH�LQ�WKH�GLDU\ĜV�SURVH��
VR�LQ�WKH�GLDU\ĜV�OD\RXW�WKH�IXOOQHVV�RI�WLPH�LV�ILJXUHG�DV�D�fullness of space, on the pages of the
diary (Stuart Sherman 1996, 69). While copiousness and variety were the selling points, the
succession of dated days offered the most convenient kind of packaging since it is a structure
FDSDEOH�RI�DFFRPPRGDWLQJ�ęall RFFXUUHQFHV�DQG�REVHUYDWLRQĚ��Stuart Sherman 1996, 180-181).
:KHQ�WLPH�LV�ęFRPSDUWPHQWDOL]HGĚ�ė VHSDUDWHG�LQWR�ęHYHU\�GD\�Ě�LQ�FORFNV��FDOHQGDUV��WH[WV��DQG�
consciousness ė the diurnal form realizes these new compartmentalizations (Stuart Sherman
1996, 225). In the first half of the eighteenth century, three new modes of diurnal narrative
hence emerged: the daily newspaper, the journal letter, and the published travel journal (Stuart
Sherman 1996, 172). By mid-eighteenth century the published collection of D�WUDYHOHUĜV�MRXUQDO�
letters had supplanted the navigation-centered sea journal as the most popular diurnal mode in
travel writing (Stuart Sherman 1996, 180).
Throughout the eighteenth century, volumes of travel literature were labeled Voyage
(or Journey, or Tour) and their format was a Journal. Such journals constituted a thriving,
steadily expanding subgenre within the burgeoning phenomenon of travel literature in general.
(See more about scientific travel journal in Chapter 3.) In contrast, the diaries of stay-at-homes
remained unpublished until the end of the century (Stuart Sherman 1996, 161). In this chapter,
two particular types of the diurnal form of travel literature are discussed: journals and letters.
Problematizing the Diurnal Form
Remarkably, WKH�GLDULVWĜV�VWUXJJOH�ZLWK�the dilemma of continuity and copiousness
resulted in the hybrid status of the diurnal form. On the one hand, s/he wishes to represent the
succession of time. On the other, s/he needs to cover all aspects of the traveled place and travel
experience. For example, Samuel Johnson (1709-1784) and James Boswell (1740-1795) traveled
together through Scotland in the fall of 1773. Both of them were writing, and each had read a
YHUVLRQ�RI�WKH�RWKHUĜV�DFFRXQW�EHIRUH�revising and publishing his own. In their collaborative
process of writing manifests the ambivalence that marks so much of the debate about diurnal
form. In their finished texts, Johnson pulls towards the critical whereas Boswell towards the
diaristic (Stuart Sherman 1996, 185).
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Johnson conceived the travel journal as a social rather than private text, written to be
read, not concealed (Stuart Sherman 1996, 196). What made his Journey to the western islands
of Scotland (1775) so long was its hybrid status as both journal and letter (Stuart Sherman 1996,
198). In the journal letters, he FRPELQHV�WZR�IRUPV��ęWKH�MRXUQDO�OHWWHU�DGGUHVVHG�WR�DQG�VFXOSWHG�
for a particular recipient, and the published travel journal or (more often) the travel journal
letteU��DFFRPSDQLHG�WKURXJK�WKH�SUHVV��The headings replicate those of the map. He starts from
the towns of Aberbrotock and Montrose, continuing towards the city of Aberdeen, and ending
with the island of Inch Kenneth. On the other hand, the headings in BoswelOĜV�Journal of a tour
to the Hebrides (1785) reproduce those of the calendar. The first entry is dated Sunday, 15th
August (1773), and the final entry is dated Thursday, 11th November (1773) (Stuart Sherman
1996, 207).
7KH�UHVSRQVH�RI�%RVZHOOĜV�FRQWHPSRUDULHV�WR�WKH�SXEOLVKHG�Journal suggests that the
GLDOHFWLF�RI�GLXUQDO�IRUP�KDG�IRXQG�QR�V\QWKHVLV��5HDGHUV�ZHUH�GLYLGHG�RYHU�WKH�ERRNĜV�WLPH-
driven structure and insistent copiousness (Stuart Sherman 1996, 219). In addition to choosing
between spatial and chronological structure, the travel writers of the diurnal form encounter ęa
dilemma deeply important in eighteenth century writing: a conflict between the attractions of
WKH�ęH[DFW�-RXUQDOĚ�DV�D�WRRO�IRU�UHSUHVHQWDWLRQ�DQG�WKRVH�RI�HDUOLHU�ęFULWLFDOĚ�PRGHV�WKDW�
HVWDEOLVKHG�WKH�ęVLJQLILFDQFHĚ�RI�ę7KLQJVĚ�Ě�6KRXOG�WKH\�EH�ęFULWLFDO�DQG�VHOHFWLYHĚ�RU�ęFRSLRXV�DQG�
H[DFWĚ"�(Stuart Sherman 1996, 160)
Letters in Residence
In the eighteenth century, travel literature also took the epistolary form��ęan intrinsically
fragmentary, discontinuous and miscellaneous form��%DQQHW������������ Therefore, the original
letters rely for coherence primarily on being gathered together in one place (Bannet 2020, 120).
Depending on cRUUHVSRQGHQFH�DV�ęZULWWHQ�FRQYHUVDWLRQ�Ě�letter-writers had at their disposal ęa
graduated spectrum of options for representing subjectivity and describing the external worldĚ
(Bannet 2020, 116). They constituted social interactions between the writer and the readers as
ZHOO�DV�UHFRUGHG�WKH�ZULWHUVĜ�REVHUYDWLRQV�RI�WKHLU�HQYLURQPHQW��1HYHUWKHOHVV��Whe observed
environment was filtered, and discreetly personalized, through the characteristics and speech of
the writer, who was using the letter ęboth to inform and entertain its readers and to make the
ZULWHUĜV�DEVHQFH�IHOWĚ (Bannet 2020, 118).
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The use of the first-person singular, together with implicit or explicit commentary, was
thus necessary to convey LQIRUPDWLRQ�DERXW�WKH�ZULWHUĜV�SULYDWH�OLIH�RU�SULYDWH�IHHOLQJV. The sense
of intimacy reflected in these travel letters highlighted the subjectivity that governed the
eighteenth-FHQWXU\�WUDYHOHUĜV�DFFRXQW. The FKDUDFWHUL]DWLRQ�RI�WKH�ęVRFLDO�,Ě�UHIOHFWHG�WKH�LPDJH��
SRVLWLRQ��DQG�UHSXWDWLRQ�RI�WKH�SHUVRQ�WKH�OHWWHU�ZULWHU�ęDGRSWHG��FXOWLYDWHG�DQG�VRXJKW�WR�
SUHVHUYH�LQ�WKHLU�VRFLDO�DQG�SURIHVVLRQDO�OLIHĚ (Bannet 2020, 121). TKH�ZULWHUĜV�LPSOLFLW�RU�H[SOLFLW�
commentary on the travel experiences often gives us invaluable information about places,
people, historical circumstances and travel conditions (Bannet 2020, 119-120). (See more about
subjectivity in Chapter 9.)
Yet, travel narratives in the form of letters werH�RIWHQ�ZULWWHQ�GXULQJ�WKH�ZULWHUĜV�
residence in a particular region or country. To illustrate the point, a comparative study may be
carried out between Mary WollstonecraftĜV�OHWWHUV�from Scandinavia that thematize movement in
space and time whereas 9LQFHQW�YDQ�*RJKĜV�OHWWHUV from Provence put an emphasis on his
residence.
Mary Wollstonecraft (1759-1797) was an English writer and philosopher. By the time
Wollstonecraft started Letters written during a short residence in Sweden, Norway, and Denmark,
her reputation as a writer had already been established. She had been known for writing
Vindication of the rights of woman (1792), one of the earliest works of feminist philosophy. She
went to Scandinavia on a business trip in June 1795, acting on behalf of Gilbert Imlay, with
whom she had an illegitimate daughter named Fanny. She was commissioned to pursue ęa
dubious business venture that had gone awryĚ (Brekke and Mee 2009, xiii). Meanwhile, Imlay
also wanted her out of the way so that at home in London he could establish a liaison with
another woman (Lawrence 1994, 74).
:ROOVWRQHFUDIWĜV�ęOHWWHUVĚ were intended as a travel journal, rather than as letters to be
sent to Imlay. 7KHUH�DUH�VLJQLILFDQW�GLIIHUHQFHV�EHWZHHQ�WKH�ęSULYDWHĚ�OHWWHUV�WR�,POD\�WKDW�
:ROOVWRQHFUDIW�DFWXDOO\�VHQW�DQG�WKH�ILFWLRQDO�ęOHWWHUVĚ�WKDW�FRQVWLWXWH�WKH�WUDYHO�ERRN���/DZUHQFH�
1994, 80; 86). The ę\RXĚ�LQ�KHU�XQGDWHG�OHWWHUV�ZDV�QRW�VSHFLILF, but those she wrote separately
to Imlay were personal and dated. ,Q�ę$'9(57,6(0(17�Ě�VKH�DGPLWV�WKDW she uses the first
person in these letters, and allows herself to express personal feelings and opinions on diverse
topics.
In writing these desultory letters, I found I could not avoid being continually
WKH�ILUVW�SHUVRQ�>đ@�,�WULHG�WR�FRUUHFW�WKLV�IDXOW��LI�LW�EH�RQH��IRU�WKH\�ZHUH�
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- 79 -
designed for publication; but in proportion as I arranged my thoughts, my
letter, I found, became stiff and affected: I, therefore, determined to let my
remarks and reflections flow unrestrained, as I perceived that I could not
give a just description of what I saw, but by relating the effect different
objects had produced on my mind and feelings, whilst the impression was
still fresh. (Wollstonecraft 2009, 3)
Wollstonecraft began her voyage from Hull, accompanied by her 13-month-old
daughter Fanny and a French nursemaid, Marguerite. Originally, she was to have landed at
Arendal in Norway, but bad weather forced the captain to make for a lighthouse just south of
Gothenburg. They were rowed ashore by sailors from the ship. Her letter to Imlay describing her
arrival on shore shows that she later fainted from the exertions, although no mention is made of
it in the published account (Brekke and Mee, 2009: xv). In her letter to Imlay dated July 1, 1798,
she writes:
I labour in vain to calm my mind ė my soul has been overwhelmed by
sorrow and disappointment. Every thing fatigues me ė this is a life that
cannot last long. It is you who must determine with respect to futurity ė and,
when you have, I will act accordingly ė I mean, we must either resolve to live
WRJHWKHU��RU�SDUW�IRU�HYHU��,�FDQQRW�EHDU�WKHVH�FRQWLQXDO�VWUXJJOHV�>đ@�EXW�WHOO�
me frankly that you will never see me more. I will then adopt the plan I
mentioned to you ė for we must either live together, or I will be entirely
independent. (Wollstonecraft 2009, 141)
While Wollstonecraft makes use of the letter as a space for philosophical reflection,
Vincent Van Gogh (1853-1890), Dutch painter, went to Provence and spent some time in Arles to
paint the landscape of southern France. He often wrote to his family and friends, particularly his
brother Theo. Van Gogh had definite recipients in mind when writing his letters (1888-1889). The
relationships between the lettrist and the recipient were firmly established. He often
corresponded with Theo van Gogh (1857-1891), his younger brother; Wil van Gogh (1862-1941),
his younger sister; Emile Bernard (1868-1941), artist and writer Vincent first met in Paris in the
autumn of 1886. Thus, he was fully capable of relating to both the sentimental and professional
aspects of his life in the letters: the weather (snow), landscape, his brush strokes and
composition, and the concept of ęJapanĚ in France. He offers some knowledge of the place ė
Arles ė orchards, blossoms, and women. Notwithstanding, his movement in space is rarely
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mentioned. In the letter to Theo, dated February 21, 1888, he describes the weather and the
landscape in Arles:
$QG�QRZ�,ĜOO�EHJLQ�E\�WHOOLQJ�\RX�WKDW�WKHUHĜV�DERXW�WZR�feet of snow
HYHU\ZKHUH��DQG�PRUH�LV�VWLOO�IDOOLQJ��>đ@�KHUH�LQ�$UOHV�WKH�FRXQWU\�VHHPV�IODW��
I have seen some splendid red stretches of soil planted with vines, with a
background of mountains of the most delicate lilac. And the landscapes in
the snow, with the summits white against a sky as luminous as the snow,
were just like the winter landscapes that the Japanese have painted [đ]. (Van
Gogh 1990, 26)
On April 9, 1888, he wrote to Bernard, discussing his painting techniques:
At the moment I am absorbed in the blooming fruit trees, pink peach trees,
yellow-white pear trees. My brush stroke has no system at all. I hit the
canvas with irregular touches of the brush, which I leave as they are. Patches
of thickly laid-on colour, spots of canvas left uncovered, here and there
portions that are left absolutely unfinished, repetitions, savageries; in short, I
am inclined to think that the result is so disquieting and irritating as to be a
godsend to those people who have fixed preconceived ideas about
technique [đ]. (Van Gogh 1990, 32)
On the other hand, Wollstonecraft highlights the spatial movement and knowledge of
places she visits. It is noted that movement transports the traveler and narrative beyond the kind
of emotional fixation that resembles being stuck in one place. In LETTER V, Wollstonecraft
maintains that:
This spirit of inquiry is the characteristic of the present century, from which
the succeeding will, I am persuaded, receive a great accumulation of
knowledge; and doubtless its diffusion will in a great measure destroy the
factitious national characters which have been supposed permanent, though
only rendered so by the permanency of ignorance. (Wollstonecraft 2009, 33)
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Ostensibly, the authorial obligation to readers who may not have had an opportunity
to visit those places is prominent. Moreover, the logistics of travel is discussed in details. LETTER
I starts with her arrival:
Eleven days of weariness on board a vessel not intended for the
accommodation of passengers have so exhausted my spirits, to say nothing
of the other causes, with which you are already sufficiently acquainted, that
it is with some difficulty I adhere to my determination of giving you my
observations, as I travel through new scenes, whilst warmed with the
impression they have made on me. >đ@�The pilots being paid by the king,
and scantily, they will not run into any danger, or even quit their hovels, if
they can possibly avoid it, only to fulfil what is termed their duty. How
different is it on the English coast, where, in the most stormy weather, boats
immediately hail you, brought out by the expectation of extraordinary profit.
(Wollstonecraft 2009, 5)
Remarkably, her epistolary discourse is amorous as well as educational. Seventeenth-
and eighteenth-FHQWXU\�PDOH�HGLWRUV�RI�HSLVWRODU\�FROOHFWLRQV�UHJDUGHG�HPRWLRQ�DV�WKH�ęQDWXUDOĚ�
sphere of the female letter. However, in the case of Wollstonecraft, her travel book offers a
curious mixture of intimate address and philosophical meditation (Lawrence 1994, 75; 81). The
letters are noted for her philosophical reflections. She does not simply describe the scenery, she
gives a vivid sense of its interaction with a living human mind, and uses these reactions to think
about the nature of human psychology more generally (Brekke and Mee 2009, xvii-xviii). In
LETTER III, she posits that:
When a warm heart has received strong impressions, they are not to be
effaced. Emotions become sentiments; and the imagination renders even
transient sensations permanent, but fondly retracing them. I cannot, without
a thrill of delight recollect views I have seen, which are not to be forgotten, -
nor looks I have felt in every nerve which I shall never more meet.
(Wollstonecraft 2009, 39)
WollstonecraftĜV�DSSURDFK�XVHV�SROLWLFDO�LQVWLWXWLRQV�DQG�WKH�GHYHORSPHQW�RI�VRFLDO�OLIH�
to explain the differences between societies (Brekke and Mee 2009, xxi). An example can be
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shown when her observation of the Swedish in LETTER I is compared with the Norwegian in
LETTER IV. In a small town in Sweden,
Amongst the peasantry, there is, however, so much of the simplicity of the
golden age in this land of flint ė so much overflowing of heart, and fellow-
feeling, that only benevolence, and the honest sympathy of nature, diffused
smiles over my countenance when they kept me standing, regardless of my
fatigue, whilst they dropt courtesy after courtesy. (Wollstonecraft 2009, 8-9)
The hospitality of the local inhabitants is attributed to the want of scientific pursuits
whereas their sluggishness is credited to the long Swedish winter (Wollstonecraft 2009, 14; 22).
Nevertheless, the Norwegians appear to be more industrious and, thus, wealthier.
Behold us now in Norway; and I could not avoid feeling surprise at
observing the difference in the manners of the inhabitants of the two sides
of the river; for every thing shews that the Norwegians are more industrious
and more opulent. (Wollstonecraft 2009, 32)
<HW��:ROOVWRQHFUDIW�UHIXVHV�WR�IRUPXODWH�QDWLRQDO�VWHUHRW\SHV��RU�ęQDWLRQDO�FKDUDFWHUV�Ě�
IRU�ERWK�SHRSOHV��(YHQ�WKRXJK�PRVW�WUDYHO�ZULWHUV�KDYH�GRQH�VR��RQH�QHHGV�WR�GLIIHUHQWLDWH�ęthe
natural from the acquired difference.Ě The natural consists in ęthe degree of vivacity or
thoughtfulness, pleasure, or pain, inspired by the climate�ZKLOH�WKH�GLIIHUHQFHV�DULVH�IURP�the
forms of government, religion, and produce (Wollstonecraft 2009, 32-33).
Noticeably, by the time Wollstonecraft wrote, ideas about the sublime and the beautiful
had been given an influential statement in Edmund BurkeĜV�Philosophical inquiry on our ideas of
the sublime and the beautiful (1757). He associates the sublime with what inspires awe and
towers over us. Obviously, the Scandinavian scenery gives her ample opportunities to display her
own responsiveness to the sublime and the way it provokes the human senses to an intuition of
something beyond the powers of the eye or ear to comprehend. Perhaps the most striking
instance is her reaction to the falls outside Fredrikstad (Brekke and Mee 2009, xviii-xix).
Reaching the cascade, or rather cataract, the roaring of which had a long
time announced its vicinity, my soul was hurried by the falls into a new train
of reflections. The impetuous dashing of the rebounding torrent from the
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dark cavities which mocked the exploring eye, produced an equal activity in
my mind: my thoughts darted from earth to heaven, and I asked myself why
I was chained to life and its misery? Still the tumultuous emotions this
sublime object excited, were pleasurable; and, viewing it, my soul rose, with
renewed dignity, above its cares ė grasping at immortality ė it seemed as
impossible to stop the current of my thoughts, as of the always varying, still
the same, torrent before me ė I stretched out my hand to eternity, bounding
over the dark speck of life to come. (Wollstonecraft 2009, 89)
Not only does Wollstonecraft ponder the idea of the sublime, she also places a great
deal of emphasis on the picturesque. Typical picturesque travel writing highlights the symmetry
associated with beauty and the awestruck reverence of the sublime (Brekke and Mee 2009, xx).
(See more details about the sublime, the beautiful, and the picturesque in Chapter 13.) In LETTER
V, she describes the landscape as she approaches Quistram:
Advancing towards Quistram, as the sun was beginning to decline, I was
particularly impressed by the beauty of the situation. The road was on the
declivity of a rocky mountain, slightly covered with a mossy herbage and
vagrant firs. At the bottom, a river, straggling amongst the recesses of stone,
was hastening forward to the ocean and its grey rocks, of which we had a
prospect on the left, whilst on the right it stole peacefully forward into the
meadows, losing itself in a thickly wooded rising ground. (Wollstonecraft
2009, 27)
However, the picturesque landscape is supplanted by the putrid smell of the herrings.
The comparison of the two sets of letters has elucidated upon one of the main features
of travel writing in the diurnal form that thematizes mobility. Although what both Wollstonecraft
and Van Gogh wrote are letters that reveal their characteristics, the English writer dedicates a
large proportion of her writing to actual movement and descriptions of places. Meanwhile, the
Dutch painter delves more into his professional life.
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Conclusion
This chapter explores the diurnal form of travel literature that emerged along with
modern timekeeping technology and the new concept of time. Records of human activities and
emotions are segmented and assigned dates in the calendar, compressing and stretching time to
VXLW�WKH�DXWKRUĜV�QHHGV��+HQFH, the homogeneity and neutrality of time prove problematic when
an extensive discussion of a particular topic is provided, when a journey is rushed through, or
when a trip turns into a residence.
Class Activities
Chapter-end Exercise
1. 'HILQH�WKH�WHUP�ęWKH�GLXUQDO�IRUP�Ě
2. Read the assigned excerpt.
3. 'LVFXVV�KRZ�WKH�GLDULVWĜV�VWDWXV�DQG�PLVVLRQ�GHWHUPLQH�WKH�FRQWHQW�RI�KLV/her writing,
and how the diurnal form determines the details in his/her diary.
4. As a travel account in the diurnal form, does the diary UHYHDO�LWV�QDWXUH�DV�EHLQJ�ęFULWLFDO�
DQG�VHOHFWLYHĚ�RU�ęFRSLRXV�DQG�H[DFWĚ"�
Creative Writing
1. Write a letter or a postcard to one of your friends or family members.
2. Tell him/her about your recent trip. Include the date(s), the place(s) you visited, the
people you met, and the activities you did.
3. Length: 300-500 words. DO NOT C
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Chapter 5
Guidebook
Procis
This chapter examines the origin and the development of guidebooks and the
emergence of the tourist as a new type of traveler in the age of industrialization.
Objectives
After studying this chapter, students will be able to:
1. 'HILQH�WKH�WHUP�ęguidebook�Ě
2. Narrate a brief history of guidebooks.
3. Analyze different sections in a typical guidebook.
Definitions of ĜGuidebookĝ
Various scholars KDYH�RIIHUHG�GHILQLWLRQV�RI�WKH�WHUP�ęJXLGHERRN�Ě�$FFRUGLQJ�WR�The
new shorter Oxford English dictionary on historical principles (1993), guide or guidebook refers
to Ĝa manual or book of instruction on a specific subject; a book of information on a city,
building, etc., for the use of touristĝ�(Brown 1993, 1: 1158). Meanwhile, J. A. Cuddon states in
The Penguin dictionary of lterary terms and literary theory (1998) that guidebook is ęD�ERRN�
GHVLJQHG�WR�KHOS�WUDYHOOHUVĚ (Cuddon 1998, 369). In Encarta World English dictionary (1999),
guidebook LV�GHILQHG�DV�ęa book containing information for tourists about a country, area, city,
or institutionĚ�(Soukhanov 1999, 1895) whereas %DUEDUD�.RUWH�XVHV�WKH�WHUP�ęWUDYHO�JXLGHVĚ�LQ�
English travel writing from pilgrimages to postcolonial explorations (2000) for this particular form
of writing (Korte 2000, 85).
5HPDUNDEO\��DV�WKH�WHUP�ęJXLGHERRNĚ�FDQ�EH�XVHG�V\QRQ\PRXVO\�ZLWK�ęJXLGHĚ�DQG�
ęWUDYHO�JXLGH�Ě�WKH�ODFN�RI�QDUUDWLYH�FRUHV�LQ�JXLGHERRNV�DUJXDEO\�VHWV�WKHP�DSDUW�IURP�RWKHU�
forms of travel writing which is not restricted to only one writing mode. This particular form of
travel literature provides descriptions, suggestions and practical information to travelers.
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A History of Guidebooks
Travel for purposes other than warfare, diplomacy, or trade is not exclusively a modern
phenomenon. Travelers in the ancient world, such as Egyptian scribes in 1500 BCE, often banded
together for mutual protection. Conversely, many modern guidebooks are aimed quite precisely
at those who travel alone, pursuing their own interests. They buy guidebooks for information to
direct themselves, much as their nineteenth-century predecessors did (Foulke 1992, 94-95). The
progenitor of guidebooks is traceable to 3DXVDQLDVĜV�Guide to Greece (160-80 AD). The work
IHDWXUHV�WKH�UHJLRQĜV�JHRJUDSK\��FXltural monuments, related myths, legends and biographies
(Korte 2000, 21-22). Actually, manuals for travelers, to be read before or during the journey, are
considerably older since ęPHGLHYDO�SLOJULPV�KDG�LWLQHUDULHV��DQG�WKH�VL[WHHQWK�FHQWXU\�VDZ�D�
SUROLIHUDWLRQ�RI�DSRGHPLF�ZULWLQJ��WKDW�LV�WUHDWLVHV�RQ�WKH�DUW�RI�WUDYHOOLQJ��.RUWH�����, 8).
Nevertheless, modern day guidebooks originated alongside the new paradigm for
traveling ė WKDW�RI�WKH�ę*UDQG�7RXUĚ�ė DQG�FRQFOXGHG�ZLWK�DQRWKHU�SDUDGLJP�ęWKDW�DEVRUEHG�DQG�
VXSHUVHGHG�LW��WKDW�RI�PDVV�WRXULVP��%X]DUG������������7KH�*UDQG�7RXU�IHDWXUHG�SURPLQHQWO\�LQ�
the history of traveling in Europe in the period that runs, roughly, from the Restoration of the
British monarchy in 1660 to the accession of Queen Victoria in 1837 (Buzard 2007, 38). It was
essentially an ideological exercise. Its main objective was to round out the education of young
men of the ruling classes by exposing them to the refined culture and society of the Continent.
Usually occurring just after completion of studies at Oxford or Cambridge University and running
anywhere from one to five years in length, ęthe Tour was a social ritual intended to prepare
these young men to assume the leadership positions preordained for them at homeĚ (Buzard
2007, 38). The usual itinerary was pretty much as follows.
After crossing the Channel, the Tourist, having acquired a coach in Calais,
would often proceed to the Loire valley, where the purest French accent was
supposed to have its home, and where the young Briton could spend some
time preparing his tongue and his manner for the rigours of Paris society. A
OHQJWK\�VWD\�LQ�WKH�)UHQFK�FDSLWDO�PLJKW�EH�IROORZHG�E\�D�YLVLW�WR�*HQHYD�>đ@�
One would then cross the Alps, as expeditiously as possible, proceeding via
Turin or Milan down to Florence, to stay probably for some months. Venice
might be next, then Rome, or vice versa. The Tourist might go as far as
Naples. The return journey northward might include stays in Austria, the
*HUPDQ�XQLYHUVLW\�WRZQV��%HUOLQ��DQG�$PVWHUGDP��>đ@�7KH�PRVW�LPSRUWDQW�
DO NOT C
OPY
- 87 -
GHVWLQDWLRQV�>đ@�ZHUH�3DULV�DQG�,WDO\��HVSHFLDOO\�5RPH��)ORUence, and Venice).
(Buzard 2007, 39)
,Q�WKH�(QJOLVK�ODQJXDJH��WKH�ZRUG�ęWRXULVWĚ�GHULYHG�IURP�ęWKH�*UDQG�7RXULVWĚ�LQ�WKH�
DERYH�H[FHUSW��ęWRXULVWĚ�EHJDQ�WR�EH�XVHG�LQ�WKH�����V��DQG�ęWRXULVPĚ�EHFDPH�D�FRPPRQ�
expression in the 1810s. The Oxford English dictionary of etymology thus localizes both words in
the Romantic era, and it is in this era that travel writing became significantly more literary. Travel
and travel narratives inspired Romantic poets, and many Romantic writers produced travel books
themselves. More generally, mobility in various forms is a central theme in Romantic literature as
well as the self-fashioning of Romantic writers and their personas. Travel provided writers with
opportunities to explore the world, the boundaries of their selves and their creativity, and it
afforded them possibilities for escaping from crowded cities or even European modernity at
large (Korte 2020, 178).
-RVHSK�$GGLVRQĜV�Remarks on several parts of Italy (1705) was for many years a nearly
indispensable handbook for those Grand Tourists, who went to visit the sites and monuments
associated with the ancient Romans (Buzard 2007, 40; Thompson 2011, 47). Nonetheless,
Mariana Starke (1761-1868) was probably the first person who could be called a professional
guidebook writer, producing nine editions of her popular Letters from Italy between 1800 and
������7KRXJK�ODEHOHG�DV�ęOHWWHUV�Ě�WKH\�LQFOXGHG�SUDFWLFDO�DGYLFH�DV�ZHOO�DV�GHVFULSWLYH�ZULWLQJ��
After the Napoleonic Wars (1803-1815), the years immediately following the peace saw a small
boom in travel literature. No fewer than thirteen new Italian tour-books emanated from English
publishers in 1820. It was also a time in which numerous works of fiction began incorporating
details actually gathered on tours into their stories (Buzard 1993, 69).
Later, John Murray III (1808-1892) and Karl Baedeker (1801-1859) were credited with
the standardization of the handbook for travelers, from outer covers to inner organization. They
updated it, ęmaking it not the record of VRPHRQHĜV�WULSV�EXW�D�GHVFULSWLRQ�RI�ZKDW�FXUUHQW�
tourists could expect�(Youngs 2014, 61). Murray, named after his father, published his first
guidebook in 1836. Based on detailed, firsthand experiences, Hand-book for travellers on the
continent covered Holland, Belgium, Prussia and the other northern German states (Withey 1997,
70). Consequently, a typical Murray guide provided background knowledge of the region,
LQFOXGLQJ�KLVWRU\�DQG�ęPDQQHUVĚ�RI�WKH�SHRSOH��7KLV�ZDV�IROORZHG�E\�SUDFWLFDO�LQIRUmation that
would make a trip more predictable: transportation, major routes, recommended inns, suggested
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OPY
- 88 -
LWLQHUDULHV��HWF��+H�DOVR�DGYLVHG�WKH�UHDGHU�WR�OHDYH�EHKLQG�ęWKH�LGHD�RI�WKH�DPD]LQJ�VXSHULRULW\�
of England, above all other countries, in all respecWV��:LWKH\�����, 71).
A few years later, Baedeker developed his series of guidebooks in Germany. The first
volume of the Baedeker series appeared as early as 1829 (Korte 2000, 85). In 1827 he bought a
VPDOO�SXEOLVKLQJ�KRXVH�LQ�&REOHQW]�WKDW�ZDV�DERXW�WR�JR�EDQNUXSW��$PRQJ�WKH�ILUPĜV�DVVHWV�ZDV�
$XJXVW�.OHLQĜV�JXLGH�WR�WKH�5KLQH��$IWHU�WKH�RULJLQDO�FRSLHV�KDG�VROG�RXW��%DHGHNHU�UHYLVHG�WKH�
book himself (since Klein had already passed away) and issued the new version in 1835 (Withey
1997, 72). +H�SUDFWLFDOO\�FRSLHG�0XUUD\ĜV�IRUPDW��JHQHUDO�RUJDQL]DWLRQ��DQG�WKH�WHUP�ęKDQGERRN�Ě�
The first, published in 1839, was on the Rhine region. In 1854, he adopted the red covers and
added the system of rating attractions with stars, and paid more attention to his maps (Withey
1997, 72). Afterwards, under Fritz Baedeker (1844-�������KLV�\RXQJHU�EURWKHU��WKH�WRXULVWĜV�
JXLGHERRN�EHJDQ�WR�WDNH�RQ�ęWKH�DSSHDUDQFH�RI�ěVFLHQWLILF�H[DFWLWXGHĜ��DQG�WKH�Srose style
settled into a smooth, confident tone in keeping with the demeanour of an enterprise
PDUVKDOOLQJ�FRQVLGHUDEOH�UHVRXUFHV�DQG�DQ�HQRUPRXV�VWRUH�RI�LQIRUPDWLRQ��%X]DUG�����, 74).1
1 To view some editions of early Baedeker guidebooks, you may visit The travel! Digital project:
Exploring People of Monuments in Baedeker guidebooks (1875-1914), organized by Austrian
Center for Digital Humanities and Cultural Heritage (ACDH), funded by Austrian Academy of
Sciences, https://traveldigital.acdh.oeaw.ac.at/ressourcen (accessed May 1, 2021).
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Figure 5.1 Front cover of The Rhine and northern Germany: Handbook for travellers
(Coblenz: Karl Baedeker, 1870)
[Fenton, Kyle. Title Page of The Rhine and northern Germany: Handbook for travellers. October
22, 2014. Manuscript, Archives and Rare Book Library, Emory University. Accessed August 23,
2019. https://archive.org/details/10646504.5288.emory.edu/page/n9.]
In 1915, James Muirhead (1853-1934), who had worked for Baedeker preparing a
handbook for travelers to London in 1878, along with his brother Findlay Muirhead (1860-1935),
DFTXLUHG�WKH�ULJKWV�WR�-RKQ�0XUUD\ĜV�KDQGERRNV�IURP�(GZDUG�6WDQIRUG������-1904), the
cartographical publisher who had previously bought them from John Murray IV. The Muirheads
HVWDEOLVKHG�WKHLU�FRPSDQ\�0XLUKHDGĜV�*XLGHERRNV�/LPLWHG�LQ�WKH�VDPH�\HDU���+DYLQJ�UHDFKHG�DQ�
agreement in 1917 with French publisher Hachette to co-publish English and French language
guidebooks under the names Blue Guides and Guides Bleus, respectively, they launched the first
Blue Guide London and its environs in 1918. The series had been acquired by several publishers.
Currently, it belongs to Somerset Books who acquired the Blue Guides in 2004 (The Blue Guides
2019, n.pag.). In the preface to London and its environs, the editors claim that the handbook is
EDVHG�RQ�ęIUHVK�SHUVRQDO�H[SHULHQFH�E\�DXWKRUV�DOUHDG\�IDPLOLDU�ZLWK�WKH�FRXQWULHV�DQG�FLWLHV�
WKH\�GHVFULEH��$LPLQJ�DW�DFFXUDF\�DQG�SUDFWLFDOLW\��LW�ZLOO�WUHDW�WKH�VXEMHFWV�RI�KLVWRU\��DUW��
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archaeology, and social GHYHORSPHQWV�LQ�ęD�GLVFULPLQDWLQJ�DQG�VXJJHVWLYH�PDQQHU�E\�H[SHUWV�
HQWLWOHG�WR�VSHDN�ZLWK�DXWKRULW\���7KH�%OXH�*XLGHV�����, n.pag.).
Figure 5.2 Front cover of The Blue Guides: Muirhead's London and its environs (1918)
[Unknown. Title Page of Muirhead's London and its environs (1918). Undated. The Blue Guides.
Accessed August 23, 2019. https://www.blueguides.com/our-titles/history-of-the-blue-
guides/preface-to-blue-guide-london-1918/.]
For Roland Barthes, the essential part of a country described in a Blue Guide its
FROOHFWLRQV�RI�PRQXPHQWV�ZKHUHDV�ęPHQ�H[LVW�RQO\�DV�ěW\SHVĜ��>đ@�DV�VRFLDO�HQWLWLHV�RQO\�LQ�WUDLQV��
ZKHUH�WKH\�ILOO�D�ěYHU\�PL[HGĜ�7KLUG�&ODVV�Ě�$QG�E\�UHGXFLQJ�JHRJUDSK\�WR�WKH�GHVFULSWLRQ�RI�DQ�
uninhabited world of monuments, the Blue Guide KDV�EHFRPH�ęDQ�DJHQW�RI�EOLQGQHVVĚ (Barthes
1972, 75-76).
However, what have later been incorporated in present-day guidebooks are photos
which emerged with the popularity of panoramic views during the Victorian period. It may have
been attributed to ęthe imperialist view of the late nineteenth century founded on an ideology
ZKLFK�VWULYHV�WR�SRVVHVV�ZKDW�LW�KDV�VHHQ��.RUWH�����, 94). Notwithstanding, the Victorian
WRXULVWĜV�SOHDVXUH�RI�VHHLQJ�PD\�KDYH�KDG�FRQVXPHULVW�XQGHUSLQQLQJ��This form of entertainment
catered to the need of those who were well aware of other parts of the world (through printed
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media) but could not afford to travel. The craze for panoramas paralleled the success of the
Great Exhibition in London in 1851, which showcased exhibits from around the world, particularly
from the British colonies. This may be illustrated by the production of a guidebook titled A
handbook of the trip to Liverpool by Thomas Cook (1808-1892) as part of the marketing
campaign for an excursion in 1845. The book detailed sights to be seen along the way to the
seaside city (Withey 1997, 136).
Scholars attribute the increasing popularity of guidebooks to the development of
transport and accommodation, the emergence of the middle class, and the perception of
traveling as a leisured activity. Thanks to the development of the steamship and the railway, and
other elements of travel infrastructure, distant countries were now accessible in less time and in
greater comfort. Middle-class travelers could now afford to travel. To Thomas Cook, ęa tour was
no longer an individual experience, but a package tour, that is a journey organized to provide
large numbers of travellers with speedy transport and convenient accommodation ė at an
DIIRUGDEOH�SULFH��.RUWH����������. Cook is credited with the popularization of the custom-made
package tour, and in 1856 he offered his firsW�ę*UHDW�&LUFXODU�7RXU�RI�WKH�&RQWLQHQWĚ�IRU�WKRVH�
whom their work or business afforded the means and leisure to travel. Paradoxically, this tourism
sometimes began to resemble work, as travelers hurried from sight to sight in order to travel as
profitably and effectively as possible within the few weeks of leisure at their disposal (Korte
2020, 180).
A central irony in the histories of the Baedeker and Murray handbooks and of the
Thomas Cook company is that all three began seeing themselves as helping to make travel both
more accessible and more independent. Unlike the privileged travelers of a bygone age, modern
tourists were in no position to squander their resources; they needed the guidance, the advice,
the solicitude offered them by the new firms. Cook helped them through the morass of
transport, accommodation, and currency exchange; Murray and Baedeker appeared to put
everything the tourists needed to know for the efficient fulfillment of their itineraries between
the covers of their handbooks (Buzard 1993, 47-48). The affordability and opportunity of travel
among the working class thus caPH�LQ�WDQGHP�ZLWK�WKH�VWDQGDUGL]DWLRQ�RI�LWLQHUDULHV��ę7RXULVWVĚ�
had eventually become sufficiently identified with the industries and bureaucracies enabling
numbers RI�SHRSOH�WR�WUDYHO�ZKHUHDV�WKH�QDPHV�ę.DUO�%DHGHNHUĚ�DQG�ę7KRPDV�&RRNĚ�FDPH�WR�
represent both the impersonal systems and the individuals who created them (Buzard 1993, 91).
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At one extreme of travel literature, guidebooks are sometimes monotonous, usually
concentrating on distances, inns, transportation facilities, costs, warnings, and recommendations,
but are published as part of ė perhaps a supplement to ė the account of someone who had
made a real journey (Adams 1983, 38). Yet, the increase in travel after 1815 helped create
demand for a new kind of travel book, one that eschewed reflections on art and life in foreign
capitals for practical advice (Withey 1997, 68-9). Meanwhile, Elizabeth A. Bohls argues in Travel
writing 1700-1830: An anthology (2005) that WKH�JXLGHERRN�LV�ęD�VWDSOH�RI�WUDYHO�ZULWLQJĚ��%RKOV�
2005, xiii-xiv). As a subgenr of travel writing, a guidebook is a book designed to furnish
travelers/tourists with practical advice (transportation, accommodation, maps, etc.), illustrations,
and background information on a specific destination, including geography, history and
anthropology. A guidebook/guide/travel guide can be rendered in descriptive, expository and
prescriptive modes. It differs from travel writing in general in the absence of narrative accounts
RI�ęUHDOĚ�WUDYHO�H[SHULHQFH�DV�ZHOO�DV�ILUVW-person narrator that would constitute a certain level of
subjectivity.
Guidebooks, it should be reminded, are denied permanence and fluidity of form. Good
ones must be up to date, accurate in detail, responsible in using sources, authenticated by the
ZULWHUĜV� GLUHFW� H[SHULHQFH�� VHOHFWLYH� \HW� UHDVRQDEO\� FRPSUHKHnsive, clearly focused, analytic in
structure, organized for quick reference, and easy to read. The best also have a style that sharpens
seeing and encourages imaginative reflection. Like many things needed in practical living, they are
designed to be used and discarded when obsolete (Foulke 1992, 95).
,Q�RUGHU�WR�DFFRPPRGDWH�FRQVWDQW�FKDQJHV�LQ�FRQVXPHUVĜ�GHPDQGV��DQG�WR�NHHS�XS�
with advancements in communication and transportation technologies, modern guidebooks have
seen a continual transformation. This is demonstrated, for instance, in shifts in coverage between
old and new Baedekers, revealing compression and elimination, as well as changes in focus. The
1894 Greece devoted six pages of small type to Ithaca, complete with Homeric references, and
two pages to climbing routes up Parnassos. In the new edition, Ithaca rates less than a page of
large type, and Parnassos even less, with emphasis on the ski lifts at the top. The 1900 London
had HOHYHQ�SDJHV�RI�ILQH�SULQW�RQ�6W��3DXOĜV��LQFOXGLQJ�LGHQWLILFDWLRQ�RI�DOO�WKH�PDMRU�PRQXPHQWV��
and nine on Hampton Court, with a detailed inventory of the contents of each room; by 1966,
6W��3DXOĜV�KDG�EHHQ�FRPSUHVVHG�LQWR�KDOI�D�SDJH�DQG�+DPSWRQ�&RXUW�WR�D�SDJH�DQG�D�PDS��
Meanwhile, )RGRUĜV������(XURSHĜV�great cities confirms the general trend toward streamlining
information to prevent overload for jet-age travelers. Therefore, ę6W��3DXOĜV��ZLWKLQ�WKH�FLW\��JHWV�
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two-thirds of a page of fine print, while Hampton Court, apparently beyond the pale of harried
businessmen, disappears entirely, except as a terminus for a Thames cruise��)RXONH������������
These changes reflect reduced publishing budgets, flagging curiosity in the audience,
or both, but they are supposedly consonant with the short attention span and restlessness
(Foulke 1992, 101). Gone are the old guidelineV�GHFUHHLQJ�WKDW�ęFRPSOHWHĚ�JXLGHERRNV�QHHG�WR�
touch only familiar bases of information on weather, visas, local customs, lodging, dining,
nightlife, shopping, transportation, currency, prices, and more or less generous doses of
background on history, culture, architecture, museums, and ancient sites. The hunger for
information has led to fragmentation of the guidebook model. The trend toward specialization is
represented in a random sample of 1987 issues ė WKH�%OXH�*XLGHĜV�Victorian architecture in
Britain��-RKQ�0XLUĜV�,QGLDQ�$PHULFD��$�WUDYHOHUĜV�FRPSDQLRQ��*OREH�3HTXRWĜV�American Institute of
Architects guide to Boston��RU�+XQWHUĜV�(SHURQĜV�French wine tour (Foulke 1992, 103).
It must also be noted that guidebooks are hardly uniform or interchangeable. They
possess different personalities and appeal to different demographics. Some, such as those
SXEOLVKHG�E\�)RGRUĜV��DUH�FOHDUO\�DVVRFLDWHG�ZLWK�PRUH�PLGGOH- and upper-middle-class tourists.
Others have targeted what Lonely Planet co-founders Tony and Maureen Wheeler called
ęLQGHSHQGHQW-PLQGHG�WUDYHOOHUVĚ��/DGHUPDQ������������ Nevertheless, while guidebooks purport
to provide the necessary facts, the authors have opinions about the places they cover and that
certain brands, such as Lonely Planet, are understood to emphasize certain things. Guidebooks
can in fact often function as politicized texts, not as the mere referential sources that they
generally purport to be (Laderman 2020, 260).
2QH�SDUWLFXODU�FDVH�LV�/XFLDQ�6ZLIW�.LUWODQGĜV�Finding the worth while in the Orient
(1926), which was an attempt to produce a general Asian guidebook for Western tourists. In the
chapter on the Philippines, which was then an American colony, the Filipinos were depicted to
KLP�DQG�RWKHU�$PHULFDQV��ęYHU\�PXFK�D�SHRSOH�DSDUW�Ě�+H�UHIHUV�WR�WKH�JHQHUDO�RSLQLRQ�WKDW�
ę$PHULFD�KDV�EHHQ�GRLQJ�KHU�EHVW�WR�FRGGOH�LQWR�D�VWDWH�RI�PRGHUQ�FLYLOL]DWLRQ�DQG�SURJUHVV�DQ�
XQJUDWHIXO�VHW�RI�QDWLYHV��.LUWODQG������������FLWHG�LQ�/DGHUPDQ������������ Another case is the
US Department of Defense, which was one of the most prolific guidebook publishers in the Cold
War period. Pocket guide to Viet-Nam (1963; 1966; 1971) was created by a Pentagon unit called
the Office of Armed Forces Information and Education (OAFIE), seeking to justify the natioQĜV�
Cold War mission while selling the excitement of overseas travel. Accordingly, the guide pointed
to the many pleasures available to American personnel in Vietnam. But while providing
information on where and how to enjoy oneself while serving in Vietnam, the guide also sought
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to convince servicemen that their presence in Vietnam was essential to US national security
(Laderman 2020, 263).
The origins of the modern guidebook may be traced to nineteenth-century Europe, but
it was the explosion of international travel following World War II that led to a flowering of the
guidebook genre (Laderman 2020, 258). Guidebooks constituted probably the most influential
form of travel writing of the twentieth century, covering every country on the planet. Until the
Internet age, it was a rare tourist who had never consulted one (Laderman 2020, 258). Most
guidebooks advise travelers on the mechanics of travel ė lodging, food, local transportation, and
the like (Foulke 1992, 98). However, they provide more than logistical information. They inform
tourists what is worth visiting or noticing, and, crucially, they suggest how these worthwhile
attractions should be interpreted and understood (Laderman 2020, 258). Guidebooks are not
spatially comprehensive; they select and mediate a limited number of sites from a seemingly
infinite number of possibilities. In other words, they engage in a process of what Dean
0DF&DQQHOO�FDOOHG�ęVLJKW�VDFUDOL]DWLRQĚ�������������PDUNLQJ�FHUWDLQ�SODFHV�DV�ZRUWK�YLVLWLQJ��
attributing to them some special significance or meaning (Laderman 2020, 259).
In content, some guidebooks share material with travel magazines, and others have
connections with travel newsletters or travel videos. New media also threaten the long-term
viability of guidebooks in interesting ways: travel videos, pioneered by eager chambers of
commerce and placed in house on hotel TV channels, for instance, visually encapsulate the
content of a guidebook. The demand for up-to-date information in an industry that has a
normal lead time of nine months suggests that the guidebook of the future may be an online
computer directory (Foulke 1992, 103-104). To a certain extent, the prediction has been
confirmed ZKHQ�WRGD\ĜV�JXLGHERRNV�make their presence on the internet. For example, Lonely
Planet and )RGRUĜV�7UDYHO publish both printed and digital guidebooks, but also produce travel-
related contents on their website (https://www.lonelyplanet.com/; https://www.fodors.com/). The
destinations are divided by continents, accompanied by travel videos and articles. The websites
also offer booking services for hotels, flights, and car rental. Lonely Planet even launches an
application for smartphone users.
Guidebook writers in the twenty-first century face massive overhead problems in
financing the travel necessary to produce a good book, because neither adequate advances nor
subsidies are usually available for books, though they often are for articles. And when the
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- 95 -
ęZULWHUĚ�LV�UHDOO\�D�WHDP�ZRUNLQJ�IRr hire to compile a volume, as is often the case in many major
series, these problems are exacerbated (Foulke 1992, 104-105).
-RKQ�0XLUĜV�The Yosemite
The following is a demonstration of critical discourse in regards to guidebooks. The
excerpts are takeQ�IURP�-RKQ�0XLUĜV�The Yosemite. (The Modern Library 2003). Even though this
is not originally presented as a guidebook, some parts of it read like one. John Muir (1838-1914)
was a naturalist and an early advocate for the preservation of wilderness in the United States of
America. The Yosemite was designated a national park in 1890. The Yosemite has generally been
studied as a memoir of his experience in the Californian wilderness in the late nineteenth
century. He recalls:
When I set out on the long excursion that finally led to California I wandered
afoot and alone, from Indiana to the Gulf of Mexico, with a plant-press on
my back, holding a generally southward course, like the birds when they are
going from summer to winter. >đ@�%XW�,�ZDV�XQDEOH�WR�ILQG�D�VKLS�ERXQG�IRU�
6RXWK�$PHULFD�>đ@�7KHUHIRUH�,�GHFLGHG�WR�YLVLW�&DOLIRUQLD�IRU�D�\HDU�RU�WZR�WR�
see its wonderful flora and the famous Yosemite Valley. (Muir 2003, 3)
Later on, he describes the scenery of the vegetation of the Sierra:
Sauntering up the foothills to Yosemite by any of the old trails or roads in
use before the railway was built from the town of Merced up the river to the
boundary of Yosemite Park, richer and wilder become the forests and
streams. At an elevation of 6000 feet above the level of the sea the silver firs
are 200 feet high, with branches whorled around the colossal shafts in
regular order, and every branch beautifully primate like a fern frond. The
Douglas spruce, the yellow and sugar pines and brown-barked Libocedrus
here reach their finest developments of beauty and grandeur. The majestic
Sequoia is here, too, the kind of conifers, the noblest of all the noblest race.
These colossal trees are as wonderful in fineness of beauty and proportion
as in stature ė an assemblage of conifers surpassing all that have ever yet
been discovered in the forests of the world. Here indeed is the tree-ORYHUĜV�
paradise; the woods, dry and wholesome, letting in the light in shimmering
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masses of half sunshine, half shade; the night air as well as the day air
indescribably spicy and exhilarating; plushy fir-ERXJKV�IRU�FDPSHUVĜ�EHGV��>đ@�
(Muir 2003, 9).
Using poetic language, he describes the Bridal Veil Falls:
The Bridal Veil shoots free from the upper edge of the cliff by the velocity
the stream has acquired in descending a long slope above the head of the
fall. Looking from the top of the rock-avalanche talus on the west side,
about one hundred feet above the foot of the fall, the under surface of the
water arch is seen to be finely grooved and striated; and the sky is seen
through the arch between rock and water, making a novel and beautiful
effect. (Muir 2003, 10-11; my emphasis)
Notwithstanding the aesthetics of writing, the text moves into a guidebook mode,
suggesting LWLQHUDULHV�IRU�SRWHQWLDO�YLVLWRUV��,Q�WKH�VHFWLRQ�WLWOHG�ę+2:�%(67�72�63(1'�21(Ĝ6�
YOSEMITE TIME�Ě�KH�RIIHUV�D�YLVXDO�JXLGHOLQH�LQ�ęONE-DAY EXCURSIONS No. 1,Ě suggesting the
visitors where to go and what to look for in one day.
If I were so time-poor as to have only one day to spend in Yosemite I
VKRXOG�VWDUW�DW�GD\EUHDN��VD\�DW�WKUHH�RĜFORFN�LQ�PLGVXPPHU��ZLWK�D�SRFNHWIXO�
of any sort of dry breakfast stuff, for Glacier Point, Sentinel Dome, the head
of Illilouette Fall, Nevada Fall, the top of Liberty Cap, Vernal Fall and the wild
boulder-choked River Caxon. The trail leaves the Valley at the base of the
Sentinel Rock, and as you slowly saunter from point to point along its many
accommodating zigzags nearly all the Valley rocks and falls are seen in
striking ever-changing combinations. At an elevation of about five hundred
feet a particularly fine, wide-sweeping view down the Valley is obtained, past
the sheer face of the Sentinel and between the Cathedral Rocks and El
Capitan. At a height of about 1500 feet the great Half Dome comes in full
sight, overshadowing every other feature of the Valley to the eastward. (Muir
2003, 196)
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,Q�ęONE-DAY EXCURSIONS No. 2�Ě�KH�suggests visitors where to stop and look for an
image of the beautiful scenery.
Another grand one-day excursion is to the Upper Yosemite Fall, the top of
the highest of the Three Brothers, called Eagle Peak on the Geological
Survey maps; the brow of El Capitan; the head of the Ribbon Fall; across the
beautiful Ribbon Creek Basin; and back to the Valley by the Big Oak Flat
wagon-road. >đ@�You should stop a while on a flat iron-fenced rock a little
below the head of the fall beside the enthusiastic throng of starry comet-like
waters to learn something of their strength, their marvelous variety of forms,
and above all, their glorious music, gathered and composed from the snow-
storms, hail- rain- and wind-storms that have fallen on their glacier-
sculptured, domey, ridgy basin. Refreshed and exhilarated, you follow your
trail-way through silver fir and pine woods to Eagle Peak, where the most
comprehensive of all the views to be had on the north-wall heights are
displayed. After an hour or two of gazing, dreaming, studying the
tremendous topography, etc., trace the rim of the Valley to the grand El
Capitan ridge and go down to its brow, where you will gain everlasting
LPSUHVVLRQV�RI�1DWXUHĜV�VWHDGIDVWQHVV�DQG�SRZHU�FRPELQHG�ZLWK�LQHIIDEOH�
fineness of beauty. (Muir 2003,199-200)
)XUWKHUPRUH��$SSHQGL[�%�OLVWV�WKH�GLVWDQFHV�IURP�WKH�*XDUGLDQĜV�Office to several sights
in the park whereas Appendix C provides rates for transportation and accommodation. These
excerpts eventually GHPRQVWUDWH�WKDW�ęD�JXLGHERRNĚ�is a form of travel literature that is
composed of diverse discourses. It can be descriptive, instructive, and expository.
Conclusion
In this chapter, we look at WKH�GHILQLWLRQ�RI�ęJXLGHERRNĚ�DQG�WKH�beginnings of
standard guidebooks, such as Baedeker and The Blue Guide, alongside the elitist practice of the
Grand Tour. As the age of industrialization ushered in the concept of holiday, making it more
accessible to the working class, tourism has become one of the common leisure activities.
Meanwhile, guidebooks KDYH�VWDUWHG�WR�FDWHU�WR�WKH�WRXULVWVĜ�QHHGV��SURYLGLQJ�useful information
so that they can escape from the daily grinds of their working life. Yet, within one guidebook,
one finds various modes of writing: narrative, descriptive, expository, and also pictures. This
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underlines the peculiar feature of travel writing. However, the twenty-first century has seen
guidebooks moving to online platforms, competing with other travel media, such as travel
forums, travel blogs, and travel channels.
Class Activities
Chapter-end Exercise
1. 'HILQH�WKH�WHUP�ęJXLGHERRN�Ě
2. Narrate a brief history of guidebooks.
Discussion Questions
1. Study the assigned guidebook.
2. Find out what kind of information is included in it.
3. Analyze the various modes of writing used by the author(s).
Creative Writing
1. Explore your neighborhood in one day.
2. Design a walking map introducing points of interest in your neighborhood to outsiders.
3. You may include pictures and/or icons in it.
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Chapter 6
Travel Blog
2ToEKU
This chapter discusses the emergence of travel blogs in the media landscape. It
explores common features of travel blogs, and reflects upon the conundrum of differentiating
professional and non-professional travel journalists, and the commercially-driven nature of travel
blogging.
Objectives
After studying this chapter, students will be able to:
1. Define the term ętravel blog.Ě
2. Discuss the common features of travel blogs.
3. Explain how to differentiate professional from non-professional travel bloggers.
4. Discuss travel reviews as a kind of travelogue.
The late-twentieth and the early-twenty-first centuries brought in new technologies that
introduced new travel experiences and new kinds of travel writing. The easier access to the
Internet, the sophistication of smartphones, and the blossoming of social media and platform
economy have transformed how travel experiences are recorded and shared. While cameras and
other features have been added to the smartphone, the prevalence of online booking and social
media applications have facilitated how contemporary travelers navigate diverse cultures,
languages, and destinations. One can reserve flights and accommodation via Expedia (founded
in 1996), Agoda (founded in 2005), or Traveloka (founded in 2012), rely on Google Maps
(launched in 2005) and Google Street View (launched in 2007) for local transportation, and
converse with locals with the help of Google Translate (launched in 2006). Then, s/he can use
the camera on the smartphone to take pictures or video clips, and then share them along with
some written texts on social media platforms, such as Facebook (launched in 2004), Instagram
(launched in 2010), and TikTok (launched in 2016). Notwithstanding, it needs to be reminded
that the forerunner of recording and sharing travel experiences on the Internet is found in travel
blog.
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Definition of ĜTravel Blogĝ
Initially, tKH�WHUP�ęZHEORJĚ�ZDV�VXSSRVHGO\�FRLQHG�E\�Jorn Barger in December 1997. It
refers to a website that is managed by an individual or a small group of people, and is regularly
updated. ,W�ZDV�ODWHU�VKRUWHQHG�WR�ęEORJĚ�ZKereas the weblog editor started to be referred to as
D�ęEORJJHU�Ě�Usually, a weblog consisted of dated entries, RU�ęSRVWV.Ě As more people began
publishing their own weblogs, in 1999, software developer Dave Winer introduced Edit This
Page, and Jeff A. Campbell launched Velocinews. Both were free platforms, designed to enable
individuals to publish their own weblogs quickly and easily (Blood 2000, n.pag.).
There are mainly two styles of weblogs: filter style and journal style. The filter-style
weblogs, created by people who already knew how to create a website, were link-driven sites.
Each featured a unique combination of links, commentary, and personal thoughts and essays.
Many current weblogs follow this original style. Their editors present links both to little-known
corners of the web and to current news articles they feel are worthy of note. Such links are
nearly always accompanied by the editor's commentary (Blood 2000, n.pag.). Later, the journal
style was adopted. Like a diary, these blogs were a record of the blogger's thoughts: something
noticed on the way to work, notes about the weekend, a quick reflection on some subject or
another. Links took the reader to the site of another blogger with whom the first was having a
public conversation or had met the previous evening. The journal-style blog has no restrictions
on the form of content being posted. Its web interface, accessible from any browser, consists of
an empty form box into which the blogger can type anything. This free-form interface combined
with ease of use has impelled the shift from the filter-style weblog to journal-style blog (Blood
2000, n.pag.).
With the influx of blogs, the definition of weblog has changed from "a list of links with
commentary and personal asides" to "a website that is updated frequently, with new material
posted at the top of the page" (Blood 2000, n.pag.). Hence, one may infer that a travel blog
refers to a website which features travel stories. It is regularly updated, with the latest entry
posted at the top (my emphasis). Later on, when the weblog started to incorporate video
PDWHULDO��WKH�WHUP�ęYORJĚ�VWDUted to be used. It is a TV show that that can be viewed through a
ZHEVLWH�LQ�WKH�IRUP�RI�D�ęZHELVRGHĚ (Pilkington 2009, n.pag.). As a distinct sub-genre of travel
OLWHUDWXUH�ZLWKLQ�WKH�ODUJHU�ęEORJRVSKHUH�Ě�WKH�WUDYHO�EORJ�HQDEOHV�WUDYHOHUV�DQG�WRXULVWV�WR�UHFRUG�
and communicate their experiences in words and images accessible online (Cardell and Douglas
2020, 298). Travel blogs emerged generically in the very late 1990s, alongside the capacity of
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travelers to access the mobile technologies, and ęin line with broader cultural shifts that have
seen personal, autobiographical self-expression become an interesting feature of communication
in online contexts�(Cardell and Douglas 2020, 298).
Though highly diverse, travel blogs do have a recognizable ęclassicĚ blog form. Early
incarnations were limited by the available technology to text-centric narrative, but contemporary
blogs incorporate a diversity of media, particularly photography and video. The generic style
here is almost an ęillustratedĚ account. Indeed, time and date tracking as well as location
identification are functions that many travel blog hosting sites automate, allowing travelers to
focus on content-sharing rather than location specifics. This function of the blog is important
because it is also a narrative formed through accretion. Blog posts accumulate over time to form
a narrative that might otherwise seem disconnected or fragmented, since its trajectory is
structured without the benefit of hindsight. Serialization is also important. A key appeal of the
blog is its seeming immediacy. For the reader, the prospect here is of entering straight into the
EORJJHUĜV�RZQ�PRVW�UHFHQW experience and (in the specific context of the travel blog) connecting
to the most recent part of a journey (Cardell and Douglas 2020, 299).
Blog hosting platforms like Travelblog (Traveblog.org) promote the uploading and
sharing of photos and videos, as well as geographical plotting (which is often automated), as key
and ubiquitous functions of their site. However, while documentation is an important function of
the Travelblog site, it is the interactive context of travel blogging that users and audiences seem
most drawn to. Travel blogging is a social activity, one that connects the traveler to an intimate
audience ė friends and family back home ė as well as to a potential audience of fellow, future, or
vicarious travelers. There is a construction of community among bloggers and readers (Cardell
and Douglas 2020, 300-301). As hubs for bloggers and their readers, blog hosting sites have a
significant role in shaping the expectations of travel blog practice. The functions offered and
promoted on these sites ė photo and video sharing, location plotting ė thus shape the travel
blog and influence user expectations as to what it should look like. As a consequence, the
template form of many travel blog sites standardizes the ways in which twenty-first-century
travelers narrate and display their travel experiences (Cardell and Douglas 2020, 301). One
example of platforms for travel bloggers is Travellerspoint, where one can use a pre-designed
format to post their blogs and photos, and map their trips (Daams and Daams 2020, n.pag.).
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Figure 6.1 Front page of Travellerspoint online community
>8QNQRZQ��ę7UDYHOOHUVSRLQW�Ě�Digital image. Undated. Travellerspoint. Accessed May 3, 2021.
https://www.travellerspoint.com/.]
Given the wide spectrum of engagement from non-professional writers in travel
MRXUQDOLVP��+DQXVFK�DQG�)�UVLFK 2014, 8), we are reminded of the development of travel writing
DV�D�SDVWLPH��WKDW�ODWHU�HYROYHG�LQWR�D�SURIHVVLRQDO�DFWLYLW\��RQO\�WR�UHWXUQ�WR�ęD�UHQDLVVDQFH�RI�
amateurism in the twenty-ILUVW�FHQWXU\�ZLWK�WKH�SUROLIHUDWLRQ�RI�WKH�LQWHUQHW��3LUROOL������ 18).
With the introduction of free blogging software like Blogger in 1999 and WordPress in 2003,
travel-themed blogs created by individuals began to gain attention. Jeff Greenwald, a
professional travel journalist, claims to have uploaded the first travel blog post ever made on the
Internet in 1994 (Cardell and Douglas 2020, 298). For the first time in history, anyone who
traveled had the tools to reach large audiences with their unfiltered and unedited stories
instantly. Suddenly, it appeared as if everyone could be a potential travel journalist or a travel
writer (Pirolli 2019, 27).
One example of the filter style blogs is Vuelio��ZKHUH�ę7UDYHO�%ORJV�8.�7RS���Ě�OLVWV�WHQ�
weblogs with a brief introduction for each, followed by a URL to the respective site.
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Figure 6.2 ęTravel Blogs UK Top 10Ě
[+RGJHV��+ROO\��ęTravel Blogs UK Top 10�Ě�Digital image. June 6, 2019. Vuelio. Accessed June 5,
2020. https://www.vuelio.com/uk/social-media-index/top-10-uk-travel-and-tourism-blogs/.]
Figure 6.3 ęTravel Blogs UK Top 10Ě
[+RGJHV��+ROO\��ęTravel Blogs UK Top 10�Ě�Digital image. June 6, 2019. Vuelio Website. Accessed
June 5, 2020. https://www.vuelio.com/uk/social-media-index/top-10-uk-travel-and-tourism-
blogs/.]
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One example of journal-style travel blogs is Hand Luggage Only by Lloyd Griffiths and
Yaya Onalaja-Aliu. The page breaks down into sections labelled and placed at the top. Under
ę7UDYHO�Ě�RQH�ILQGV�ę7UDYHO�-RXUQDO�Ě�ZKLFK�SURYLGHV�D�OLVW�RI�GDWHG�HQWULHV. The latest one is often
located at the top. In this sub-VHFWLRQ��WKH�EORJJHUVĜ�WUDYHO�H[SHULHQFHV�DUH�SUHVHQWHG�LQ�VKRUW�
paragraphs of written text, alternated with photos, an essential part of each entry.
Figure 6.4 ęHand Luggage OnlyĚ
[Griffiths, Lloyd, and Yaya Onalaja-Aliu. ę+DQG�/XJJDJH�2QO\.Ě Digital image. Undated.
Hand Luggage Only. Accessed June 5, 2020. https://handluggageonly.co.uk/.]
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Figure 6.5 ę9LVLWLQJ�7KH�3DUOLDPHQW�RI�&DQDGD��2WWDZDĚ
[Griffiths, Lloyd, and Yaya Onalaja-Aliu. ę9LVLWLQJ�7KH�3DUOLDPHQW�RI�&DQDGD��2WWDZD�Ě
Digital image. March 24, 2019. Hand Luggage Only. Accessed June 5, 2020.
https://handluggageonly.co.uk/2020/03/24/visiting-the-parliament-of-canada-ottawa/.]
Oftentimes, a travel blogger invests in cultivating a persona by sharing his/her own
stories. Yaya Onalaja-Aliu (Hand Luggage Only��VKDUHV�D�SRVW�WLWOHG�ę6R�+HUHĜV�7KH�5HDVRQ�:K\�,�
Quit My Job Before Becoming A Full Time Blogger�WR�UHODWH�KLV�RZQ�story. Meanwhile, Victoria
Philpott (Vicky Flip Flop) presents herself as a friend giving advice on budget and weekend
travel. Noteworthily, the diaristic style is still the most recognizable and popular kind of travel
blog. Travel bloggers employ a range of media in order to frame a predominantly subjective
account of travel experience. The appeal of the travel blog is tied to its authenticity as a first-
person, eyewitness account. Crucially, the blog as diary offers a self-representation that is also
authorized by claims to authentic experience (Cardell and Douglas 2020, 299-300).
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Figure 6.6 ę9LFN\�)OLS�)ORS�6WRU\Ě
[PhilSRWW��9LFWRULD��ęVicky Flip Flop Story�Ě�'LJLWDO�LPDJH��Undated. Vicky Flip Flop. Accessed
June 5, 2020. https://vickyflipfloptravels.com/my-story/.]
Furthermore, travel bloggers usually cater to targeted audiences by providing
specialized contents. For instance, Hand Luggage Only has the food section. Vicky Flip Flop
styles herself as a blogger of festivals while Monica Stott offers tips for family travel in The
Travel Hack.
Figure 6.7 ęThe Travel HackĚ
>6WRWW��0RQLFD��ęThe Travel Hack�Ě�'LJLWDO�LPDJH� Undated. The Travel Hack. Accessed June 5,
2020. https://thetravelhack.com/.]
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As travel blogs are characterized by their business collaboration with brands and
businesses, it appears in the form of lists and reviews. Travel bloggers often include hyperlinks
or URLs in their journals, leading the reader to websites of businesses and establishments. Some
HYHQ�DJUHH�WR�WDNH�D�SUHVV�WULS��VXFK�DV�9LFN\ĜV�SUHVV�WULS�WR�&RVWD�5LFD��Meantime, Monica writes
her review of a hotel in the city of Bath.
Figure 6.8 ęAbbey Hotel Bath Review: A Perfect Bath City Centre HotelĚ
>6WRWW��0RQLFD��ęAbbey Hotel Bath Review: A Perfect Bath City Centre Hotel�Ě�'LJLWDO�LPDJH��
March 20, 2019. The Travel Hack. Accessed June 5, 2020. https://thetravelhack.com/uk/abbey-
hotel-bath-review/.]
Additionally, in order to cultivate a healthy rapport with the reader, travel bloggers
commonly branch out to social network platforms, establishing online communities via
Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, etc. Remarkably, the travel blog is part of a larger category of
online discourse based around a personal text-based narrative of travel that incorporates and
encompasses forms such as the travel diary. The travel blog extends to non-typographical
modes such as the YouTube video as well as visual, photo-based platforms like Flickr or
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Instagram, and embraces diverse forms such as the travel review or personal essay. Arguably, the
travel blog is less usefully demarcated as a form than as a rhetorical mode (Cardell and Douglas
2020, 298-299).
Between Professionals and Non-Professionals: Travel Journalists v. Travel Bloggers
Some travelers who narrate travel experiences online might not consider themselves to
be travel writers. Sites like Tumblr or Facebook, which allow for microblogging (very short forms
of blogging ė written posts, messages, photos or video shares) can similarly become de facto
modes for documenting and sharing travel experiences. Many would-be bloggers now use these
microblogging sites to satisfy the desire to document and share travel experiences. Given the
variety of online modes in this context, the travel blogger is a subject position that can be taken
up more or less directly depending on context. The traveler who microblogs on Facebook will
have a different sense of what this activity is, and who it is for (for example, an audience of
family or friends), than the traveler who actively sets up a dedicated blog account, which may
potentially attract a wider readership of both familiar and unknown readers (Cardell and Douglas
2020, 299).
In this chapter, travel blog posts are treated as travel literature. Nonetheless, travel
blogging may be considered part of travel journalism. The term ętravel journalismę�has been
defined as ęfactual accounts that address audiences as consumers of travel or tourism
experiences, by providing information and entertainment, but also critical perspectives. Travel
journalism operates within the broader ethical framework of professional journalism, but with
specific constraints brought on by the economic environment of its production��+DQXVFK�DQG�
)�UVLFK�����������RULJLQDO�HPSKDVLV�.1
The significance of travel journalism is ascribed to the boom of the tourism industry,
and the role of tourism as one of the main sectors of many economies �+DQXVFK�DQG�)�UVLFK�
2014, 3-4). The expansion of international tourism has affected the media industry in two ways.
First, affluent groups from an increasing number of countries are traveling for pleasure or
business. This development generates audience interest for travel-related journalism and
information. Potential travelers will be interested in this kind of journalism for advice and
1 7UDYHO�MRXUQDOLVP�FDQ�DOVR�EH�SODFHG�XQGHU�ęOLIHVW\OH�MRXUQDOLVP�Ě�a journalistic field that
ęSULPDULO\�DGGUHVVHV�LWV�DXGLHQFHV�DV�FRQVXPHUV��SURYLGLQJ�WKHP�ZLWK�IDFWXDO�LQIRUPDWLRQ�DQG�
advice, often in entertaining ways, about goods and services they can use in their daily livesĚ
(Hanusch 2014, 4; cited in Pirolli 2019, 7).
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entertainment. Moreover, the growing global middle-class understand travel, especially
international travel, as a desirable private status goal while using mass-mediated travel as a
substitute as long as they cannot afford actual trips. Second, the tourist industry has generated a
larger market for travel advertising and public relations, looking especially for media outlets that
promise a targeted and receptive audience �+DQXVFK�DQG�)�UVLFK���������.
Nonetheless, one needs to be aware of the differences between travel journalism and
travel literature. Travel writing allows the inclusion of fictional elements, and literary approaches
can be applied to the analysis of semi-fictional accounts of travel, for example, by Paul Theroux
or Bill Bryson. Conversely, travel journalism entails certain norms and ideals. While focusing on
factual accounts, entertainment, consumerism, and reviews, travel journalists also embrace ideals
of objectivity, transparency and contextualization. They are held accountable for ethical
LPSOLFDWLRQV�ZKLOH�FRYHULQJ�WKH�ęH[LVWLQJ�UHDO�ZRUOGĚ�UHJDUGOHVV�RI�WKHLU�PHGLXP��+DQXVFK�DQG�
)�UVLFK����������3LUROOL�����������
Therefore, the ubiquitous presence of advertising and commercial interests on most
travel blog sites demonstrates the collision of experience and commerce that defines the twenty-
first-century travel industry. There is also a tension between travel blogs that are primarily the
personal narrative of independent travelers, and travel blogs by freelance writers/travelers for
whom blogging is a professional pursuit. The implicit value of the personal travel blog lies in its
presentation of an independent, subjective and autobiographical point of view. Audiences who
read these blogs are either invested in the author as a friend or family member or are seeking
an unaffiliated perspective on what can be extensively marketed travel destinations.
Consequently, the apparent authenticity and independence can become a valuable commodity
and rhetorical device for corporations (Cardell and Douglas 2020, 301).
One of the key ethical challenges in this context is negotiating the vested interests of
travel companies or other organizations that seek to organize the experience of travel bloggers
and to influence what and how they write. This is a marketing tactic that can have lucrative
rewards for blogger and company alike. Nonetheless, while independence is assumed, a blogger
who does not endorse a product or experience may subsequently find it hard to otherwise
sustain his/her travel. Moreover, professional travel bloggers are also obliged to produce a
certain kind of travel story, one that is inevitably more ęliteraryĚ than travel blogs in other
contexts might aspire to be. Here the emphasis is less on the detail of travel, the logistics and
facts, than on the narration of subjective, seemingly authentic experience (Cardell and Douglas
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2020, 301-302). The professional travel blogger thus navigates a fine line between independence
and affiliation and this is similar to how other kinds of review experts operate. The travel blog,
then, implicitly functions as a travel review, something advertisers and tourist boards, among
others, seek to capitalize on (Cardell and Douglas 2020, 302).
Those calling themselves professional journalists write about travel for established
publications (Pirolli 2019, 32) while non-professionals are usually called bloggers. However, it
remains problematic when travel writers alternate between producing travel books and writing
for other print or RQOLQH�PHGLD��EOXUULQJ�WKH�ERXQGDULHV�IRU�DXGLHQFHV��+DQXVFK�DQG�)�UVLFK�
2014, 6). Yet, the traditional media are adapting to the web. For example, )RGRUĜV�print guides
partner with TripAdvisor, or The New York Times launches its own blogs. Simultaneously, online
writers are finding themselves involved in the offline world, as bloggers become contributors to
traditional outlets. Freelancers, many of whom are bloggers as well, update guidebooks, write
articles for The New York Times, or publish periodic pieces in &RQGp�1DVW�7UDYHOHU in addition to
authoring travel blogs. Many bloggers even publish books, nonfiction accounts of their lives
abroad, in the forms of hardbacks or e-books. Blogs, therefore, need to be seen ęas a platform
for travel writers to establish credibility and authenticity leveraged to a personal brand that can
be extended across other media platforms in an increasingly entrepreneurial journalist
environmentĚ (Pirolli 2014, 42; 96). Travel bloggers find themselves engaged in missions other
than traveling and blog posting (Pirolli 2019, 130). For example, Dirk Rohrbach contributes his
stories to The Travel Episodes, and also curates his own weblog, where he shares his travel
stories, as well as offers other travel-related products, such as travel books, and organized trips
(Dirk Rohrbach, last modified 2022, https://dirk-rohrbach.com/) .
While professional journalists still hold some authority under the banners of their
brand, they need to adapt to an online environment, and figure out how they identify
themselves vis-j-vis local bloggers. As the trend is moving towards more personal writing, to get
more intimate, to share more of themselves, travel journalists find themselves struggling to find
a balance between the personality-driven nature of online content and the journalistic tradition
of objectivity. Conversely, travel bloggers build up credibility by carefully nurturing a non-
FRPPHUFLDO�LGHQWLW\��,QVWHDG��EORJV�PRUH�VXFFHVVIXOO\�FDWHU�WR�WUDYHOHUVĜ�GHVLUH�WR�GLVWLQJXLVK�
themselves from the rest of the pack. More and more, it seems that their writing might be
returning to historic forms of travel writing, to essays and journals that foreground the authors
and their experiences (Pirolli 2014, 91-94; Pirolli 2019, 91-93).
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The evolving relationship between journalists and audiences has led to the change
from passive news consumers to more active media participants who can no longer be taken for
granted. Audiences are making decisions, interacting with information providers, and continuing
conversations on social media (Pirolli 2019, 77-78). It is evidenced in the advent of travel forums,
such as those on TripAdvisor and The Lonely Planet, which offer practical insight into travel
experiences, that paint a more realistic image for their readers. The advantage of these sites,
however, is that commentators can respond to individual comments by responding to a thread
that a user might post. Information is not necessarily solicited, and forums allow many different
voices to express their views more democratically (Pirolli 2019, 83).
Travel reviewing has also become a new mode of travel blogging. Online travel
reviewing now owes much to the styles and methods of microblogging: a tendency towards
short, autobiographically-inspired posts drawn from everyday experiences of travel. Reviews are
dated and located (Cardell and Douglas 2020, 303). For instance, TripAdvisor
(www.tripadvisor.com) ė the largest consumer-based travel review website ė provides a useful
case study. It attracts 41.6 million user a month, and features over 50 million reviews of holiday
sites and activities worldwide. Most reviewers write multiple reviews. Thus, when read together,
reviews can form an extended narrative or log documenting a travel experience. And the website
benefits greatly from the crowdsourcing momentum, and from the free labor of enthusiastic and
prolific amateur reviewers who are often very astute and creative. More recently, however, many
hoteliers have reported the site for the defamatory comments made about their properties.
Others believe the site has become too powerful and is able to make or break a business; the
balance of power is shifting to the consumer. Another major concern is the accuracy of the
reviews, and the extent to which they reflect the ęrealĚ experience of the author and offer a fair
representation of that experience (Cardell and Douglas 2020, 303).
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Figure 6.9 Front page of Tripadvisor website
>8QNQRZQ��ę7ULSDGYLVRU�Ě�Digital image. Undated. Tripadvisor. Accessed May 3, 2021.
https://www.tripadvisor.com/.]
How might we read the review texts as a mode of travel writing? Considered a mode
of life writing, these texts foreground the individual self and the personal aspects of travel.
Reviews vary in length from one line to a paragraph or two. Digital photography plays an
important role in the reviews. Since the technology allows and promotes the inclusion of
photographs, many travel reviews shape their narratives around these visual images. In 2011
there were estimated to be more than six million photographs on TripAdvisor. When writing a
travel review, the reviewer structures the review according to his or her own personal experience.
The narratives are commonly relational: the author writes about his or her own experience in
light of evaluating services provided by other, for example, often naming those who provided a
SRVLWLYH�H[SHULHQFH�RU�VHUYLFH��7KH�QDUUDWLYHĜV�DQHFGRWHV�RZH�PXFK�WR�FRQWHPSRUDU\�OLIH-writing
traditions: they are often confessional, offering personal disclosures of family life, social
experience, fears, tastes, annoyances, likes and so forth. These amateur travel writers commonly
offer background or context to establish their authority or at least to locate themselves. For
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example, a user on TripAdvisor from Philadelphia, who goes by the handle ęsofiapotier,Ě�wrote a
review titled ę)HEUXDU\�7ULS�WR�6RXWK�$IULFD��1RWHV�IRU�)XWXUH�7UDYHOOHUV�Ě�RQ�)HEUXDU\����������2
I thought it might be helpful to share a little bit about our trip Feb 14-Feb
25. Rather than an exhaustive trip report I've included a few things that
many may be wondering if they have trips coming up soon.
Trip was originally scheduled for April/May 2020 and obviously rescheduled.
We flew Qatar Airlines from Philadelphia into Cape Town and out
of Johannesburg.
Itinerary: 4 nights Cape Town, 2 nights Stellenbosch, 4 nights safari, 1 night
Jburg before flying home.
Tests: We had two test copies, one that was a mail in with a signature and
one from a regular test site with no signature. We showed the non-signature
one upon check in in Philadelphia and again on arrival in Cape Town with no
issues.
Cape Town: In retrospect, I might have preferred one less night in Cape
Town and adding to Stellenbosch - this is personal preference, but with
COVID and being nervous about getting home I felt much more relaxed in
Stellenbosch vs Cape Town (less crowded). :) Side note... the restrictions in
Cape Town didn't prevent us from seeing anything we wanted to see, but
our only "public" group transport we used was the hop on hop off bus, and
the other tour we did was private to Cape Point. In all honesty, while there
were official restrictions in place such as sanitize every time you walked in a
building, it didn't feel like most people took these seriously - a lot of masks
around the chin etc. To be fair I couldn't help but wonder if those were
tourists though. :) That being said - when we did our Cape Point tour our
guide was blown away by the fact there were no lines and we were often
the only people at each stop (including Boulder Penguins). >đ@
2 ęVRILDSRWLHUĚ [pseud.]. February Trip to South Africa (Notes for Future Travellers). February 27,
2021. TripAdvisor Travel Forums. Accessed May 4, 2021. https://www.tripadvisor.com/ShowTopic-
g293740-i9186-k13491903-February_Trip_to_South_Africa_Notes_for_Future_Travellers-
South_Africa.html#109329671.
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One can tell this is a review by a non-professional. S/he gives a personal account of
the trip with a customized itinerary. A sense of authority and authenticity is reflected in the
experiences of travel in time of the pandemic with a mandatory COVID testing. There is a strong
readership for these amateur travel narratives, which have come to replace traditional,
professionally authored, hard copy guides such as )RGRUĜV and Lonely Planet. Yet, the publishing
houses of those guidebooks are becoming more like TripAdvisor with professionally-authored
travel writing (Cardell and Douglas 2020, 304). They also produce e-guidebooks and their
contents are featured in designated websites and smartphone applications.
Conclusion
In this chapter, we consider the definition and emergence of travel blog as a form of
travel literature. The most common style of travel blogs is similar to that of a journal, allowing
the writer to write anything in a dated entry. One distinctive feature of travel blogs is its
inclusion of photos, sometimes also presented in a separate section. Moreover, due to its
commercially-driven nature, travel blogging relies on social network media to reach out to
diverse audiences and to create sustained online communities. Nevertheless, as the traditional
media expand into the digital platform, it has become even more challenging to differentiate
between professionals and non-professionals, between travel literature and travel journalism.
Class Activities
Chapter-end Exercise
1. Define the term ętravel blog.Ě
2. Discuss the common features of travel blogs.
3. Discuss the problematics of drawing a line between professional travel journalism and
non-professional travel blogging.
4. Discuss the reason travel reviews can be considered travel narratives, and the reason
their accuracy is questionable.
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Discussion Questions
1. Choose and study one travel blog written in English. Answer the following questions.
2. How is the website organized? What sections are there?
3. What kind of persona does the blogger create?
4. Who is the targeted audience of the website?
5. How does the blogger reach out to his/her readership?
6. What kind of sponsored contents does the blogger offer?
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Chapter 7
Travel Documentary
2ToEKU
This chapter discusses the origin of travel documentary or travelogue film as a form of
travel literature. We also look at a brief history of cinematic travelogue from the days of lantern
slides to the arrival of newsreels. Later, we explore how reality is represented in travel
documentaries, and then touch upon the travel series, a sub-genre of travel journalism.
Objectives
After studying this chapter, students will be able to:
1. Define the terms ętravel documentaryĚ DQG�ęWUDYHO�VHULHV�Ě
2. Narrate a brief history of travel documentary.
3. Discuss what conventions are used to achieve the representation of reality in travel
documentaries.
Definition of ĜTravel Documentaryĝ
The term ęGRFXPHQWDU\Ě�refers to a movie that tells a story about real life, with claims
to truthfulness, but it is not real life (Aufderheide 2007, 2; original emphasis). It was coined by
John Grierson (1898-1972), Scottish filmmaker in the service of the British government, by
applying it to the work of the great AmerLFDQ�ILOPPDNHU�5REHUW�)ODKHUW\ĜV�Moana (1926), which
FKURQLFOHG�GDLO\�OLIH�RQ�D�6RXWK�6HDV�LVODQG��+H�GHILQHG�GRFXPHQWDU\�DV�WKH�ęDUWLVWLF�
UHSUHVHQWDWLRQ�RI�DFWXDOLW\Ě��$XIGHUKHLGH�����������Meanwhile, ętravel documentaryĚ is the
documentary that features the narratorĜV�mobility in space and time with a claim of actual
experiences. The voice of the narrator/traveler is highlighted in relating his/her encounters with
local culture, history, nature, or people. It is sometimes called ęWUDYHORJXH,Ě�ZKLFK�KDV�been
defined as a story about a faraway place that ępresents a variety of information about a culture,
LQ�DQ�LQWHUHVWLQJ��SHUKDSV�XQLTXH�ZD\��5XRII�����b, 219-220).
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Generally speaking, the travelogue is an open form; essayistic, it often brings together
scenes without regard for plot or narrative progression. The episodic nature does not
subordinate time and place to the regime of plot or story; nor are its elements typically yoked to
an argument. Description abounds. In the most accomplished cinematic travelogues one finds
the free combination of exposition, narrative, and comment. Frequently autobiographical, the
first-person episodic narrative leaves room for detours and digressions (Ruoff 2006a, 11). While
travelogues may fulfil a desire for knowledge, vision, and contemplation of the world as in
advocacy and historical documentaries, they PD\�VLPSO\�LQGXOJH�YLHZHUV�ęLQ�WKH�WKULOO�RI�
movement, the visceral shriek of cinematic turbulence, without any appeal to conceptual
NQRZOHGJH��5XRII�����D, 15). In other words, travel documentaries can be both educational as
well as entertaining.
A History of Travel Documentary
Early moving pictures were in many cases like theatrical props. They gained meaning
only to the extent that performers were able to integrate them into their acts. 'XULQJ�FLQHPDĜV�
formative years, films often existed only to accompany public lectures. Some lecturers simply
read out loud the film descriptions provided by production companies. Others made up their
own commentary on existing films. Public lectures were typically held in many public buildings
that dotted the turn-of-the-century cityscape, especially town halls and public auditoriums,
concert halls and opera houses, union halls and churches. For several decades, ęlecturers
remained the featured performers while the illustrations occupied no more than an adjectival
role, helping to define and exemplify the words of the lectureĚ (Altman 2006, 61-63).
In ęShow and tell: The 16mm travel lecture film�Ě Jeffrey Ruoff (2006b) argues that ęthe
travel lecture film ė a silent travelogue presented with live narration by an itinerant filmmaker ė
is the archetypal form of the travelogue in cinemaĚ (219-220). Most important is the presence of
the filmmaker/travelogue lecturer who addresses the audience directly from the stage.
Travelogue lecturers are cultural brokers, translators, and interpreters for American audiences. As
a measure of their widespread availability, 16mm live travelogues played to greater numbers of
people than many foreign features and undoubtedly most avant-garde and ethnographic films
(Ruoff 2006b, 219-220).
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In 1897, Burton Holmes (1870-1958), American traveler, photographer and filmmaker,
began to make moving pictures to supplement his lantern slides.1 He was the one who coined
WKH�WHUP�ęWUDYHORJXHĚ�(also known as ęWUDYHORJXH�ILOPĚ). Yet, he would continue to be known as
a lecturer, not as a filmmaker. He would recount his own trips to Japan, Corsica, and Yellowstone
National Park (Altman 2006, 63-64).
1 The lantern slide has its origins in the seventeenth century optical viewing devices which came
WR�EH�NQRZQ�DV�ęPDJLF�ODQWHUQV�Ě�7KH�HDUOLHVW�VOLGHV�IRU�PDJLF�ODQWHUQV�FRQVLVWHG�RI�KDQG-painted
images on glass, projected by itinerant showmen telling stories about the images that were
projected. With the improvements of printing techniques on glass, mass produced slides became
possible. This type of transfer slide was produced in the many thousands over a period from the
mid-1800s to the 1920s or so �7KH�0DJLF�/DQWHUQ�6RFLHW\�RI�WKH�86�DQG�&DQDGD��ę/DQWHUQ�VOLGHV�Ě�
accessed August 11, 2019, http://www.magiclanternsociety.org/about-magic-lanterns/lantern-
slides/). TKH�PDJLF�ODQWHUQ�ZDV�LQYHQWHG�LQ�WKH�����ĜV��SUREDEO\�E\�&KULVWLDDQ�+X\JHQV��D�'XWFK�
scientist. It was the earliest form of slide projector. The first magic lanterns were illuminated by
candles, but as technology evolved they were lit by increasingly powerful means. The name
ęPDJLF�ODQWHUQĚ�FRPHV�IURP�WKH�H[SHULHQFH�RI�WKH�HDUO\�DXGLHQFHV�ZKR�VDZ�GHYLOV�DQG�DQJHOV�
mysteriously appear on the wall, as if by magic. By the eighteenth century the lantern was a
common form of entertainment and education in Europe��7KH�HDUOLHVW�NQRZQ�ęODQWKRUQ�VKRZĚ�LQ�
the U. S. was in Salem, Massachusetts, on December 3, 1743. The source of light for lanterns in
this period was usually oil lamps. In the mid-nineteenth century, two new forms of illumination
were developed which led WR�DQ�H[SORVLRQ�RI�ODQWHUQ�XVH��ę/LPHOLJKWĚ�ZDV�FUHDWHG�E\�KHDWLQJ�D�
piece of limestone in burning gas until it became incandescent. Kerosene lamps were widely
used in churches, schools, fraternal societies, and in toy lanterns. By the turn to the twentieth
century, electric illumination was introduced, which spread the lantern even further (The Magic
/DQWHUQ�6RFLHW\�RI�WKH�86�DQG�&DQDGD��ę0DJLF�ODQWHUQV�Ě�DFFHVVHG�$XJXVW����������
http://www.magiclanternsociety.org/about-magic-lanterns/).
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Figure 7.1 A lantern show on travel to exotic places and its large audience
[Unknown. ęA lantern show.Ě Digital image. Undated. The Magic Lantern Society of the US and
Canada. Accessed August 11, 2019. http://www.magiclanternsociety.org/about-magic-
lanterns/shows-and-showmen/.]
Figure 7.2 US-made single-lens lanterns equipped with wick oil burners
[Unknown. ęUS-made lanterns with wick oil burners.Ě Undated. The Magic Lantern Society of the
US and Canada. Accessed August 11, 2019. http://www.magiclanternsociety.org/about-magic-
lanterns/lantern-types/.]
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Travelogue films are nonfiction films that take place as their primary subject (Jennifer
Peterson 1998, 2; cited in Ruoff 2006a, 17). 2 Since travel takes place in a symbiotic relationship
ZLWK�LWV�UHSUHVHQWDWLRQ��ęZLWKRXW�WKH�SURPLVH�RI�SXEOLFLW\��WKHUH�LV�QR�WULS�WR�VSHDN�RI��QR�WUDYHO�
ZLWKRXW�UHSUHVHQWDWLRQ�(Ruoff 2006a, 18). The episodic, descriptive, informative travelogue film
emerged at the birth of the cinema (Ruoff 2006a, 18). The travelogue film was a form that
dominated the early cinema period from 1895 to 1905. Travelogue narration offers an alternative
to hegemonic narrative forms in both the documentary and the feature fiction film. It played an
important role in the consolidation of documentary and ethnographic film in the second and
third decades of the twentieth century, flourished in the post-World War II era of 16mm
distribution, and continues to this day in IMAX theaters as well as a host of non-theatrical
venues, notwithstanding predictions of its demise in the age of television, virtual reality, and the
Internet (Ruoff 2006a, 1; Ruoff 2006b, 217).
Despite the apparent narrative frame of the journey, most travelogues do not represent
temporally coherent voyages. Chronology exists more often as a construct of post-production.
The lecture film tends to be an essay on geography or history, not a journey per se. The
travelogue is episodic, and the detour is its most characteristic narrative device (Ruoff 2006b,
228-229). Lying at the intersection of the industries of travel and entertainment, travelogues
promise safe and comfortable trips, the opportunity to see the world without the inconveniences
of travHOLQJ�RQ�RQHĜV�RZQ��5XRII�����b, 228). ęThe educational justification for travelogues ė
whatever its actual merits ė often draws to theatres audiences who are otherwise alienated from
fiction film. It is one of its defining characteristics, even it is a pretext for other, less edifying,
pleasuresĚ (Ruoff 2006a, 2-3).
By 1910, virtually every corner of the globe had been included in travel films shot by
itinerant lecturers. Throughout the first and into the second decade of the twentieth century,
traveling lecturers continued to fill out their programs with moving pictures (Altman 2006, 70-
71). In many ways, these expedition films served to perpetuate the tradition of films made and
accompanied by platform lecturers. Always closely identified with a specific explorer, who often
made personal appearance and provided lectures in conjunction with film screenings, these films
2 3HWHUVRQ��-HQQLIHU�/\QQ��������ę(DUO\�WUDYHORJXHV��WKH�OXUH�RI�WKH�H[RWLF��DQG�WKH�ORRN�DW�WKH�
FDPHUD��3DSHU�SUHVHQWHG�DW�9LVLEOH�(YLGHQFH�9,��6DQ�)UDQFLVFR�
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- 121 -
ZHUH�XVXDOO\�GLVWULEXWHG�E\�WKH�H[SORUHU�KLPVHOI�RU�KHUVHOI�UDWKHU�WKDQ�E\�RQH�RI�WKH�HUDĜV�ZHOO-
known production companies (Altman 2006, 74).
Nevertheless, the rise of newsreels shortly after 1910 further aided in pulling
documentary films out of the live performance lecturing world and establishing them as viable
products available for general distribution (Altman 2006, 75). During the second decade of the
twentieth century, several developments conspired to break travel films and nature
documentaries out of the performance orientation that had previously defined them. The
growing complexities of film production and the difficulty of balancing a lecturing career with
production of moving pictures eventually combined to change this situation. Increasingly,
lecturers collaborated with film production companies to shoot and edit their films. Once tied to
D�OHFWXUHUĜV�SHUIRUPDQFH��ILOPV�PLJKW now be understood as separable and even separate
commodities. Then subtitles had been added, thus facilitating distribution of the film with or
without lecturer (Altman 2006, 72-73).
By the mid-1920s, films about faraway places had earned a new status. Travel and war
films had been severed from the live stage, turned instead into commodities expected to stand
by themselves (Altman 2006, 76). Among the faraway places featured in travelogues, the western
United States was one of the most frequent locations for travel films in the first decades of film
history. During the earliest years of the cinema, when the medium was still a novelty, single-shot
views of the American West were featured in many moving picture shows. The major railroad
companies, sSRQVRUV�RI�ILOPPDNLQJ�VLQFH�WKH�FLQHPDĜV�LQFHSWLRQ��LQFUHDVHG�WKHLU�SDUWLFLSDWLRQ�LQ�
the promotion of the West in the years following 1910, subsidizing more film productions and
LQLWLDWLQJ�D�PDMRU�FDPSDLJQ�GHVLJQHG�WR�SURPRWH�WRXULVP��IHDWXUH�WKH�VORJDQ�ę6HH�$PHULFD�)LUVWĚ�
(Peterson 2006, 79-80).
While silent travel films do indeed represent the West as an Edenic garden, then, they
also upset the myth of the West as an uncivilized wilderness by depicting a region traversed by
trains and peopled with tourists. Tourist Train Leaving Livingston, Mont. (1897), released by
Edison, for example, is not a film about the wild West but a film about modernity, for to see
tourists waving from a crowded train is to witness the modern world (Peterson 2006, 80). With
the onset of modernity, the popular image of the West was reconstituted: what had once been
seen as a mysterious and rough land had now become a tamed region of natural wonders, a
land ripe for tourism and recreation. As travel films represented the supposedly primeval nature
and cultures of the West, they enacted an aesthetic of nostalgic preservation. In displaying
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- 122 -
preserved pockets of land such as Yosemite, Yellowstone National Park, or the Taos Pueblo,
travelogues, such as Grand Canyon, Arizona (Nestor 1912); Glacier National Park (Pathp 1912);
The Taos Indians at Home ė New Mexico (Selig 1912), worked to create a series of landscapes
frozen in time. Yet by attempting to fill these landscapes with tourists, the films also ė perhaps
unintentionally ė modernized and domesticated those wild landscapes. With the
commodification of the West as a tourist playground, the region was made to support
contradictory myths in which the frontier coexisted with modernity (Peterson 2006, 80-81).
AloQJVLGH�WKH�SLFWXUHVTXH�DQG�ęWLPHOHVVĚ�:HVW�RI�QDWLRQDO�SDUNV�DQG�1DWLYH�$PHULFDQ�ODQGV��D�
new image of the West began to emerge in early cinema: the modern, urban West depicted in
travelogues of cities such as Glimpses of San Francisco (Pathp 1911), Seeing Los Angeles (Imp
1912), and Seeing Spokane (Selig 1912). Though contradictory, these two images ė the scenic
West and the modern West ė worked in tandem to create an aesthetically pleasing image of the
West with something for everyone: a place to visit, a place to settle, a place to consume
(Peterson 2006, 95-96).
While travel films of the 1910s presented Edenic images of the American West, the
GHFDGHV�EHWZHHQ�5REHUW�)ODKHUW\ĜV�Nanook of the North �������DQG�-RKQ�0DUVKDOOĜV�The Hunters
(1956) marked the emergence and coalescence of the scientific disciplines of ethnographic film
and visual anthropology. The 1920s to 1950s represented a period of great experimentation in
the production of motion picture film about exotic cultures, especially during the postwar years
as travelers and tourists enjoyed access to remote areas of the globe through modern
transportation technologies. Traveling filmmakers also benefited from lighter, more mobile and
sophisticated equipment, including 16mm film cameras and sound-recording technologies
(Staples 2006, 196).
Noteworthily, there seem to be more similarities between anthropologists and travel
lecturers in historical hindsight. The intrinsic relationships between travel and fieldwork practices
and the affinities between travel accounts and ethnographic texts are evident in the popular
adventure books and films of Lewis Cotlow (1898-1987), an insurance broker, world traveler, and
independent filmmaker. Like Claude Lpvi-Strauss (1908-2009), Belgian-born French
anthropologist, Cotlow traveled in the Amazon region of South America during the 1940s and
experienced a series of parallel adventures and encounters with the Jivaro warriors, a tribe of
Amazonian natives. ,Q�ęĜ7KH�/DVW�RI�WKH�*UHDW��)oot-6ORJJLQJ��([SORUHUVĜ��/HZLV�&RWORZ�DQG�WKH�
HWKQRJUDSKLF�LPDJLQDU\�LQ�SRSXODU�WUDYHO�ILOP�Ě�$P\�-��6WDSOHV��������FRQWHQGV�WKDW�&RWORZĜV�
commercially released expeditionary film Jungle Headhunters (1950) demonstrates critical
DO NOT C
OPY
- 123 -
overlaps among travel, ethnography, and filmmaking (196). She also points out the hazy line
between documentary realism and theatrical performance in the staged performance of native
life from the perspective of the invisible filmmaker (Staples 2006, 210).
It has been argued that historical and discursive affinities between travel and
ethnographic films teach us how cinematic representations are embedded in wider historical,
social, and political discourses about others and ultimately about ourselves (Staples 2006, 200).
The seminal film *UDVV��$�1DWLRQĜV�%DWWOH�IRU�/LIH (1925), about the semiannual migration of the
Baba Ahmadi tribe in Iran, is a good example. Recognized as a classic documentary,
ethnographic, and expedition film, it was made by three Americans. Its cinematic representations
have conformed to many of the Orientalist discourses about Arabs and Muslims and posed
problems for them (Naficy 2006, 117). 7KH�ILOPĜV�SOD\�RI�WKH�JD]HV�UHSOLFDWHV�D�VHULHV�RI�ELQDU\�
power relations: between East and West, ethnographer and subject, male and female. The
natives are objectified thrice: ęILUVW�DV�WKH�VXEMHFW�RI�+DUULVRQĜV�UHJDUG��WKHQ�DV�WKH�VXEMHFW�RI�WKH�
FDPHUDĜV�JD]H��DQG�ILQDOO\�ZLWK�WKHLU�PXWHQHVV��VLQFH�WKH�LQWHUWLWOHV�UDUHO\�TXRWH�DQ\�DFWXDO�QDWLYH�
dialogueĚ (Naficy 2006, 131).
Another set of travelogues from France also poses an ethical question regarding the
subject(s) of travel documentary. ,Q�ę7UDQV-6DKDUDQ�DXWRPRWLYH�FLQHPD��&LWURsQ-, Renault-, and
Peugeot-VSRQVRUHG�GRFXPHQWDU\�LQWHUZDU�FURVVLQJ�ILOPV��3HWHU�-��%ORRP��������Vtudies film
expeditions across the Sahara during the interwar period sponsored by the major French
automobile manufacturers, Peugeot, Renault, and Citrosn, in the context of an emerging tourist
economy in North Africa. These expeditions served as potent symbols of the French automobile
LQGXVWU\�DQG�)UDQFHĜV�JHRSROLWLFDO�DPELWLRQV��7KHVH�FURVVLQJ�ILOPV�IHDWXUHG�H[RWLF�ODQGVFDSHV�
from the perspective of an automotive expedition ė indexing an archaeological, ethnographic,
and geographic repertoire within the context of French colonial ideologies of hygienic,
educational, and political reform. More pragmatically, these films served as a moving visual
catalogue of French colonial territory presented in an ambiguous relationship to the expanding
forces of leisure travel and tourism (Bloom 2006, 139). The vastness of the desert landscape was
a site of projection for European fantasies of otherness (Bloom 2006, 142). The images of the
African continent portrayed in one of CitrosQĜV�H[SHGLWLRQ�ILOPV, La croisiqre noire (1926), were
an invitation to a world of travel accessible through the medium of the automobile. The
commodification of tourist adventure became a new way of imagining cultural difference at a
distance, transforming the colonial burden from a form of conquest into a humanitarian
endeavor. The cinema marked this shift by demonstrating the permeability of the frontiers that
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- 124 -
were visually depicted as thematic stereotypes. The automobile was thus invested with the ability
to travel through these projected stereotypes as part of a cinematographic time machine (Bloom
2006, 155).
Truthfulness in Documentaries: Tools and Traditions
The truthfulness, accuracy, and trustworthiness of documentaries are important to us all
because we value them precisely for those qualities. Documentaries are part of the media that
help us understand not only our world but our role in it, that shape us as public actors
(Aufderheide 2007, 4-5). Many documentarians speak not only to audiences but to other
members of a public that needs to know in order to act (Aufderheide 2007, 6). For instance,
Michael 0RRUHĜV�Fahrenheit 9/11 (2004), a sardonic, anti-Iraq war film, addresses the American
SXEOLF�GLUHFWO\��DV�SHRSOH�ZKRVH�JRYHUQPHQW�ZDV�DFWLQJ�LQ�WKH�SXEOLFĜV�QDPH��In the film, he
encourages YLHZHUV�WR�ORRN�FULWLFDOO\�DW�WKHLU�JRYHUQPHQWĜV�ZRUGV�DQG�DFWLRQV��$XIGHUKHLGH�����,
7). However, while a documentary filmmaker manipulates and distorts reality like all filmmakers,
a documentary still makes a claim for making a truthful representation of reality. Throughout the
history of documentary film, makers, critics, and viewers have argued about what constitutes
trustworthy storytelling about reality (Aufderheide 2007, 9-10).
One major component most documentaries share is the narrative structure. It may be
argued that documentaries are stories since ęWKH\�KDYH�EHJLQQLQJV��PLGGOHV��DQG�HQGV��WKH\�
invest viewers in their characters, they take viewers on emotional journeys�(Aufderheide 2007,
12). This is a convention that facilitates storytelling, shares D�PDNHUĜV�SHUVSHFWLYH�ZLWK�DXGLHQFHV,
DQG�PDNHV�ęthe presentation of the particular facts and scenes seem both inevitable and
FRPSOHWH�(Aufderheide 2007, 12). The second component of documentaries is their formal
elements. Documentarians have a large range of formal choices in registering for viewers the
veracity and importance of what they show them. The formal elements many associate with
ęUHJXODU�GRFXPHQWDU\Ě 3 are part of a package of choices that became standard practice in the
later twentieth century on broadcast television, but they are tools also available to the
filmmaker. These tools include ęsound (ambient sound, soundtrack music, special sound effects,
3 $�ęUHJXODU�GRFXPHQWDU\Ě�RIWHQ�PHDQV�ęD�ILOP�WKDW�IHDWXUHV�VRQRURXV��ęYRLFH-of-*RGĚ�QDUUDWLRQ��
an analytical argument rather than a story with characters, head shots of experts leavened with a
few people-on-the-street interviews, stock images that illustratH�WKH�QDUUDWRUĜV�SRLQW�>đ@�SHUKDSV�
D�OLWWOH�HGXFDWLRQDO�DQLPDWLRQ��DQG�GLJQLILHG�PXVLF��$XIGHUKHLGH������������
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- 125 -
dialogue, narration); images (material shot on location, historical images captured in
photographs, video, or objects); special effects in audio and video, including animation; and
pacing (length of scenes, number of cuts, script or storytelling structure). Filmmakers choose the
way they want to structure a story ė which characters to develop for viewers, whose stories to
focus on, how to resolve the storytellingĚ (Aufderheide 2007, 10-11).
All documentary conventions arise from the need to convince viewers of the
authenticity of what they are being told. Documentarians employ the same techniques as do
fiction filmmakers. Documentary work may require lights, and directors may ask their subjects for
retakes; documentaries usually require sophisticated editing; documentarians add sound effects
and sound tracks. Nonetheless, challenges to conventions stake an alternative claim to
authenticity. At a time when ambient sound could be collected only with difficulty, conventions
of 35mm sound production included authoritatively delivered narration. They also included
lighting and even staging, appropriate to the heavy, difficult-to-move equipment. Some
documentaries used careful editing between the crafted composition of each scene, to create
the illusions of reality EHIRUH�WKH�YLHZHUĜV�H\HV��:KHQ�ILOPPDNHUV�EHJDQ�H[SHULPHQWLQJ�ZLWK�
lighter 16mm equipment after World War II, the conventions that arose differently persuaded
YLHZHUV�RI�WKH�GRFXPHQWDU\ĜV�WUXWKIXOQHVV��8VLQJ�YHU\�ORQJ�ęWDNHVĚ�RU�VFHQHV�PDGH�YLHZHUV�IHHO�
that they were watching unvarnished reality; the jerkiness of handheld cameras was testimony to
the you-are-WKHUH�LPPHGLDF\��DQG�LW�LPSOLHG�XUJHQF\��ęDPEXVKĚ�LQWHUYLHZV��FDWFKLQJ�VXEMHFWV�RQ�
the fly or by surprise, led viewers to believe that the subject must be hiding something. The
choice against narration, which became fashionable in the later 1960s, allowed viewers to believe
that they were being allowed to decide for themselves the meaning of what they saw, albeit the
editing choices (Aufderheide 2007, 11-12).
Reality in documentaries may be represented with the use of realism. Realism is not an
DWWHPSW�WR�DXWKHQWLFDOO\�FDSWXUH�UHDOLW\�EXW�ęDQ�DWWHPSW�WR�XVH�DUW�WR�PLPLF�UHDOLW\�VR�HIIHFWLYHO\�
WKDW�WKH�YLHZHU�ZRXOG�EH�FRQYLQFHG�(Aufderheide 2007, 26). Some of the techniques include:
1. Elision editing: editing that goes unnoticed by the conscious mind, so that your eye is
tricked into thinking it is merely moving with the action
2. Cinematography that gives you a psychological stake in the action: creating the illusion
WKDW�\RX�DUH�DOPRVW�LQ�WKH�VFHQH�RU�ęORRNLQJ�RYHU�WKH�VKRXOGHUĚ
3. 3DFLQJ�WKDW�IROORZV�WKH�YLHZHUĜV�H[SHFWDWLRQ
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- 126 -
Realism has become the international language of commercial cinema, in both
documentary and fiction (Aufderheide 2007, 26). Yet, there is another style of realism called
ęFLQHPD�YHULWp�Ě�7KH�WHUP�UHIHUV�WR�WKH�UHYROXWLRQ�LQ�ILOPPDNLQJ�SUDFWLFHV�LQLWLDWHG�E\�WKH�
legendary trio of documentary founders in the 1960s.4 This style broke dramatically with then-
standard documentary practices of advance planning, scripting, staging, lighting, reenactment,
and interviewing. All these traditional approaches had accommodated the limitations of large,
heavy 35mm equipment, and they were appropriate to audience expectations of the time.
&LQHPD�YHULWp��RQ�WKH�FRQWUDU\��ęHPSOR\HG�WKH�IDU�OLJKWHU���PP�WHFKQRORJ\�PDGH�PRUH�SRSXODU�
DQG�DFFHVVLEOH�DIWHU�WKH�PLOLWDU\�GHSOR\HG�LW�GXULQJ�WKH�ZDU��&LQHPD�YHULWp�VSRNH�LQ�D�IUHVK�YRLFH��
RIWHQ�DERXW�GLIIHUHQW�VXEMHFWV��&LQHPD�YHULWp�ILOPPDNHUV took lighter, 16mm equipment into
places that had not been seen before ė WKH�LQWHULRUV�RI�RUGLQDU\�SHRSOHĜV�KRPHV��RQ�WKH�GDQFH�
floor with teenagers, back rooms in political campaigns, backstage with celebrities, on line with
strikers, inside mental hospitals ė and filmed what they saw. They took huge quantities of filmed
footage into editing rooms, and through editing they found a story to tell. They used the
LQQRYDWLRQ�RI�V\QF��IRU�ęV\QFKURQL]HGĚ��VRXQG�ė for the first time they could record image and
sound simultaneously in 16mm ė to overhear ordinary conversation, and they most did away
ZLWK�QDUUDWLRQ��$XIGHUKHLGH���������-45).
&LQHPD�YHULWp�is sometimes called direct cinema, observational cinema, or in Canada,
candid eye, after a TV series. &LQHPD�YHULWp�WHFKQLTXHV�DUH�FRPPRQO\�XVHG�LQ�SROLWLFDO�
advertisements, to lend freshness and credibility (Aufderheide 2007, 47; 55). They receive a range
of criticisms from filmmakers. The Dutch activist filmmaker Joris Ivens (1898-1989) suggests that
ęLW�UXQV�WKH�ULVN�RI�VNLPPLQJ�UHDOLW\�LQVWHDG�RI�SHQHWUDWLQJ�LWĚ�ZKHUHDV�WKH�UDGLFDO�)UHQFK�GLUHFWRU�
Jean-/XF�*RGDUG��E��������WKLQNV�WKDW�ęLW�ORVHV�WZR�IXQGDPHQWDO�TXDOLWLHV�RI�D�FDPHUD��
intelligence and sensibility. It denies the benefit of selection and rHIOHFWLRQ��$XIGHUKHLGH�������
�����0HDQZKLOH��ILOPPDNHUV�ZKR�SURXGO\�FDOO�WKHLU�ZRUN�FLQHPD�YHULWp�VWLOO�JUDSSOH�ZLWK�WKH�
question of what kind RI�WUXWK�FLQHPD�YHULWp�RIIHUV�VLQFH�Whe sense of spontaneity and
emotionality can obscure perception (Aufderheide 2007, 53). As a result, the HWKLFV�RI�D�YHULWp�
ILOPPDNHUĜV�UHODWLRQVKLS�ZLWK�WKH�VXEMHFW�KDV�RIWHQ�EHHQ�UDLVHG��)RU�LQVWDQFH��ZKHQ�WKH�0D\VOHV�
brothers filmed a concert of the Rolling Stones for the film that became Gimme Shelter (1970),
members of the HHOOĜV�$QJHOV Motorcycle Club were paid to keep order. But an altercation with a
4 Robert Flaherty (1884-1951); John Grierson (1898-1972); Dziga Vertov (1896-1954).
DO NOT C
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- 127 -
fan resulted in a death, which the film team captured on film, to some amount of criticism
(Aufderheide 2007, 55).
The third approach to reality is simulation, but there is an ongoing debate of how
much simulation is acceptable. Controversy has grown up around filmmaking in which the fake
is interwoven with the real, without giving viewers the chance to distinguish. For example, the
civil rights history 0LJKW\�7LPHV��9ROXPH����7KH�&KLOGUHQĜV�0DUFK (2004), by Robert Hudson and
Bobby Houston, intermixed reenactments and archival material, and also used archival material
from one place and time to signify another. When it won an Academy Award, the film generated
controversy for its intermixing (Aufderheide 2007, 22-23). Films or television series that use
actors and scripts to retell true events are usually called docudramas, such as Gandhi (1982) or
Roots (1977). They look and feel like fiction films, and it is generally understood that they can
take some license with details in order to dramatically represent a reality. However, neither
viewers nor journalists think falsifying reality is appropriate. A 2006 ABC network docudrama,
The Path to 9/11, cast actors in roles of real Clinton administration officials, including that of the
secretary of state, and had them say and do things that they clearly had not. These falsifications
showed the Clinton administration neglecting a terrorist threat. The network deleted some errors
at the last minute and then ętried to absolve itself by noting that the film was only a docudrama,
but outraged viewers and commentators were not mollified by the disclaimerĚ (Aufderheide
2007, 23).
Some documentaries mix in fictional elements while still laying claim to be
documentaries. This style is growing with the popularity of documentary entertainment. For
example, Danish filmmaker Jeppe RĈQGHĜV�The Swenkas (2004) tells a fable about a father-and-
son reunion, within documentation of real-life male fashion contests in South Africa. Although it
was popular in film festivals in the global North, the film raised questions for its representation
of a fictional plot as real life (Aufderheide 2007, 23-24). Hence, fLOPPDNHUVĜ�IRUPDO�FKRLFHV�DOO�
make claims to the viewer about the accuracy of the real-life representation. The fact that
filmmakers have a wide variety of choices in representing reality is a reminder that there is no
transparent representation of reality. No one can solve these ethical dilemmas by eschewing
choice in expression. No formal choices are wrong in themselves. A good-faith relationship
between maker and viewer is essential. And filmmakers can facilitate that by being clear to
themselves why they are using the techniques that they do, and striving for formal choices that
honor the reality they want to share (Aufderheide 2007, 25).
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Travel Series
The travel series is considered an audio-visual subgenre of travel journalism. In some
FRQWH[WV��WKH�WHUP�ęWUDYHO�VHULHVĚ�VROHO\�UHIHUV�WR�WKH�WUDYHO�GRFXPHQWDU\�JHQUH��ZKLOH�KRVW-based
OLIHVW\OH�79�HQWHUWDLQPHQW�LV�ODEHOHG�DV�ęKROLGD\�SURJUDPV�Ě�DQG�WKH�WHUP�ęWUDYHO�VKRZĚ�LV�XVHG�WR�
describe consumer and tourism guidance programs (Damkjaer and Waade 2014, 40; 44). When
communicative intentions, modes of representation, hosting design, types of journeys and
destinations are taken into consideration, the travel series may be categorized into ten types,
namely, ę7UDYHORJXHĚ; ę3RSXODU�6FLHQFHĚ; ę&RQYLYLDOĚ; ę*URXS�7UDYHOĚ; ę%DFNSDFNHUĚ; ę7RXULVW�
*XLGHĚ; ę6SRUWV�DQG�$GYHQWXUHĚ; ę&XOLQDU\Ě; ę([SDWĚ; ę0HWD.Ě 5
Anthony Bourdain: No Reservations
In addition to the pleasurable images of exotic places, peoples and cultures, as well as
attractive holiday experiences and practical travel guidance, the host is an important aspect of
the series, the one who ensures sociability, credibility, humor and a positive atmosphere. The
host addresses viewers directly, introduces the locals, participants, guests and viewers to each
other, and guides everybody through the program (Damkjaer and Waade 2014, 43-44). One of
the travel series that highlight the host is Anthony Bourdain: No Reservations, an American travel
and food show that originally aired on the Travel Channel in United States and on Discovery
Travel & Living internationally. In it, host Anthony Bourdain (1959-2018) visits various countries,
cities, and places around the globe, where he explores local culture and cuisine. The show
premiered in 2005 and concluded its nine season run with the series finale episode (Brooklyn) on
November 5, 2012. In 2009 and 2011 the series won the Emmy for "Outstanding
Cinematography For Nonfiction Programming" (Wikimedia, ęAnthony BourdaLQ��1R�5HVHUYDWLRQV�Ě
2019).
The series can be regarded as a combination of ęTravelogueĚ and ę&XOLQDU\�Ě�2Q�WKH�
one hand, ę7UDYHORJXHĚ refers to the category of travel series that revolves around a round-trip
with a specific project in mind, and is usually host driven. Typically, the host is a well-known
5 Read more about the ten types of travel series in Maja Sonne Damkjaer and Anne Marit
Waade, ęArmchair tourism: The travel series as a hybrid genre�Ě�LQ�Travel journalism: Exploring
production, impact and culture, ed. )RONHU�+DQXVFK�DQG�(OIULHGH�)�UVLFK (Basingstoke: Palgrave
Macmillan, 2014), 47-56.
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male, acting as a tour guide, giving lectures on location and engages with nature, the local
culture and population (Damkjaer and Waade 2014, 48-49). On the other hand, ę&XOLQDU\Ě
resembles ę7UDYHORJXH�Ě�ZLWK�WKH�KRVW�DV�D�ZHOO-known male chef. It revolves around food, meals
and local cuisine, typically within a specific geographic area (Damkjaer and Waade 2014, 54).
One of the trademarks of BourdainĜs travel program is its inclusion of local co-
presenters who help the host interpret local culture and define the international cultural
landscape (Buzinde, Yoo, and Peterson 2014, 197). His opinionated character and authoritative
voice, coupled with his unapologetically liberal perspective, form the lens through which
audiences are oriented to alternative views. Locals are involved in the discursive co-construction
RI�WKHLU�VWDWH�FLW\�DV�D�WRXULVW�GHVWLQDWLRQ��7KH�IRUHJURXQGLQJ�RI�WKH�ęDXWKRUL]HG�2WKHUĚ�E\�
engaging the locals in the narration of their homelands establishes locals as experts on an equal
level with the presenter and overcomes problematic portrayals of locals (unnamed and voiceless)
in other travel programs (Buzinde, Yoo, and Peterson 2014, 204-205).
The following is an exercise on how we might engage in analytical and critical
discourse in regards to travel documentaries. The discussion is based on an episode of Anthony
Bourdain: No Reservations. In Season 5 Episode 9, filmed in Sri Lanka, and first aired on
March 2, 2009, Bourdain visits the island country, samples the local food, and discusses the
aftermath of the Sri Lankan Civil War (1983-2009), and the 2004 tsunami. Hosted by a celebrity
chef, the episode accomplishes its representation of reality through various approaches.
First is the narrative structure. With the use of editing, the story seems to follow a
chronological order, from the culinary experiences in the capital city to the country feasts in the
cities of Hikkaduwa in the south, and Chilaw to the north of Colombo. The camera apparently
follows along his path on the trishaw to the stall serving a breakfast item called egg hoppers, on
foot to the Dutch burgher union club for a pre-noon sip of a local liquor called arrack, and on
the train hugging the coastline to the Foundation of Goodness in the village of Seenigama,
devastated by the Indian Ocean tsunami of 2004.
Additionally, the host addresses viewers, guiding them through the program, and
deploying various modes of writing typical of a travel documentary. The expository and narrative
modes are used when giving a brief history of Sri Lanka from the colonial times and relating the
establishment of Foundation of Goodness by Kushil Gunasekera. The descriptive mode is used
when the host paints the social ambience he happens to land in: the heat, the hectic city life, the
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ever-SUHVHQW�FURZV��DQG�WKH�ęRIIĚ�IHHOLQJ�DPRQJ�WKH�XELTXLWRXV�DUPHG�PLOLWDU\�SHUVRQQHO�DQG�
the endless checkpoints. More than once, Bourdain describes the equatorial heat of the city:
,WĜV�KRW��relentlessly hot, three showers a day hot, three changes of clothes
hot. I feel swollen, bloated, queasy, and exhausted, utterly beaten down by
the heat. (Bourdain 2009, 7:47-8:00 mins.)
In order to lend authority to the voices of local inhabitants, the host interviews them
for their insights on the local food and culture. For example, the chef at the Barefoot FDIp is
asked for his philosophy of cooking and his knowledge of Sri Lankan cuisine. Afterwards,
Bourdain and his co-KRVW�QDPHG�ę6NL]Ě�)HUQDQGR�YLVLt Leela, one of his family members in
Chilaw, to the north of Colombo. There, they document her cooking skills and savor her
authentic recipes, one of which is crab curry. However, some conversation ends awkwardly as it
touches upon the issue of identity. Visiting one of the remaining Dutch burghers, Sri Lankans
whose lineage traces back to the Dutch colonial times, Bourdain interviews Lorraine about the
food heritage. He is treated to a local Dutch version of rice and curry called Lamprais (lomprijst
in Dutch). Yet, the conversation at the dining table becomes more strained as it veers into the
consequences of the 1950s nationalist movement that witnessed a mass exodus of the burghers
to Australia, the UK, and Canada.
Remarkably, the use of the first-person voice, alternating with dialogues, allows for the
episodic nature of the travelogue so that the host can effortlessly slide from one topic to
another, from one place to another. The fragmented nature of the travelogue is therefore
rendered homogenous, seemingly turned into a cohesive presentation. Yet, it is flavored with the
KRVWĜV�RSLQLRQDWHG�QDWXUH��HVSHFLDOO\�ZKHQ�KH�GLVFXVVHV�WKH�FRPSOH[LW\�RI�6UL�/DQNDQ�FXLVLQH�
7KHUHĜV�VRPHWKLQJ�,�NLQG�RI�ZDVQĜW�JHWWLQJ�ZKHQ�,�ILUVW�JRW�KHUH�ZDV�ZKR�can
you take all of these different complex flavors, see, so you put them all in a
SODWH�OLNH�DQ�DUWLVW�SDOHWWH��EDVK�WKHP�DOO�WRJHWKHU��RND\��WKDWĜV�NLQG�RI�ZURQJ��
1RZ��,ĜP�JHWWLQJ�LW�WKRXJK���%RXUGDLQ������������-10:54 mins.)
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Conclusion
In this chapter, we consider the definition and emergence of travel documentary or
travelogue film as a form of travel literature, in which the first-person voice of the
narrator/traveler and his/her claim of direct experiences are foregrounded. Characterized by a
combination of expository, narrative, descriptive, and commentative modes of writing, travel
documentary is more often than not episodic, educational, and entertaining. We also look at a
brief history of cinematic travelogue that harks back to the days of travel lecture accompanied
by magic lantern slides and the arrival of newsreels as products for public consumption on their
own. Afterwards, we ponder on realism as a mode of visual representation of local people
encountered by travel filmmakers. The chapter ends with a discussion of travel series, particularly
one episode of a culinary travelogue.
Class Activities
Chapter-end Exercise
1. Define the terms ętravel documentaryĚ DQG�ęWUDYHO�VHULHV�Ě
2. Narrate a brief history of travel documentaries.
3. Discuss how a sense of truthfulness is achieved in travel documentaries.
Discussion Questions
5LFN�6WHYHVĜ�(XURSH��$PVWHUGDP
Rick Steves' Europe is a long-running travel documentary series, hosted by US travel
writer and TV personality Rick Steves (b. 1955). It documents the hostĜV traveling experiences
across Europe. The show premiered on September 3, 2000; since then a total of 10 seasons and
129 episodes have been produced and broadcast (WikimHGLD��ęRick StevesĜ�(XURSH�Ě������� The
VHULHV�PD\�EH�FDWHJRUL]HG�DV�ęTourist Guide�Ě�ZLWK�D�central element being ęthe sequence of
picturesque sceneries and sensuous images accompanied by background musicĚ (Damkjaer and
Waade 2014, 53). Oftentimes, the host is replaced by a voice-over extolling the pleasure, value
and enjoyment of specific destinations or types of vacation. It is a type of travel series common
on international TV channels like Travel Channel (Damkjaer and Waade 2014, 53). 5LFN�6WHYHVĜ�
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Europe is also the name of the website dedicated to his tourism enterprise. More details can be
found at https://www.ricksteves.com/.
1. Watch the assigned travel episode and answer the following questions.
2. What practices/conventions are used to establish the authority of the show host?
3. What elements in the episode that underline the main features of ę7RXULVW�*XLGH�Ě as a
category of travel series?
4. What devices/techniques are used to achieve the sense of truthfulness?
5. What aspects of the local culture and history are showcased?
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Mid-term Exam
(20 points)
Under normal circumstances: One-day trip
1. Take a one-day trip in a neighborhood.
2. Explore locations you find interesting.
3. Write a travel piece based on your own travel experience.
4. Put it in an officially-designated blogging site or in a microblogging site.
5. Include other forms of media, such as photographs, or short video clips.
6. Send the URL or screenshots of the blog post to the instructor.
7. Word count: 250 words
Under unusual circumstances: Virtual tour
1. Select one of the following choices.
a. Virtual tours from the website Visit the Faroe Islands
(https://visitfaroeislands.com/remote-tourism/virtual-tours/)
b. Museum virtual tours from Google Arts & Culture
(https://www.travelandleisure.com/attractions/museums-galleries/museums-with-
virtual-tours)
c. Explore one travel destination using the program Google Earth with Google Street
View.
2. Write a review of the tour experience as you would on a travel review website.
3. Word count: 250 words
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Grading Rubric
Grammatical accuracy and organization (5 pts)
Content (15 pts)
Total (20 pts)
Content: Ask yourself the following questions when writing a travel piece or travel review.
1. Do you clearly state your destination(s) and the date of your visit?
2. Do you cover as many aspects of the location(s) as possible?
3. Do you relate what you see and do, and/or people you meet?
4. Do you describe places you visit or things you do?
5. Do you tell your readers what you think or feel about the places you visit and people you
meet?
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Section III
Critical Approaches to Travel Literature
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Chapter 8
Authority and Veracity
2ToEKU
This chapter discusses one critical approach of travel literature. By taking into account
WKH�ZULWHUĜV�SHUVRQDO�H[SHULHQFHV�DQG�VRFLDO�FRQWH[W, it questions what constitutes the authority
and veracity of travel narratives.
Objectives
After studying this chapter, students will be able to:
1. Identify WKH�VRXUFH�RI�WKH�WUDYHO�ZULWHUĜV�DXWKRULW\�DQG�YHUDFLW\�
2. Identify the difficulty of separating fact from fiction in travel literature.
Tools of the Trade
From the early modern period to the present, travel narratives have usually purported
to describe real people and actual places. Travel writing is generically meant to be a non-
fictional rather than fictional form. Noticeably, travel writers necessarily select and edit the
experiences they relate to their readers, and often deploy many rhetorical devices as they craft
their reports (Fowler 2020, 58). The lack of witnesses competent to dispute their claims meant
that they enjoyed a license to invent what they liked and to impose it on a credulous audience.
Any narrative form of this kind invites doubt and scrutiny. How then have travel writers,
committed to telling the truth, sought to demonstrate their trustworthiness, especially in the
period between 1500 and 1800, when travel writing in its modern Western form took shape?
(Carey 2020, 3). They have used the following procedures and rhetorical gestures to reassure
readers and authenticate their accounts: 1) title pages providing an opportunity for some
authors to advance the claim and convince their audience of the reliability of the purveyed
information; 2) the prefatory materials; 3) the repetitive emphasis on eye-witnessing as a
criterion of truth; 4) the reliability of the individual(s) who informed the travelers; 5) pointing to
authorities outside the text that were capable of authenticating its contents, such as a series of
character references, and endorsements; 6) classical references; 7) the impression of conveying
truth that UHOLHG�LQ�SDUW�RQ�WKH�SRZHU�RI�GHVFULELQJ�WKH�FLUFXPVWDQFHV�RU�ęVLWXDWHGQHVVĚ�LQ�D�YLYLG�
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fashion; 8) engravings or illustrations; 9) a list of inquiries recommended by the Royal Society,
for the benefits of advancing natural history, distributed via the Philosophical Transactions; 10)
tKH�XVH�RI�SODLQ�VW\OH��HQGRUVHG�E\�WKH�5R\DO�6RFLHW\ĜV�KLVWRULDQ�7KRPDV�6SUDW�LQ�������LQ�MRXUQDO�
format, that suggested fidelity (Carey 2020, 4-7).
The use of plain language and journal format is prominent in the original account of
&DSWDLQ�&RRNĜV�ILUVW�circumnavigation on board the Endeavour (1768-1771). It was later
ęLPSURYHGĚ�by the editor John Hawkesworth (Carey 2020, 7). Hawkesworth's rendition
commissioned by the official Admiralty was published in 1773. Yet, the discrepancy between
Cook's Endeavour journal and the official Admiralty publication is the most immediate and
visible in the organization of the text itself. The daily entries are respected but the dates are
written in the margin, no longer at the beginning of each entry. Ship time, used by Cook in his
journal, and by which a day runs from noon to noon, is abandoned in favor of civil time, which
was easier for a non-initiated reader to follow. Much textual space is devoted to remarkable
occurrences in Tahiti, New Zealand and New Holland, to the detriment of sea entries. The
general impression is that of a text which is focused on life on shore and on everything that
occurs there: meetings, skirmishes, descriptions of places and people, reflections on customs or
rituals, etc. In addition to reducing the amount of space devoted to sea entries, Hawkesworth
also removed much of what he calls "nautical events,Ě that is to say the technical data
concerning navigation: winds, tides, ship's position, speed, distance run, etc. Less technical than
Cook's, the nautical information Hawkesworth provides mainly focuses on indications of latitude
and longitude (Massiani 2020, n. pag.).
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Figure 8.1 Title page of A new voyage round the world in the years 1768, 1769, 1770, and 1771
(New York: printed by James Rivington, 1774)
[Hawkesworth, John. 1774. A new voyage round the world in the years 1768, 1769, 1770, and
1771. New York: printed by James Rivington. Eighteenth Century Collections Online. Accessed
June 25, 2009. http://galenet.galegroup.com/servlet/ECCO.]
After the first circumnavigation, Cook was accompanied by Johann Reinhold Forster
(1729-1798), the naturalist, on his second voyage on the Resolution in 1772-1775. As assistant to
his father, Georg Forster (1754-1794) offers an alternative travel narrative. Dated March 1, 1777,
the preface dedicates the advancement of knowledge in natural history accomplished during this
YR\DJH�WR�KLV�IDWKHU��FODLPLQJ�WKDW�KLV�IDWKHU�SURYLGHV�ęSKLORVRSKLFDO�REVHUYDWLRQVĚ�LQ�D�VHSDUDWH�
publication whereas the official account of the voyage was written by James Cook (Forster 1777,
vi-YLLL���7KH�VRQĜV�DFFRXQW�SURPLVHV�WR�GLIIHU�IURP�&RRNĜV�VLQFH�ę>R@XU�RFFXSDWLRQV�ZKHQ�LQ�
harbour were widely different; whilst captain [sic] Cook was employed in victualling and refitting
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- 139 -
the ship, I went in quest of the manifold objects which Nature had scattered throughout the
ODQG��>đ@�WKH�GLIIHUHQW�EUDQFKHV�RI�VFLHQFH�ZKLFK�ZH�KDYH�VWXGLHG��RXU�WXUQV�RI�PLQG��RXU�KHDGV�
and hearts have made a difference in our sensations, reflections, and expressionsĚ (Forster 1777,
viii ė ix). On the title page of his account, Forster points to the authority that lies outside his text.
It LQGLFDWHV�WKDW�KH�LV�D�)HOORZ�RI�WKH�5R\DO�6RFLHW\��)�5�6����ę0HPEHU�RI�WKH�5R\DO�$FDGHP\�RI�
MadriG��DQG�0HPEHU�RI�WKH�6RFLHW\�IRU�SURPRWLQJ�QDWXUDO�NQRZOHGJH�DW�%HUOLQ��
Figure 8.2 Title page of A voyage round the world, >đ@�during the years 1772, 3, 4, and 5
(London: printed for B. White, Fleet Street; J. Robson, Bond Street; P. Elmsly, Strand; and
G. Robinson, Pater-noster Row, 1777)
[Forster, George. 1777. A voyage round the world, >đ@�during the years 1772, 3, 4, and 5.
London: printed for B. White, Fleet Street; J. Robson, Bond Street; P. Elmsly, Strand; and
G. Robinson, Pater-noster Row. Eighteenth Century Collections Online. Accessed May 1, 2010.
http://galenet.galegroup.com/servlet/ECCO.]
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- 140 -
Notwithstanding the discursive and rhetorical devices deployed and discussed above,
the capacity of travel writers to distort the truth ė ęamplifying their observations, claiming credit
for what they never witnessed or inventing fabulous narratives wholesale from the imagination
rather than experienceĚ (Carey 2020, 3) ė has always been recognized by fictional writers, such as
Thomas More, William Shakespeare and Jonathan Swift. These famous examples speak to a long
tradition of suspicion about the veracity of travel writing (Carey 2020, 3).
$W�WKH�GDZQ�RI�HDUO\�PRGHUQ�WUDYHO�DQG�H[SORUDWLRQ��0RUHĜV�Utopia (1516) features an
imagined traveler, Raphael Hythlodaeus, who claims he was on the fourth voyage of Amerigo
Vespucci to the New World before setting off on his own and encountering an island named
8WRSLD��PHDQLQJ�ęQR�SODFHĚ�LQ�*UHHN���+H�FODLPV�WR�KDYH�OLYHG�WKHUH�IRU���\HDUV��DQG�KLV�
GHVFULSWLRQ�RI�WKH�LVODQG�LV�LQ�ęSODLQ�ODQJXDJH�Ě�UHFRPPHQGHG�E\�WKH�5R\DO�6RFLHWy.
The island of Utopia containedth in breadth in the middle part of it (for
there it is broadest) 200 miles. Which breadth continueth through the most
part of the land. Saving that by little and little it cometh in and waxeth
narrower towards both the ends. Which fetching about a circuit or compass
of 500 miles, do fashion the whole island like to the new moon. >đ@�There be
in the island fifty-four large and fair cities, or shire towns, agreeing all
together in one tongue, in like manners, institutions, and laws. (More 2008,
49-50)
,Q�WKH�QH[W�FHQWXU\��6KDNHVSHDUHĜV�Othello excites Desdemona with tales of cannibals
and men with heads between their shoulders. This is obviously a classical reference to
ęDnthropophagi�Ě a mythical race of cannibals first described by Herodotus in Histories (c. 430
BC). 2WKHOORĜV�WUDYHO�DFFRXQW�UHODWHs to Desdemona and her father Brabantio, Senator of Venice,
his slave narrative.
Of being taken by the insolent foe
And sold to slavery, of my redemption thence,
And SRUWDQFH�LQ�P\�WUDYHOHUĜV�KLVWRU\�
Wherein of antres vast and deserts idle,
Rough quarries, rocks, (and) hills whose (heads) touch heaven,
It was my hint to speak ė such was my process ė
And of the cannibals that each (other) eat,
The Anthropophagi, and men whose heads
(Do grow) beneath their shoulders. These things to hear
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- 141 -
Would Desdemona seriously incline. (William Shakespeare 1993, 39)
By the time Swift published *XOOLYHUĜV�travels in 1726, ęWKH�SRWHQWLDO�IRU�DEXVLQJ�RQHĜV�
readership with untruths has become so familiar that Swift reinvented it on a grand scale�(Carey
2020, 3). Gulliver uses maps to locate the places he has visited and authenticates himself by
making reference to individuals outside the text. He includes &DSWDLQ�*XOOLYHUĜV�OHWWHU�WR�KLV�
cousin named Dampier, referencing the renowned explorer William Dampier, as a character
reference (Swift 1977, 19). The publisherĜV�OHWWHU�WR the reader claims that Lemuel Gulliver is an
old friend who left the travel accounts to the publisher. +H�GHFLGHG�WR�SXEOLVK�LW�EHFDXVH�ę>W@KHUH�
is an air of truth apparent through the whole; and indeed the author was so distinguished for
KLV�YHUDFLW\Ě (Swift 1977, 23). Furthermore, Gulliver even provides an account of himself to
HVWDEOLVK�KLV�FLUFXPVWDQFHV�RU�ęVLWXDWHGQHVV�Ě
My father has a small estate in Nottinghamshire; I was the third of five sons.
He sent me to Emanuel College in Cambridge, at fourteen years old, where I
resided three years, and applied myself close to my studies: but the charge
of maintaining me (although I had a very scant allowance) being too great
for a narrow fortune, I was bound apprentice to Mr James Bates, an eminent
surgeon in London, with whom I continued four years; and my father now
and then sending me small sums of money, I laid them out in learning
navigation, and other parts of the mathematics, useful to those who intend
to travel, as I always believed it would be some time or other my fortune to
do. When I left Mr Bates, I went down to my father; where, by the assistance
of him and my uncle John, and some other relations, I got forty pounds, and
a promise of thirty pound a year to maintain me at Leyden: there I studied
physic two years and seven months, knowing it would be useful in long
voyages. (Swift 1977, 33)
A claim to eye-witnessLQJ�LQ�D�WUDYHO�DFFRXQW�LV�DOVR�IRXQG�LQ�$SKUD�%HKQĜV�ęOroonoko
or the royal slave: A true story��7KH�QDUUDWRU�UHODWHV�WKH�VWRU\�RI�DQ�African prince from
ę&RURPDQWLHQĚ�ZKR�was tricked into slavery and sold to European colonist in Surinam in the
West Indies. She claims that she heard the story from the slave himself. Moreover, she allegedly
interacted with the natives, and managed to trade for feathers. The feathers were later given to
WKH�.LQJĜV�7KHDWUH��DQG�WKH\�EHFDPH�SDUW�RI�WKH�GUHVV�RI�WKH�Indian Queen (Behn 2003, 75-76),
a play by Sir Robert Howard (1626-1698), written in collaboration with John Dryden (1631-1700).
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- 142 -
Remarkably, the faith in WKH�H[SORUHUĜV�DFFRXQW�OLHV�LQ�WKH�IDLWK�LQ�WKH�LQVWLWXWLRQ�KH�
serves. ,Q�ę5HVFXLQJ�WKH�DJH�IURP�D�FKDUJH�RI�LJQRUDQFHĚ��*HQWLOLW\��NQRZOHGJH��DQG�WKH�%ULWLVK�
H[SORUDWLRQ�RI�$IULFD�LQ�WKH�ODWHU�HLJKWHHQWK�FHQWXU\�Ě Philip J. Stern (2004) relates the case of the
Association for Promoting the Discovery of the Interior Parts of Africa (The African Association),
whose founding members ranged from members of Parliament, fellows of the Royal Society,
great landowners, commercial investors, and a future Governor-General of India. Despite their
GLYHUVH�LQWHUHVWV�DQG�SROLWLFV��DOO�RI�WKHP�ZHUH�ęJHQWOHPHQ�Ě�)UHH�IURP�PDWHULDO�QHHGV��WKH\�ZHUH�
VHHQ�WR�EH�ęGLVLQWHUHVWHG�DQG�DXWRQRPRXV��DQG�WKDW�HQGRZHG�WKHLU�REVHUYDWLRQV�ZLWK�DFFXUDF\�
and their words with the power of tUXWK�(Stern 2004, 119). On the contrary, the explorer relied
on the institution he was serving, that in turn gave his findings a sense of authority and
veraciousness. A good example of such a case is 0XQJR�3DUNĜV�Travels in the interior districts of
Africa ��������3DUNĜV�MRXUQH\�ZDV�VSRQVRUHG�DQG�HQGRUVHG�E\�-RVHSK�%DQNV��RQH�RI�WKH�IRXQGHUV�
RI�WKH�$IULFDQ�$VVRFLDWLRQ��+H�WRRN�SDUW�LQ�&RRNĜV�ILUVW�YR\DJH������-1771). Captain James Cook
himself took his orders from the Admiralty in London while his expedition was also under the
sponsorship of the Royal Society (Porter 1991, 109).
First Person: Fictional Writer and Travel Writer
It is noted that whereas in the novel the first-person narrator comes to figure
VXEMHFWLYLW\��SDUWLFXODULW\��DQG�XQUHOLDELOLW\��LQ�WKH�WUDYHO�QDUUDWLYH�WKH�JHQUHĜV�ORQJ�KLVWRU\�DV�
documentary means that ęthe narrator always retains a tenuous claim of immediacy, witness, and
truth, particularly its long-standing ambition to describe peoples and places so persuasively that
WKH�WH[W�LV�GHHPHG�YHUDFLRXV��%XUWRQ������������Because of the chief aims of scientific travel, its
account places a strong emphasis on the realities of the traveled world. Since the late eighteenth
century, however, texts about scientific travel also reveal that the explorer and scientist
necessarily encounter the world as a subject (Korte 2000, 85). Nonetheless, the subject is a
literate European abroad who is licensed to represent with authority. In Travel narrative and the
ends of modernity (2015), Stacy Burton suggests:
Like the realist novel, the nineteenth-century travel narrative rests on the
premise that narrative can represent peoples and places with unsurpassed
ILGHOLW\��&HQWUDO�DPRQJ�WKH�JHQUHĜV�FRQYHQWLRQV�LV�WKH�SULYLOHJHG�QDUUDWRU�
whose representations rely on firsthand experience yet claim to transcend
the limitations of individual perspective. A modern European subject, the
conventional travel narrator confidently describes foreign peoples and
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- 143 -
places, assuming the authority to produce knowledge of ethnography and
JHRJUDSK\�DV�ZHOO�DV�ZULWH�RI�SHUVRQDO�H[SHULHQFH��>đ@�7KLV�VWDQFH�VHUYHV�WR�
JXDUDQWHH�WKH�WUDYHO�QDUUDWLYHĜV�WUXWK�FODLPV��WKH�LPSHULDO�REVHUYHUĜV�PRELOLW\�
DQG�FRPPDQG�RI�GRFXPHQWDU\�GHWDLO�XQGHUZULWH�WKH�WH[WĜV�SODXVLELOLW\��7KH�
traveler presents his discourse as authoritative: the first-person evidence of
RQH�ZKR�KDV�ęEHHQ�WKHUH�Ě�H[SHULHQFHG�GLIIHUHQFH��DQG�VXUYived, one who
readily assumes the expertise to represent and whose narrative ė even when
fantastic ė brooks no questions. (Burton 2015, 27)
Despite the WUDYHO�ZULWHUĜV sense of authority, the pervasiveness of literary devices and
rhetorical techniques is undeniable even in supposedly ęobjectiveĚ scientific modes of
ethnography (Fowler 2020, 58). ,Q�ęThe fictions of factual representation�Ě�+D\GHQ�:KLWH�refers to
ęWKH�OLWHUDWXUH�RI�IDFWĚ�RU�ęWKH fictions of factual representation.Ě�It is the area where the
discourse of the historian/travel writer, and that of the imaginative writer overlap (Hayden White
1985, 121). As verbal artifacts, travel narratives and novels are, therefore, indistinguishable from
RQH�DQRWKHU��%RWK�ZLVK�WR�SURYLGH�D�YHUEDO�LPDJH�RI�ęUHDOLW\,Ě�and both must meet standards of
coherence and correspondence if they are WR�SDVV�DV�D�SODXVLEOH�DFFRXQW�RI�ęWKH�ZD\�WKLQJV�
really ZHUHĚ (Hayden White 1985, 122; original emphasis). Nonetheless, over the course of the
nineteenth and twentieth centuries, with the emergence of several disciplines ė anthropology,
geography, biology, etc. ė travel writing is detached from other disciplinary discourses. The
informational strand in those disciplines, which used to be included in travel narratives, have
now become subject to professional protocols, stylistic constraints and expectations of accuracy
and truth-telling (Carey 2020, 12). Consequently, the veracity of a scientific treatise is never
questioned while the truthfulness of a literary text lies in doubt.
%UXFH�&KDWZLQĜV�In Patagonia
One particular travel writer has highlighted the difficult task of drawing a clear
demarcation line between scientific and literary travel accounts, between what is factual and
fictional. In December 1974, Bruce Chatwin (1940-1989), at the age of 34, departed from Buenos
Aires for Patagonia. Afterwards, he published In Patagonia (1977). Nonetheless, ę3DWDJRQLD�LV�QRW�
a precise region on the map. It is a vast, vague territory that encompasses 900,000 square
NLORPHWHUV�RI�$UJHQWLQD�DQG�&KLOH��Nicholas Shakespeare 2003, vii-viii). Apparently, the haziness
of geographical boundary finds a parallel in that of the characteristics of the author and his
work. Bruce Chatwin was always attracted to border countries: ęto places on the rim of the
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- 144 -
world, sandwicheG�DPELJXRXVO\�EHWZHHQ�FXOWXUHV��QHLWKHU�RQH�WKLQJ�QRU�DQRWKHU��Nicholas
Shakespeare, 2003: xii). Meanwhile, &KDWZLQĜV�book could be regarded as travel writing, historical
fiction, or even reportage (Nicholas Shakespeare 2003, xiv).
In advance of its American publication, Chatwin drafted a letter to his agent, requesting
that In Patagonia be taken out of the travel category (Nicholas Shakespeare 2003, xiv). In
England, the book sold 6,000 copies and won instant praise. Notwithstanding, Graham Greene
(1904-1991), English novelist, wrote that In Patagonia ZDV�ęRQH�RI�P\�IDYRXULWH�WUDYHO�ERRNVĚ�
(Nicholas Shakespeare 2003, xix). While Greene recognizes a certain level of truth value in the
book, the opposite is asserted by Daphne Hobbs, the daughter of the former British Consul, Tom
Jones. She FDOOHG�LW�D�ęGLVJUDFHIXOĚ�ERRN��6KH�GLG�QRW�SRVVHVV�D�FRS\�RI�In Patagonia. She wrote
to the Buenos Aires Herald��ę>In Patagonia] whilst containing some elements of truth was much
H[DJJHUDWHG�DQG�LQ�VRPH�LQVWDQFH�SXUH�OLHV��Nicholas Shakespeare 2003, xxii).
In fact, 3DWDJRQLD�LV�&KDWZLQĜV�FUHDWLRQ��+H ędid not subtract from the truth so much as
add to it. He told not a half-truth but a truth and a half. His achievement is not to depict
Patagonia as it really is, but to create a landscape called Patagonia ė a new way of looking, a
new aspect of the world. And in the process he reinvented himsHOI��Nicholas Shakespeare 2003,
xxiii). To illustrate, we might look at Chapter 1:
,Q�P\�JUDQGPRWKHUĜV�GLQLQJ-room there was a glass-fronted cabinet and in
the cabinet a piece of skin. It was a small piece only, but thick and leathery,
with strands of coarse, reddish hair. It was stuck to a card with a rusty pin.
On the card was some writing in faded black ink, but I was too young then
WR�UHDG���Bruce Chatwin 2003, 1)
&KDWZLQ�UHODWHV�KRZ�WKLV�SLHFH�RI�VNLQ�HQGHG�XS�LQ�KLV�JUDQGPRWKHUĜV�GLQLQJ�URRP��
The brontosaurus, I learned, was an animal that had drowned in the Flood,
being too big for Noah to ship aboard the Ark. I pictured a shaggy
lumbering creature with claws and fangs and a malicious green light in its
eyes. Sometimes the brontosaurus would crash through the bedroom wall
and wake me from my sleep. (Bruce Chatwin 2003, 1)
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- 145 -
He was later corrected at school and provided a more accurate version of the story:
At school they laughed at the story of the brontosaurus. The science master
VDLG�,ĜG�PL[HG�LW�XS�ZLWK�WKH�6LEHULDQ�PDPPRWK��>đ@�KH�VDLG��EURQWRVDXUXVHV�
were reptiles. They had no hair, but scaly armoured hide. And he showed us
DQ�DUWLVWĜV�LPSUHVVLRQ�RI�WKH beast ė so different from that of my imagination
ė grey-green, with a tiny head and gigantic switchback of vertebrae, placidly
eating weed in a lake. >đ@�It took some years to sort the story out. Charley
0LOZDUGĜV�DQLPDO�ZDV�QRW�D�EURQWRVDXUXV��EXW�WKH�P\lodon or Giant Sloth.
He never found a whole specimen, or even a whole skeleton, but some skin
and bones, preserved by the cold, dryness and salt, in a cave on Last Hope
Sound in Chilean Patagonia. He sent the collection to England and sold it to
the British Museum. This version was less romantic but had the merit of
being true. (Bruce Chatwin 2003, 2-3)
In Chapter 7, the narrator is given an audience with King of Patagonia:
On a drizzling November afternoon, His Royal Highness Prince Philippe of
Araucania and Patagonia gave me an audience at his public relations firm on
the Faubourg PoissoniqUH��>đ@�$OVR�SUHVHQW�ZDV�WKH�&RXUW�+LVWRULDQ��D�\RXQJ�
and portly Argentine of French descent with royal buttons on his blazer.
(Bruce Chatwin 2003, 15-16)
He later reveals that ęWKH�NLQJĚ�ZDV�DFWXDOO\�D�)UHQFK�PDQ�QDPHG�ęOrplie-Antoine de
Tounens, a 33-year-old lawyer, the eighth son of peasant farmers, who had traced his descent
from a Gallo-Roman senator and added a de to his nameĚ (Bruce Chatwin 2003, 16). He was
welcome by the Araucanians, from the region of Araucania in central Chile, and thus felt
HQFRXUDJHG�ęWR�proclaim a constitutional monarchy with a succession to be established within
his own familyĚ (Bruce Chatwin 2003, 17-18).
The above discussion of In Patagonia goes to show that the status of the writer
XQGHUOLQHV�KLV�DXWKRULW\�DQG�WKH�YHUDFLW\�RI�WKH�WH[W��5HDGHUV�UHO\�RQ�WKH�ZULWHUĜV�JRRG�IDLWK�QRW�
to mix fact with fiction. Yet, it has been argued that the unsettling of authority is characteristic of
a strain of twentieth-century travel writing that seems to increase in prominence between the
two World Wars and to continue in the postmodern period. The authorĜV�UHIXVDO�WR�NQRZ�
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- 146 -
anything for certain is foregrounded. For instance, at the end of his trip in Travels with Charley
(1962)��-RKQ�6WHLQEHFN�ęJHWV�ORVW�LQ�1HZ�<RUN�RQ�KLV�ZD\�KRPH�DQG�ODXJKV�DW�WKH�DEVXUGLW\�RI�
having driven all over the country only to lose his way in his adopted city. He is helped by a
V\PSDWKHWLF�SROLFHPDQ��DQG�WKH�ERRN�FORVHV�ZLWK�WKH�OLQH��ě$QG�WKDWĜV�KRZ�the traveler came
KRPH�DJDLQĜ��+LV�KRPHFRPLQJ�LV�DQ�LQFRPSHWHQW��DQWL-KHURLF�DIIDLUĚ�(Youngs 2014, 76-77).
Conclusion
7KH�DXWKRULW\�RI�WUDYHO�QDUUDWLYH�OLHV�LQ�RQH�RI�WKH�JHQUHĜV�FRQYHQWLRQV�ė the modern
European traveling subject whose privilege ascribes him firsthand experiences. He assumes the
expertise to produce ethnographical and geographical knowledge of faraway peoples and
places, of which the veracity has thus far never been questioned. Moreover, it is discovered that
the line between fact and fiction, between scientific and literary travel narratives, is so nebulous
that readers only resort to good faith in the writer.
Class Activities
Chapter-end Exercise
1. ,GHQWLI\�WKH�VRXUFH�RI�WKH�WUDYHO�ZULWHUĜV�DXWKRULW\�DQG�YHUDFLW\�
2. Identify the difficulty of separating fact from fiction in travel literature.
Discussion Questions
1. Read the assigned excerpt from Ralph Waldo EmersonĜV English traits (1856), his travel
memoir of the visit to England in 1833. Answer the following questions.
2. What GRHV�KH�VD\�DERXW�WKH�FRXQWU\ĜV�geographical features?
3. How does he describe the characteristics of the English people?
4. Can the reader trust what he says in the memoir? Why or why not?
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Chapter 9
Objectivity and Subjectivity
2ToEKU
This chapter discusses the question of objectivity and subjectivity in travel literature in
relation to its modes of writing, the relationship between the traveling subject and the traveled
world, and the relationship between the genres of travel writing, autobiography, and
Bildungsroman.
Objectives
After studying this chapter, students will be able to:
1. Explain the connection between the traveling subject and the traveled world.
2. Explain the relationship of modes of writing, subjectivity, and objectivity.
3. Explain the affinity of travel narrative, autobiography, and Bildungsroman.
The Traveling Subject and Modes of Writing
The relationship between the traveling subject and the traveled world can vary to a
great extent. When a travel account is object-oriented, the imparting of geographical and
anthropological knowledge is foregrounded, and the subjectivity of the traveler will often be
hardly discernible. At the other end of the spectrum, the traveling subject is firmly at center
stage (Korte 2000, 6). As travel writing is becoming predominantly self-reflective, one may need
to address the relationship between the genres of travel writing and autobiography. On the one
hand, the travel writer is mobilized on the geographical plane. On the other, s/he also embarks
on the journey within.
The travel narrative in which inner and outer worlds collide requires different narrative
strategies. The impersonal journey narratives usually have a rather flat, linear structure, in the
sense that there is no rising and falling action, no organizing dramatic strategy. The events are
reported chronologically, following the itinerary of the trip. However, a more consciously crafted
work of travel literature, while usually existing within a chronological framework, often borrows
from the world of fiction to establish motivation, rising and falling action, conflict, resolution,
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and character. ęThese two poles exist largely only in theory. In reality, the two constantly
LPSLQJH�XSRQ�RQH�DQRWKHU��%ODQWRQ����������
It is noted that the journal form, which places more focus on the narration/narrator,
can bridge the inner and outer world of the journey, highlighting the subjectivity of travel
narratives.�With the development of the Grand Tour account in the course of the eighteenth
century came the new value attached to subjective experience. Thus in travel writing, the
depiction of the traveled world as such is of declining importance. What becomes important
instead is the way in which the traveler relates to this world in his/her own individual way. It is
not a coincidence that travel writing is now frequently published in the form of the diary, the
journal or the letter ė autobiographical forms which are particularly suited to the immediate
expression of personal experience (Korte 2000, 53). Therefore, however much travel writing
purports to be an objective report on the world, it is always to some degree, consciously or not,
a self-portrait ė a record of a subjective individual or cultural point of view. We might thus see
travel writing in all its guises ė whether intimate travel diaries, ethnographic treatises or
guidebooks ė as involving a dimension of ęlife writing�Ě that is, a form of autobiographical
and/or biographical writing (Cooke 2020, 14).
Contributing to the objective-subjective spectrum in travelogues are various modes of
presentation fused in very different proportions: ęnarration is intermingled with description,
H[SRVLWLRQ�DQG�HYHQ�SUHVFULSWLRQ��.RUWH�����������7UDYHO�literature is not restricted to only one
writing mode. It can employ narration along with description. It also makes use of first- and
third- person narrators, resulting in a blend of subjectivity and objectivity. The interplay between
objectivity and subjectivity, arguably demonstrated in the juxtaposition of description with
narration as two modes of writing that attempts to establish veracity, has been stipulated earlier
in ęNarrate or describe?Ě�������. *HRUJ�/XNiFV�SURSRVHV�two basically divergent approaches to
reality in two famous modern novels ė Nana (1880) by emile Zola (1840-1902) and Anna
Karenina (1878) by Leo Tolstoy (1828-1910). He compares how these two writers depict the
horse race scenes in their novels �/XNiFV�����, 120; 110). :KLOH�WKH�UDFH�LQ�=RODĜV�is described
from the standpoint of an observer, that in TolstoyĜV is narrated from the standpoint of a
participant �/XNiFV�����, 111). In the former, the event becomes only a tableau for readers, who
are merely observers. In the latter, readers experience the event through the direct involvement
of the characters �/XNiFV�����, 116).
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One example of travel writing in which the dual mode of writing and the intertwining
of the inner and outer world is revealed is My first summer in the Sierra, a memoir by John Muir
(1838-1914), naturalist and writer. He makes use of both narration and description relating his
experiences during the summer of 1869 in Central Valley of California working as a shepherd for
Mr. Delaney, a sheepowner. The narrative mode is used when he recounts the herding trek on
June 3, 1869.
The flock traveled at the rate of about a mile an hour, outspread in the form
of an irregular triangle, about a hundred yards wide at the base, and a
hundred and fifty yards long, with a crooked, ever-changing point made up
RI�WKH�VWURQJHVW�IRUDJHUV��FDOOHG�WKH�ęOHDGHUV�Ě�ZKLFK��ZLWK�WKH�PRVW�DFWLYH�RI�
WKRVH�VFDWWHUHG�DORQJ�WKH�UDJJHG�VLGHV�RI�WKH�ęPDLQ�ERG\�Ě�KDVWLO\�H[SORUHG�
nooks in the rocks and bushes for grass and leaves; the lambs and feeble
ROG�PRWKHUV�GDZGOLQJ�LQ�WKH�UHDU�ZHUH�FDOOHG�WKH�ęWDLO�HQG. >đ@�$IWHU�D�VKRUW�
noon rest in a grove, the poor dust-choked flock was again driven ahead
over the brushy hills, but the dim roadway we had been following faded
away just where it was most needed, compelling us to stop to look about us
and get our bearings. (Muir 1988, 4-5)
Noticeably, the narrative mode of writing places the traveler in the role of a participant
in the herding activity in the Sierra. He and the other shepherds followed the flock of sheep, and
sometimes were made to stop to negotiate the path. Afterwards, the descriptive mode is used to
depict the surrounding of the peak of Pino Blanco on June 5, 1869.
After gaining the open summit of this first bench, feeling the natural
exhilaration due to the slight elevation of a thousand feet or so, and the
hopes excited concerning the outlook to be obtained, a magnificent section
of the Merced Valley at what is called Horseshoe Bend came full in sight ė a
glorious wilderness that seemed to be calling with a thousand songful
voices. Bold, down-sweeping slopes, feathered with pines and clumps of
manzanita with sunny, open spaces between them, make up most of the
foreground; the middle and background present fold beyond fold of finely
modeled hills and ridges rising into mountain-like masses in the distance, all
covered with a shaggy growth of chaparral, mostly adenostoma, planted so
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- 150 -
marvelously close and even that it looks like soft, rich plush without a single
tree or bare spot. (Muir 1988, 8)
The descriptive mode establishes him as an observer of the scenery, allowing him to
express his feeling ė ęH[KLODUDWLRQĚ�ė while looking down the valley from the outlook. A similar
reflection is related on August 2, 1869. While sketching the landscape of Yosemite, Muir is
H[SHULHQFLQJ�VRPH�NLQG�RI�ęWHOHSDWK\ę�ZKHQ:
[He is] suddenly, and without warning, possessed with the notion that my
friend, Professor J. D. Butler, of the State University of Wisconsin, was below
me in the valley, and I jumped up full of the idea of meeting him, with
almost as much startling excitement as if he had suddenly touched me to
PDNH�PH�ORRN�XS��>đ@�7KLV�,�WKLQN�LV�WKH�PRVW�XQH[SODLQDEOH�QRWLRQ�WKDW�HYHU�
struck me. (Muir 1988, 124-125)
On the next day, he finds 3URIHVVRU�%XWOHU�ęDV�WKH�FRPSDVV-QHHGOH�ILQGV�WKH�SROH�Ě��
After all, the telepathic experience turns out to be valid since Butler enters the valley on the trail
nearby.
The Fljneur and the Scientist
Even when the traveled place is foregrounded and objectivity is presumed through the
use of descriptive mode of writing, the subjectivity of the travel writer can be discerned. In Space
and place�ǰThe perspective of experience, Yi�Fu Tuan stipulates that space, in the Western world,
is a symbol of freedom�ǰIt lies open, suggesting the future and inviting action�ǰIt is like a blank
sheet on which meanings may be imposed�ǰOn the contrary, place is enclosed and humanized�ǰIt
is a center of established valuesǰ(Tuan 2014, 54). This conception is later reaffirmed in The role of
place in literature, where Leonard Lutwack argues that meanings or values invested in places
derive from the writerĴs social and intellectual milieu as well as personal experiences�ǰTherefore,
ęthe qualities of places are determined by the subjective responses of people according to their
cultural heritage, sex, occupation, and personal predicamentĚǰ(Lutwack 1984, 35). In other words,
the characteristics of a place are coQGLWLRQHG�E\�WKH�WUDYHOHUĜV�DWWLWXGH�WRZDUGV�DQG�DFWLYLW\�
performed in there (Lutwack 1984, 47).
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- 151 -
7KH�WUDYHOHUĜV�DWWLWXGH�LV�PDGH�REYLRXV�LQ�WKH�FDVH�RI�D�IOkQHXU��Whereas tourism steers
modern subjects to sights whose cultural meaning is predetermined, the act of strolling, or
IOkQHULH��SULYLOHJHV�ęPRPHQWV�RI�UHIOHFWLRQ��FRPPHQW��DQG�FULWLTXHĚ��%XUWRQ�����, 42). Initially, the
LPDJH�RI�WKH�IOkQHXU�LV�FUDIWHG�LQ�&KDUOes Baudelaire (1821-1867)ĜV�The painter of modern life
(1863) after Constantin Guys (1802�92), Dutch�born Crimean War correspondent, water color
painter and illustrator for British and French newspapers�ǰA passionate lover of crowds and
incognitos, the artist�IOkQHXU�UHDOL]HV�WKDW�
The crowd is his element, as the air is that of birds and water of
fishes�ǰHis passion and his profession are to become one flesh with
the crowd�ǰFor the perfect IOkQHXU, for the passionate spectator, it is an
immense joy to set up house in the heart of the multitude, amid the
ebb and flow of movement, in the midst of the fugitive and the
infinite�ǰTo be away from home and yet to feel oneself everywhere at
home >đ@���Baudelaire 1964, 9)
:KHQ�WKH�IOkQHXU is seen strolling, he takes in the view of the places along the way�ǰWhat
is interesting is the attitude he has developed towards those places that betrays his ideological
underpinning�ǰHence, the vignettes the author offers reflect on the significance of place and
space in literature.ǰ This is evident in twentieth-FHQWXU\�WUDYHO�QDUUDWRUVĜ�UHIOHFWLYH�DQDO\VHV�RI�
visual experience, abiding interest in their own subjective responses, and explicit attention to the
dramatic changes consequent to new means of transportation and representation. It is also
evident in their self-consciousness as they negotiate between touristic images that precede their
travels and their own firsthand observations (Burton 2015, 43). For example, in The places in
between (2004), Rory Stewart walks across Afghanistan to experience rural culture and retrace
DQFLHQW�KLVWRU\�DV�IXOO\�DV�SRVVLEOH��6WHZDUWĜV�QDUUDWLYH��FHQWHUHG�RQ�KLV�RZQ�VXEMHFWLYH�H[SHULHQFH�
RI�$IJKDQLVWDQ��UHTXLUHV�WKH�DXWRQRP\�DQG�PRELOLW\�RI�WKH�IOkQHXU (Burton 2015, 45).
One might say that all travel writing has a two-fold aspect. It is most obviously, of
course, a report on the wider world, an account of an unfamiliar people or place. Yet, it is also
revelatory to a greater or lesser degree of the traveler who produced that report, and of his or
her values, preoccupations and assumptions. And, by extension, it also reveals something of the
culture from which that writer emerged, and/or the culture for which their text is intended
(Thompson 2011, 10). In other words, travel writing reflects and influences the way we view the
world and ourselves in relation to it (Youngs 2014, 12). Hence, there have never been totally
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- 152 -
disinterested travel writers. ęThe traveller sees and finds what he or she can make sense of ė that
is, what he or she has seen and found ė or imagined ė before. Every travel narrative is to varying
degrees an autobiographical portrait of the traveller" (Verhoeven 2000, 186).
The influence of the outside world on the subject dates back to the eighteenth century
when the entanglement between self and world was one of the central concerns of travel
writers. During this period, several aspects of Enlightenment thought put pressure on travel
writers to acknowledge and explore the subjective perspective of their accounts. The first is
empiricism: the idea that all knowledge derives from the senses, and that advancements in
human knowledge must be based on empirically verifiable experience ė a philosophical area of
LQTXLU\�DGYDQFHG�LQ�ZRUNV�VXFK�DV�)UDQFLV�%DFRQĜV�The advancement of learning (1605) and John
/RFNHĜV�Essay concerning human understanding (1690), and exerting a profound influence over
eighteenth-century thought. The second is the rise of a culture of sentiment and sensibility, with
its belief that moral behavior is based upon our feelings and on our sympathy for fellow beings:
a theory put forward most GLUHFWO\�LQ�$GDP�6PLWKĜV�Theory of moral sentiments (1759).
7KH�LQIOXHQFH�RI�-RKQ�/RFNHĜV�treatise, which argues that the stimuli in the external
world aUH�FUXFLDO�WR�WKH�GHYHORSPHQW�RI�RQHĜV�LQWHOOHFWXDO�SRZHUV��LV�XQGHQLDEOH��/RFNH�RZHs his
theory to Renp Descartes (1596-1650), the French philosopher ZKR�ILUVW�FUDFNHG�DSDUW�ęPLQGĚ�
DQG�ęERG\�Ě�+LV�LGHD�DERXW�WKH�VHSDUDWLRQ�RI�PLQG�DQG�PDWWHU�DQG�WKH�DELOLW\�WR�WKLQN�RI�RQHVHOI�
DV�D�UHDVRQLQJ�HQWLW\��WKH�UHVXOW�RI�RQHĜV�RZQ�LQZDUG�MRXUQH\��FUHDted a climate in which travel
writing could come of age. This shift has two consequences for travel writing: the emotions,
thoughts, and personal quirks of the narrator become more accessible and more dominant
within the narrative, and the world itself, its plants, animals, and people, also become a source of
knowledge for their own sake (Blanton 1997, 11-12).
While these two contexts might seem to be in tension, the culture of sensibility, with its
emphasis on feeling, can at times strangely coalesce with a more scientifically empiricist agenda
in travel writing (Cooke 2020, 17). In A voyage round the world (1777), for example, Georg
Forster writes in the preface:
I have sometimes obeyed powerful dictates of my heart, and given voice to
my feelings; for, as I do not pretend to be free from the weaknesses
common to my fellow creatures, it was necessary for every reader to know
the colour of the glass through which I looked. (Forster 1777, xii-xiii)
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- 153 -
As a naturalist well-trained in the philosophy of empiricism, Forster still reveals his
subjectivity by DGPLWWLQJ�KLV�SHUVRQDO�SHUVSHFWLYH�LQ�ęP\�KHDUWĚ�DQG�ęWKH�FRORXU�RI�WKH�JODVV�
WKURXJK�ZKLFK�,�ORRNHG�Ě
Since the narrative of a journey gives an author great freedom to focus on whatever it
is iQ�DQ�XQIDPLOLDU�ODQG�WKDW�ęVWULNHV�KLV�IDQF\�Ě�LW�LQYLWHV�D�IRUP�RI�VHOI-GLVFORVXUH��ęD�
manifestation of the struggle between the inner/outer world, the subject/object, the
VFLHQWLILF�VHQWLPHQWDO��3RUWHU�����, 88-89). To illustrate the point, one may consider Charles
'DUZLQĜV�Voyage of the Beagle (1839). ,Q�'DUZLQĜV�WLPH��ęQDWXUDOLVWVĚ�ZHUH�QRW�\HW�ELRORJLVWV�EXW�
were still associated with that eighteenth-FHQWXU\�WUDGLWLRQ�RI�ęQDWXUDO�SKLORVRSK\�Ě�$QG�LQ�%ULWDLQ��
at least, a lot of them were passionate amateurs, who were clergymen by vocation. ęBut it is
important to note how looking itself is by implication doubly legitimated: first, for religious
reasons and, second, for scientific ones. Evidence of the divine in nature is in itself justification
enough for observing with scientific exactitudeĚ (Porter 1991, 154). As Darwin has been known
for his scientific discovery, it can be assumed his writing style would be plain and
straightforward. However, in the confrontation with two giant tortoises in the Galapagos, the
DXWKRU�ęKDV�UHFRXUVH�WR�WKH�UKHWRULF�RI�ILFWLRQDO�UHSUHVHQWDWLRQ�LQ�RUGHU�WR�H[SUHVV�WKH�
DVWRQLVKPHQW�RI�FRPLQJ�IDFH�WR�IDFH�ZLWK�ZKDW�LV��LQ�HIIHFW��D�ęZRQGHUĚ�IRU�VFLHQFHĚ��3RUWHU�����,
154). Here, the scientific and the spiritual perspectives of the writer are interrelated.
Another example of the duality of travel literature in revealing the world and the self is
The snow leopard (1978) by Peter Matthiessen (1927-2014), naturalist, novelist, CIA agent. The
book recounts the journey of Matthiessen and George Schaller in 1973 to Shey Gompa in the
inner Dolpo region of Nepal. One aim of the journey was to spot the snow leopard, a creature
that was seldom seen whereas the other is a spiritual journey. What elevates The snow leopard
to another level of travel writing is the second journey ė the spiritual and emotional quest of
Matthiessen himself. His is a deeply personal pilgrimage, a work of mourning after the death of
his wife the previous year, in which he journeys towards a Buddhist acceptance of death and
suffering (Cooke 2020, 19). Matthiessen is a Zen Buddhist, and part of the spiritual quest in this
book involves his efforts to accept one of the basic tenets of that religion, namely the
acceptance of suffering in this world (Blanton 1997, 75).
Additionally, the account of a development worker in ę%HWZHHQ�WKH�GHYLO�DQG�WKH�GHHS�
EOXH�VHD������� demonstrates the attitude of the writer, Mei-Ling McNamara, towards
Madagascar, the region titlHG�ęWKH�JUDYH\DUG�RI�GHYHORSPHQW�SURMHFWV�Ě��0F1DPDUD�����, 177)
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- 154 -
where she had spent the past 16 months accomplishing nothing in terms of bringing progress.
The writer considers the place ęD�IRROĜV�SDUDGLVH�DW�WKH�HGJH�RI�WKH�HDUWK��OXOOLQJ�RQH�LQWR�D�Ialse
sense of piety that compels people into purpose��0F1DPDUD�����, 179). Instead of providing
hard facts on the island, she demonstrates her sentimental attachment to the place:
This place, this southernmost tip exiled from mainland Africa, pushed beyond
Asia, squatting below the Middle East, tiptoeing over Antarctica, has
something important to say, though not in the way that we might say it. It
welcomes workers, it patronizes visitors, it will give you the tastiest part of a
zebu, the highest mound of rice, the softest, newest bread. It is a precious
gemstone coveted in the raw. It is an evolutionary anomaly analyzed by
scientists. It is the largest island nation on the planet and one of the poorest
FRXQWULHV�LQ�WKH�ZRUOG��>đ@�3HRSOH�VWLOO�ILVK�LQ�GXJRXW�FDQRHV��SUDFWLFH�
subsistence agriculture, and keep their bank account grazing in the pasture.
It is an indescribable masterpiece that is unfinished, unrecognized, and
unappreciated. (McNamara 2008, 180-181)
2QH�QRWLFHV�WKH�SHUVRQLILFDWLRQ�RI�WKH�SODFH�ZLWK�YHUEV��VXFK�DV�ęVTXDWWLQJ�Ě�DQG�
ęWLSWRHLQJ�Ě�DQG�WKH�FRPSDULVRQ�RI�WKH�SODFH�ZLWK�ęDQ�LQGHVFULEDEOH�PDVWHUSLHFH�Ě�,W is clearly not
a matter-of-fact description and demonstrates WKH�ZULWHUĜV�HPRWLRQDO�DWWDFKPHQW�WR�WKH�SODFH.
Bildungsroman as Travel Literature
As far as the interplay between the outer world and the inner journey of the traveling
subject is concerned, the emergence of a more reflectively autobiographical form of travel
writing is ascribed to the tradition of the Grand Tour ė stretching roughly from the mid-
seventeenth to the mid-nineteenth century, and reaching a peak in the 1700s (Cooke 2020, 16-
17). Amongst intellectuals, the continental tour was re-scripted as Bildungsreise, an educational
trip, during which a young man would not only accumulate knowledge, manners and
competences, but also educate and cultivate his entire personality. The tour turned inwards, and
LWV�QDUUDWLYHV�EHJDQ�WR�IRFXV�RQ�WKH�WUDYHOHUĜV�VXEMHFWLYLW\�DQG�KRZ�KLV�LQWHOOHFW��Ventiments and
aesthetic sensibility were affected and developed through travel. Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
(1749-1832)ĜV�IDPRXV�WRXU�RI�,WDO\�EHWZHHQ������DQG������IROORZHG�D�FRQYHQWLRQDO�RXWZDUG�
itinerary, but the narrative of Italienische Reise (Italian journey, 1816-1818) presents it as a
WUDQVIRUPDWLYH�HYHQW�IRU�*RHWKHĜV�SHUVRQDOLW\�DQG�KLV�XQGHUVWDQGLQJ�RI�DUW��,W�LV�LQ�WKLV�VHQVH�WKDW�
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- 155 -
conventional and other forms of tourism eventually entered the plots of European novels, and
notably the Bildungsroman��IRU�ZKLFK�*RHWKHĜV�Wilhelm Meister novels (1795 and 1829) are
prototypical (Korte 2020, 178-179).
The term Bildungsroman refers to novels of education, featuring a young man who sets
out in life either with no aim in mind or with the wrong one. After having undergone a series of
false starts and mistakes, and with help from well-meaning friends he makes during the course
of his experiences, he finally attains maturity and finds his proper profession (Drabble 1985, 100).
The genre overlaps with the older type of the picaresque novel, which features tales of
DGYHQWXUHV�RI�LQJHQLRXV�URJXHV�RU�WULFNVWHUV��ęZKR�HYHQWXDOO\�UHSHQW�WKH�HUURUV�RI�WKHLU�ZD\VĚ�
(Drabble 1985, 762-763). ExDPSOHV�RI�WKH�SLFDUHVTXH�WUDGLWLRQ�LV�IRXQG�LQ�'DQLHO�'HIRHĜV Moll
Flanders (1722); +HQU\�)LHOGLQJĜV The history of Tom Jones, a foundling (1749). In the German
case, travel writing had an influence on novel writing. However, it was an earlier English novel
that had a decisive impact on travel writing itself and on how it started to artistically embrace
VHQVLELOLW\��VHQVDWLRQ�DQG�IHHOLQJ�LQ�WKH�����V��/DXUHQFH�6WHUQHĜV�A sentimental journey through
France and Italy by Mr Yorick (1768) was widely remarked for its radically subjective first-person
narrator who hardly makes progress in space but explores every nuance of his sensations and
emotional reactions to the people he meets (Korte 2020, 178-179).
In a bildungsroman or picaresque novel, more emphasis is placed on the travelerĜV�
private thoughts and feelings (Cooke 2020, 18). For instance, in +HQU\�)LHOGLQJĜV The history of
Tom Jones, a foundling (1749), the narrator compares the life of Tom Jones to a journey filled
with trials and tribulations, from his dubious parentage to his eventually ascertained noble
parentage. In the meantime, the novel is compared to a journey of which the author and the
reader are passengers riding a stage-coach going through page after page, stage after stage of
their arduous journey. In Book XVIII, the narrator bids farewell to the reader.
We are now, reader, arrived at the last stage of our long journey. As we have
therefore travelled together through so many pages, let us behave to one
another like fellow-travellers in a stage-coach who have passed several days
in the company of each other, and who, notwithstanding any bickerings or
little animosities which may have occurred on the road, generally make all
up at last and mount for the last time into their vehicle with cheerfulness
and good humour; since after this one stage it may possibly happen to us,
as it common happens to them, never to meet more.
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- 156 -
As I have here taken up this simile, give me leave to carry it a little a
farther. I intend, then, in this last book to imitate the good company I have
mentioned in their last journey. (Fielding 1979, 789)
Afterwards, in the twentieth century, Paul Theroux (b. 1941), travel writer and novelist,
demonstrates a common ground between the traveling subject in a travel book and that in a
picaresque novel. He deploys one element that the travel book shares with many novels ė the
foregrounding of the narrator. The travel writer, telling the story of his journey, becomes the
central character in the book; we respond as much to his personality as to the details of the
journey that he reports to us. While other aspects of these books also hold our attention, the
only narrative constant is the revealing voice of the traveler (Glaser 1992, 154). For Theroux, the
ideal mode of travel is by train. He looks at himself as a traveler in the tradition of the
philosopher-observer (Glaser 1992, 155-156). In The great railway bazaar (1975), he reflects:
Train travel animated my imagination and usually gave me the solitude to
order and write my thoughts: I traveled easily in two directions, along the
level rails while Asia flashed changes at the window, and at the interior rim
of a private world of memory and language. (Theroux 2008, 188)
Theroux here realizes that there are two journeys he is embarking on: the physical
journey on the railway and the spiritual journey inside his own thoughts.
Conclusion
This chapter explores the relationship between the traveling subject and the traveled
world demonstrated in the interplay between objectivity and subjectivity, and the juxtaposition
of description with narration. The narrative mode of writing places the traveler in the role of a
participant in the activity while the descriptive mode establishes him as an observer of the
scenery. Notwithstanding, the subjectivity of the travel writer can be revealed in the descriptive
mode of writing via meanings or values invested in places. Therefore, one might argue that
travel writing reflects and influences the way we view the world and ourselves in relation to it,
and that every travel narrative is to a certain degree an autobiography of the traveler.
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Class Activities
Chapter-end Exercise
1. Explain the connection between the traveling subject and the traveled world.
2. Explain the relationship of modes of writing, subjectivity, and objectivity.
3. Explain the affinity of travel narrative, autobiography, and bildungsroman.
Discussion Questions
1. Read the assigned story.
2. In what situation(s) does the protagonist find himself/herself?
3. What part of the travel narrative gives an objective representation of the physical
environment?
4. What part of the narrative reveals the characteristics of the traveler and his/her personal
perspective towards the travel destination?
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- 158 -
Chapter 10
Gender
2ToEKU
This chapter discusses gender-oriented approaches to travel literature. The first section
discusses the emergence and reception of wRPHQĜV�WUDYHO�ZULWLQJ��WKH�PDMRU�WKHPHV�RI�ZRPHQĜV�
travel narratives IURP�WKH�HLJKWHHQWK�FHQWXU\�RQZDUGV��DQG�WKH�UROH�RI�ZRPHQĜV�WUDYHO�OLWHUDWXUH�
in the British Empire. The second section explores the rise of LGBTQ travel writing, and how
queer theory might be useful to the study of travel writing.
Objectives
After studying this chapter, students will be able to:
1. 1DUUDWH�D�EULHI�KLVWRU\�RI�ZRPHQĜV�WUDYHO�ZULWLQJ�DQG�/*%74�WUDYHO�ZULWLQJ.
2. Explain how women travel writers negotiate their position in the male-dominated
terrain of the British Empire.
3. Discuss the interplay between the physical journey and the inner journey of the
gendered self in travel literature.
The Emergence of WomenğU Travel Literature
Women travelers are not a new phenomenon. They have been traveling the highways
of the world, and from the early centuries, the Christian Church has offered an opportunity to
women who had the will and the means to travel the pilgrim route to Rome and Jerusalem. In
383, Egeria, a Roman citizen from Gaul, traveled to Jerusalem to visit the Holy Land. She
recorded in detail everything she saw, including the description of liturgical ceremonies (Russell
1994, 5; 17). By the time Egeria set out on her journey, the pilgrim way was well established.
Monasteries dotted the route and quite a few hospices had been set up for the use of Christian
travelers, many of whom were women (Russell 1994, 17).
By the eighth century, the pilgrim route had become something of a tourist trek
(Russell 1994, 18). 0DUJHU\�.HPSH��WKH�PD\RUĜV�GDXJKWHU�IURP�%LVKRSĜV�/\QQ��LQ�1RUIRON���VHW�VDLO�
for Jerusalem with a party of pilgrims. In 1413, at the age of forty she set out on a five-month
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- 159 -
journey, and was away from home for two years (Russell 1994, 19). Later, after England was
converted to Christianity, the daughters of the great Anglo-Saxon noblemen were sent abroad to
)UDQFH�WR�EH�HGXFDWHG�LQ�WKH�&KULVWLDQ�FODVVLFDO�PRGH��7KLV�QHZ�GHYHORSPHQW�LQ�ZRPHQĜV�
education marked the beginning of a trend which continued through the centuries, giving
women of means and status both the opportunity and the incentive to travel (Russell 1994, 13).
By the seventeenth century, the pilgrimage had given way to the Grand Tour. It was
not unusual for women to travel between the major cities of Europe (Russell 1994, 13). During
the latter part of the seventeenth century, trade and commerce were expanding, the navy was
growing, and women found themselves running businesses related to import and export. It was
against this backdrop that Celia Fiennes was born, in 1662, of a well-to-do family of Dissenters,
who refused to recognize the supremacy of the Anglican church (Russell 1994, 20). At the age of
twenty, she set out on a series of journeys round England and Scotland, which would take her
ten years to complete. Out of these journeys came Through England on a side saddle (London,
1888).
Meantime, Aphra Behn was born in 1640 and brought up in Kent. In her early twenties,
she sailed with some of her family members to live as part of the household of the Governor of
Surinam (Russell 1994, 21). Upon returning to England in 1663, Aphra married a merchant called
Behn who died within three years. Later, she was then sent to Antwerp as a spy. On her return
to England, she devoted herself to earning a living from her writing, becoming the first
Englishwoman to do so. Drawing copiously on her travels in Surinam, she wrote her novel
Oroonoko, published a year before her early death at the age of forty-eight (Russell 1994, 22).
By the middle of the nineteenth century, the energy that characterized the great days
of the British Empire were beginning to show itself among travelers. Lady missionaries were
starting to travel on their own (Russell 1994, 13). And by the turn of the century, ęthe New
Woman ė confident, educated and financially independent ė was further liberated by the arrival
of the bicycle and the aeroplane�(Russell 1994, 13). For instance, the bicycle of Fanny Workman
(1859-1925) took her to North Africa and India. Harriet Quimby (1875-1912) was the first woman
to fly across the English Channel in 1912. Meanwhile, women such as Gertrude Bell and Freya
Stark who found satisfaction in combining travel with serious scholarship became professional
travelers, bringing with them an aura of respectability (Russell 1994, 13). In the 1950s and 1960s,
women travelers and explorers were again ęsoaring towards their dreams, breaking new records
in the sky, on land and by sea�(Russell 1994, 13).
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Afterwards, the feminist revival of the early 1970s had, as part of its intellectual agenda,
a conscious revision of what was perceived as male-authored history. One strand in this process
of rediscovery was it fostered an interest in women travelers. Though some of the nineteenth-
century womenĜV�WUDYHO�DFFRXQWV�KDG�UHDFKHG�D�VXEVWDQWLDO�UHDGLQJ�SXEOLF�DQG�WZHQWLHWK-century
travelers, such as Rosita Forbes (1890-1967), Freya Stark (1893-1993), Gertrude Bell (1868-1926),
and Rebecca West (1892-1983) also had a strong following, by the 1970s their work was out of
print and respect for their achievements had declined. ,Q�3DXO�)XVVHOOĜV�VWXG\�RI�WUDYHO�ZULWLQJ��
Abroad: British literary traveling between the Wars (1980), women are non-existent. The first
stages of the revival were therefore to make available works that had all but disappeared and to
remind readers of the number of women travelers who had written about their journeys. The UK
feminist publishing house, Virago, reprinted classic travel books by women such as Isabella Bird
(1831-1904) and Mary Kingsley (1862-1900), while a number of anthologies and studies of
Victorian women travelers began to appear (Bassnett 2007, 226).
One consistent line through discussions of women travelers is the notion that they
were exceptional. Until well into the twentieth century, travel writing was often defined as a
masculine domain, a showcase for contemporary norms of masculinity, heroism and virility. It
was a privileged locus of self-fashioning for men on condition that they observe the accepted
forms of masculinity: asserting facts rather than indulging feelings, announcing heroism rather
than admitting cowardice, accumulating heterosexual conquests and eliding homosexual
exploration. Conversely, women travel writers, even those traveling in more established capacities
as missionaries or pioneers, must contend with the apparent unconventionality of their position.
7KH\�DUH�ęDUJXDEO\�LQ�D�SRsition to explore new textual constructions of femininity precisely
EHFDXVH�QR�IL[HG�SDUDGLJP�H[LVWV��'~QODLWK�%LUG���������-36).
ę*RRG�WUDYHOĚ��KHURLF��HGXFDWLRQDO��VFLHQWLILF��DGYHQWXURXV��HQQREOLQJ��LV�VRPHWKLQJ�PHQ�
should do whereas women were impeded from serious travel. Some of them went to distant
SODFHV��EXW�ODUJHO\�DV�FRPSDQLRQV�RU�DV�H[FHSWLRQV��0HDQZKLOH��ę/DG\Ě�WUDYHOHUV��ERXUJHRLV��
white) are unusual, marked as special in the dominant discourses and practices. Nonetheless,
women travelers were forced to conform, masquerade, or rebel discreetly within a set of
normatively male definitions and experiences (Clifford 1997, 31-32). Therefore, the theory of the
exceptional woman who is somehow different from other women and therefore empowered to
perform feats no normal woman would be capable of carrying out has been one of the classic
ways of marginalizLQJ�ZRPHQĜV�DFKLHYHPHQWV��7KH�SUREOHP�KHUH�LV�WKH�VHWWLQJ�RI�D�EHQFKPDUN�
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- 161 -
against which women can be measured. Hence in an age when relatively few people traveled at
all, the idea of a woman traveler was something of a novelty (Bassnett 2007, 228-229).
Though praising their efforts and achievements, scholarly discussions of women
travelers hint nevertheless that they are slightly eccentric, and introduce a comic note that can
easily be interpreted as mocking. Some titles include Leo HamalianĜV Ladies on the loose:
Women travellers of the 18th and 19th centuries (1981); Dea BirkettĜV Spinsters abroad: Victorian
lady explorers (1989); Mary RussellĜV�The blessings of a good thick skirt: Women travellers and
their world (1994). These focus on the unusual life stories of women travelers, on their
originality, and on their refusal to conform to social norms of the day. Women travelers are
therefore categorized as doubly different: they differ from other, more orthodox, socially
conformist women, and from male travelers who use their journey as a means of discovering
more about their own masculinity. The woman traveler was somehow depicted as seeking to
escape from the constraints of domesticity ė her family or her society (Bassnett 2007, 226). The
underlying impression gained through many popular studies of women travelers is the difference
between their lives at home and life on the road. Women travelers are often presented as
having been capable of realizing their potential once outside the boundaries of a restrictive
social order. Travel for some women, it seems, may have offered a means of redefining
themselves, assuming a different persona and becoming someone who did not exist at home
(Bassnett 2007, 233-234).
In the case of women travel writers, the tendency to privilege the autobiographical
reading of their work is predominant, FRQILQLQJ�ZRPHQĜV�ZULWLQJ�WR�WKH�SULYDWH��RU�HYHQ�WKH�
ęconfessionalĚ sphere (Polezzi 2004, 122). :RPHQĜV�WUDYHO�ZULWLQJ�LV�FRQVWUXFWHG�ZLWKLQ�D�UDQJH�RI�
discursive pressures and in its reception it has frequently been labelled ęautobiographical.Ě This
labelling should be seen as an attempt to deny women the status of creators of cultural artefacts
(Mills 1991, 12). It is assumed that the texts are simply reproductions of journals or letters to
families, whereas, in many of the cases, the women wrote the texts in the form of journals
because that was the convention of the times. Many of them had not kept journals during the
journey and therefore the journals are fictional inventions after the fact. For example, Alexandra
David-Neel (1868-1969), who wrote an account of her travels to Tibet in 1920, states that she
was not able to keep a journal for fear of being discovered, but her book nevertheless is written
in the form of a journal (Mills 1991, 109).
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- 162 -
Both travel writing and autobiography have been among the genres in which women
writers first found their space. The accessibility of the genres to women writers can be seen not
just as an instrument for the marginalization of their work, but also as an indication of the
greater freedom and flexibility allowed by these genres. The way in which identity is constructed,
modified, reproduced, inherited, and so on, is repeatedly re-enacted in the narrative
representation of encounters, conflicts and transformations which lies at the core of travel
writing and autobiography (Polezzi 2004, 123).
In actuality, women did travel in all kinds of roles ė as wives, sisters, daughters of
missionaries, diplomats or envoys, as scientists or naturalists, as explorers seeking to prove
something to themselves, as individuals in search of the unexpected, or of leisure or instruction,
alone or accompanied, for personal or professional reasons (Bassnett 2007, 231). Yet, the genesis
RI�ZRPHQĜV�DXWKRUVKLS�ZDV�W\SLFDOO\�IRXQG�LQ�WKH�SULYDWH�VSKHUH��LQ�GLDULHV��OHWWHUV��DQG�SKRWR�
albums ė texts that remained close to the home and family. Paradoxically perhaps, travel
ZULWLQJĜV�FORVH�FRQQHFWion to these kinds of texts, especially the memoir, thus allowed women
entry into the travel genre, even though ęUHVSHFW�IRU�WKHLU�ERRNV�ZRXOG�EH�GHOD\HGĚ��%ODQWRQ�
1997, 57).
The epistolary travel account tends to be more frequently produced by women
(Bassnett 2007, 239). This preference for letters and diaries among women travellers is in part
strategic: the epistolary genre is strongly linked to the feminine, the domestic and the affective.
The choice of this form sends a strong signal to the reading public: though the travel writer may
wander into the public sphere, her moral compass is firmly pointed towards home �'~QODLWK�%LUG�
2020, 41). )RU�LQVWDQFH��/DG\�0DU\�:RUWOH\�0RQWDJXĜV�Turkish embassy letters; Lucie Duff
*RUGRQĜV�Letters from Egypt.
Authorial Voice of Women Travelers
6RPH�EDVLF�TXHVWLRQV�SHUWDLQLQJ�WR�ZRPHQĜV�WUDYHORJXHV�SHUVLVW��'R�ZRPHQĜV�WUDYHO�
accounts differ from those written by men in any fundamental way? Is there a way in which
travel writing is inherently gendered? (Bassnett 2007, 227). In Discourses of difference: An
DQDO\VLV�RI�ZRPHQĜV�WUDYHO�ZULWLQJ�DQG�FRORQLDOLVP (Routledge, 1991), Sara Mills notes the stress
that women lay on the personal and on relationships in general. Women tend to see landscape
in more relational ways. They relate it to their domestic spaces and their networks of interaction
(Mills 2000, 26).
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OPY
- 163 -
7KLV�VHHPV�WR�UHLQIRUFH�(ODLQH�6KRZDOWHUĜV�DUJXPHQW�LQ�A literature of their own: British
ZRPHQ�QRYHOLVWV�IURP�%URQWs�WR�/HVVLQJ (1977) that wRPHQĜs literature from Jane Austen to
Virginia Woolf is mostly a literature about waiting, and usually waiting for love (Mary Morris
1992, 25).
Denied participation in public life, women were forced cultivate their feelings
and to overvalue romance. In the novels, emotions rushed in to fill the
vacuum of experience, and critics found this intensity, this obsession with
personal relationships, unrealistic and even oppressive. (Showalter 1977, 79-
80)
Nevertheless, it is important to consider the strategies women and other travelers
excluded from dominant norms of race, sexual orientation or gender developed in order to
legitimate their authority as travel writers �'~QODLWK�%LUG����������. In an anthology of extracts
from travel writing by women, Unsuitable for ladies (1990), Jane Robinson attempts to
distinguish how women wrote as opposed to their male counterparts by stressing differences of
style and emphasis. Women have rarely been commissioned to travel; hence, in the absence of a
patron or authority figure, women can afford to be more discursive, more impressionable, more
ęordinaryĚ (Bassnett 2007, 226). It has been stipulated that there is not such a clear-cut division
between male and female writers, but that socially-determined spatial relations are negotiated
ZLWK�GLIIHUHQWO\�EHFDXVH�RI�FODVV��UDFH��DQG�JHQGHU�DQG�RQHĜV�DFFHVV�WR�FHUWDLQ�GLVFXUVLYH�
structures (Mills 2000, 20). It is rare to find the kind of serious, anthropological monograph with
extended footnotes like those produced by many male writers, which may be due to the
exclusion of women from scientific professions in the nineteenth century (Bassnett 2007, 231).
The case of Mary Kingsley clearly illustrates this conundrum. She made her first trip to
West Africa in 1892 after her parents passed. Travels in West Africa (1897) grew out of her
second trip, in 1894 and 1895, in which she traveled as a trader, going into remote areas where
the tribes were reputed to be ferocious and cannibalistic. She got on well with them, however,
as she seemed to get on well with everyone. In 1900, on a third trip, this time to South Africa,
she volunteered as a nurse during the Boer War (Kingsley 2002, ix).1 Kingsley is well aware of her
1 The Boer War (1899-1902) was the battle between the British Empire and two Boer states of
the Dutch-speaking inhabitants of the Cape Colony in southern Africa.
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OPY
- 164 -
RZQ�ęQRQ-SURIHVVLRQDOĚ�VWDWXV�DV�D�QDWXUDOLVW�DQG�DV�D�9LFWRULDQ�IHPDOH� Having Wallace as a
figure of authority in natural science, she refers to his book when preparing for her journey.
7KHQ�,�JRW�:DOODFHĜV�Geographical Distribution and after reading that
PDVWHUĜV�DUWLFOH�RQ�WKH�(WKLRSLDQ�UHJLRQ�,�KDUGHQHG�P\�KHDUW�DQG�FORVHG�ZLWK�
:HVW�$IULFD�>đ@�0\�LJQRUDQFH�UHJDUGLQJ�:HVW�$IULFD�ZDV�VRRQ�UHPRYHG��$QG�
although the vast cavity in my mind that it occupied is not even yet half
filled uS��WKHUH�LV�D�JUHDW�GHDO�RI�YHU\�FXULRXV�LQIRUPDWLRQ�LQ�LWV�SODFH�>đ@.
(Kingsley 2002, 1-2)
In a description of her discovery, she has to rely on the male-dominated discourse.
These leaves [đ] but whether they think the umbrella is like the tree or the
WUHH�LV�OLNH�WKH�XPEUHOOD��,�FDQĜW�PDNH�RXW��,�DP�DOZD\V�JHWWLQJ�P\VHOI�PL[HG�
RYHU�WKLV�NLQG�RI�WKLQJ�LQ�P\�DWWHPSWV�ęWR�FRQWHPSODWH�SKHQRPHQD�IURP�D�
VFLHQWLILF�VWDQGSRLQW��DV�&DPEULGJH�RUGHUHG�PH�WR�GR.��.LQJVOH\�����, 75)
Noticeably, she finds it necessary to base her description of a tree and its leaves on the
guidelines laid down by male-dominated academia at Cambridge University.
Another example of unequal accessibility to discursive structures is evidenced in Anna
Forbes, who traveled to modern-day Indonesia with her naturalist husband, Henry O. Forbes, in
1878-1883. %RWK�SURGXFHG�WUDYHO�DFFRXQWV�IURP�WKH�MRXUQH\��+RZHYHU��ZKLOH�+HQU\ĜV�A
QDWXUDOLVWĜV�ZDQGHULQJV�LQ�WKH�eastern archipelago: A narrative of travel and exploration from
1878 to 1883 (1885) bespeaks his scientific groundings, $QQDĜV�Unbeaten tracks in islands of the
)DU�(DVW��([SHULHQFHV�RI�D�QDWXUDOLVWĜV�ZLIH�LQ�WKH�����V (1887) indicates her status as a caregiver.
,Q�+HQU\ĜV�DFFRXQW��KH�UHVRUWV�WR�VFLHQWLILF�WHUPV�LQ�WKH�ODJRRn observation while
UHIHUULQJ�WR�ęthe testimony of Mr. Ross, whom I have found a most accurate observer, the
cyclones of 1863 and of 1876 added, if not new species, at least a host of new individuals to the
.HHOLQJ�IDXQD��+HQU\�2��)RUEHV�����, 30). Furthermore, in Appendix to Part I, he compares his
OLVW�ZLWK�'DUZLQĜV�
My gratitude can never be warmly enough expressed to this esteemed friend
(now, I regret to say, no more) and his accomplished wife, for their great
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- 165 -
hospitality and kindness; and for the assistance which for many months was
afforded me by my host, both personally and through his servants and
horses, in making botanical collections in the large stretch of virgin forest
which he owned, specimens of whose great trees were special desiderata
with me. (Henry O. Forbes 1885, 68)
:KLOH�+HQU\ĜV�UHDGV�OLNH�D�VFLHQWLILF�ZULWLQJ��$QQDĜV�VKDUHV�KHU�SHUVRQDO�H[SHULHQFHV�and
offers a simplified account of the islands. In the preface dated March 6th, 1886, she writes:
Since my narrative explains itself, I have little to say here beyond accounting
for a certain resemblance in these pages to the latter part of the work issued
by my husband last year. After I joined him, we shared for the most part the
same experiences; but we looked upon them from an entirely different
VWDQGSRLQW��0DQ\�RI�P\�RZQ�VH[�ZKR�PLJKW�WXUQ�IURP�ě$�1DWXUDOLVWĜV�
:DQGHULQJVĜ�EHFDXVH�RI�WKH�DGPL[WXUH�RI�VFLHQWLILF�PDWWHU��PD\�ILQG�VRPH�
interest in reading my simpler account.
I have told my life as I lived it, with its interests and pleasures, its drawbacks
and discomforts, neither romancing nor withholding. I may confess that I did
not write these letters en route. For this I had neither time nor strength, as
I was never one single fortnight free of fever after entering the tropics. The
following pages are pieced together from letters actually written home, from
my journal, and from recollections that can never be dimmed. I consider it
an advantage to write when time has removed the exaggerations with which
the mood of the moment might have distorted facts or influenced feelings;
while I have also had opportunity for mature considerations of, and
authentic information on, many points. (Anna Forbes 1987, vii-viii)
Anna is one of the women who have not been silenced, but have chosen to write
about their experiences in full knowledge of the absence of a tradition into which they could
insert themselves with any degree of comfort or familiarity (Bassnett 2007, 231). Hers is one of
the ZRPHQĜV�YRLces that continue to tell stories about foreign places, despite the fact that their
texts have been far less well received than those of their male counterparts (Bassnett 2007, 239).
DO NOT C
OPY
- 166 -
On the contrary, travel writing by woman in a privileged position is well received. Lady
Mary Wortley Montagu (1689-1762) traveled to Constantinople in 1716 to join her husband, who
had been appointed ambassador to Turkey. Her letters, collectively titled The Turkish embassy
letters, written after she returned to England and published after her death in 1762, were widely
circulated in manuscript during her lifetime. Speaking with a voice of authority, the letters
challenge the tendency of many European travelers to exoticize the Orient. Previously, George
6DQG\ĜV������DFFRXQW�RI�KLV�WUDYHOV�LQ�WKH�7XUNLVK�(PSLUH�DQG�0RQVLHXU�GH�7KHYHQRWĜV�Relation
GĜXQ�YR\DJH�IDLW�DX�/HYDQW (1665) were typical of texts that describe the laziness of oriental
ZRPHQ�DQG�WKHLU�VXSSRVHGO\�ěQDWXUDOĜ�WHQGHQF\�WR�ODVFLYLRXVQHVV��%XW�0RQWDJX�gave a very
different account of Turkish women in the bathhouse and wittily criticizes the stupidity of those
writers whose erotic fantasies have led them to distort the more domesticated reality that she
finds operating in a community of women. A century later, in her Letters from Egypt (1865),
Lucie Duff Gordon (1821-1869) was to make a similar point, describing the daily lives of Egyptian
women in terms that contested the fantasizing of her male contemporaries. Far from being
exceptional, both these aristocratic women travelers wrote about the experiences of the women
they encountered, and in so doing refuted the growing tendency towards eroticization of the
unfamiliar that characterizes so many texts by male travelers (Bassnett 2007, 229).
Both Montagu DQG�*RUGRQ�KDG�DFFHVV�WR�ZRPHQĜV�VRFLHW\��DQG��DV�D�UHVXOW��ZHUH�DEOH�WR�
GHVFULEH� GDLO\� OLIH� LQ� WKH� KDUHP� LQ� WHUPV� RI� WKH� QRUPDOLW\� RI�ZRPHQĜV� FXVWRPV� DQG� SUDFWLFHV��
rebutting male-inspired fantasies about harems as places of highly charged sexuality. Their down-
to-earth accounts of the living conditions of Turkish and Egyptian women respectively are in sharp
contrast to the more fantastical accounts of veiled women, repressed sexuality, and deviance that
DSSHDU�LQ�PDQ\�PDOH�ZULWHUVĜ�DFFRXQWV�RI�WKHLU�WUDYels in the Orient (Bassnett 2007, 229-230). The
FXOWXUDOO\�PRVW�VLJQLILFDQW�IHDWXUH�RI�WKH�ZRPHQĜV�ZULWLQJV�LV�WKDW�WKHVH�DUH�H\HZLWQHVV�GHVFULSWLRQV��
The vast literature on harem life constitutes a substantial body of ethnographic evidence, the first
of iWV�NLQG��RQ�UHJLRQV�ZKLFK�EHIRUH�WKH�DSSHDUDQFH�RI�0RQWDJXĜV�Letters had been terra incognita
to Westerners. As observers, women became engaged in the phenomena, or people, they
described; they took part in the ordinary activities of Muslim women and in the rituals observed
in harems. This kind of participant observation, as part of an intersubjective process, distinguishes
harem literature from the more general discussion in Europe, on the exotic (Melman 1992, 62).
Her experiences in one of the public bathhouses were striking. In LETTER XXVII from
Adrianople, dated April 1, 1717, she writes:
DO NOT C
OPY
- 167 -
I hLUHG�D�7XUNLVK�FRDFK��>đ@�,�ZHQW�WR�WKH�EDJQLR�DW�WHQ�RĜFORFN���,W�ZDV�
already full of women. It is built of stone in the shape of a dome, with no
windows but in the roof, which gives light enough. There was five of these
domes joined together, the outmost being less than the rest and serving
RQO\�DV�D�KDOO��ZKHUH�WKH�SRUWUHVV�VWRRG�DW�WKH�GRRU��>đ@�7KH�QH[W�URRP�LV�D�
very large one paved with marble, and all round it raised two sofas of
PDUEOH�RQH�DERYH�DQRWKHU��>đ@�,�ZDV�LQ�P\�WUDYHOOLQJ�KDELW��ZKLFK�LV�D riding
GUHVV��DQG�FHUWDLQO\�DSSHDUHG�YHU\�H[WUDRUGLQDU\�WR�WKHP��>đ@�7KH�ILUVW�VRIDV�
were covered with cushions and rich carpets, on which sat the ladies, and on
the second their slaves behind them, but without any distinction of rank by
their dress, all being in the state of nature, that is, in plain English, stark
QDNHG��ZLWKRXW�DQ\�EHDXW\�RU�GHIHFW�FRQFHDOHG��>đ@�,Q�VKRUW��ěWLV�WKH�ZRPHQĜV�
coffee house, where all the news of the town is told, scandal invented etc.
They generally take this diversion once a week, and stay there at least four
or five hours, without getting cold by immediate coming out of the hot bath
into the cool room, which was very surprising to me. (Montagu 2007, 58-59)
Montagu claims that she had the privilege of being the first eyewitness inside the
bathhouse, the site accessible only to women travelers, thereby refuting the widely circulated
PLVLQIRUPDWLRQ�ęE\�WKH�FRPPRQ�YR\DJH�ZULWHUV��ZKR�DUH�YHU\�IRQG�RI�VSHDNLQJ�RI�ZKDW�WKH\�
GRQĜW�NQRZ��,W�PXVW�EH�XQGHU�D�YHU\�SDUWLFXODU�FKDUDFWHr, or on some extraordinary occasion
when a Christian is admitted into the house of a man of quality, and their harems are always
forbidden ground. Thus they can only speak of the outside, which makes no great appearance,
DQG�WKH�ZRPHQĜV�DSDUWPHQWV�DUH�DOZays built backward, removed from sight, and have no other
SURVSHFW�WKDQ�WKH�JDUGHQV��ZKLFK�DUH�HQFORVHG�ZLWK�YHU\�KLJK�ZDOOV��0RQWDJX������������
0RQWDJXĜV�OHWWHUV�WDUJHWHG�VSHFLILF�UHDGHUVKLS�LQ�KHU�FLUFOH��7KH�HSLVWRODU\�VW\OH�EHILWV�WKH�
autobiographical quality of the writing. However, hers is also an early ethnographic account of
the local women provided by women travelers, setting a precedent for nineteenth-century
ZRPHQĜV�WUDYHO�ZULWLQJV��VXFK�DV�Whe works of Gertrude Bell or Freya Stark, which reflect personal,
social, and political changes. The journeys they recount are both inner and outer journeys,
towards greater self-awareness as well as greater knowledge gained through experience
(Bassnett 2007, 238).
DO NOT C
OPY
- 168 -
6JG�6TWVJ�8CNWG�QH�9QOGPğU�6TCXGN�Writing
Remarkably, questions of gender affect not just the content of the travelogue but how
that content is framed and marked. For a woman to move outside the domestic sphere and
explore terrain considered unsuitable for ladies was to be ędoubly damned.Ě Yet contrary to
popular understanding, a sense of commercial awareness and a willingness to exploit the
popularity of the travel writing genre is palpable in the letters and prefaces of many woman
travelers from the eighteenth century onwards (D~QODLWK�%LUG���������-41). -RKQ�0XUUD\ĜV�
professional authors Mariana Starke and Isabella Bird helped to develop integrated marketing
plans for their travelogues using gender as a unique selling point. For example, one volume by
Bird is titled ęUnbeaten Tracks in Japan. Travels of a Lady in the Interior, including Visits to the
$ERULJLQHV�RI�<H]R�DQG�WKH�6KULQH�RI�1LNNR�DQG�,Vp��%\�,VDEHOOD�%LUG��$XWKRU�RI�ę$�/DG\ĜV�/LIH�LQ�
WKH�5RFN\�0RXQWDLQV�Ě�F��:LWK�0DS�DQG�,OOXVWUDWLRQV.Ě�Noteworthily, WKH�ZRUG�ęODG\Ě is
PHQWLRQHG�WZLFH��SRLQWLQJ�WR�WKH�JHQGHUHG�IUDPH�RI�WKH�ZULWHUĜV�REVHUYDWLRQ�DQG�SUHVHQWDWLRQ�RI�
travel experiences �'~QODLWK�%LUG����������.
However, the gendered voice is still further complicated by the fact that, while labelled
ęfactual�Ě doubts arH�IUHTXHQWO\�FDVW�RQ�WKH�WUXWKIXOQHVV�RI�ZRPHQĜV�DFFRXQWV��7KLV�LV�HVSHFLDOO\�
WKH�FDVH�LQ�ZRPHQĜV�WUDYHO�ZULWLQJ��ZKHUH�WKHLU�WH[WV�DUH�VXEMHFW�WR�DFFXVDWLRQV�RI�H[DJJHUDWLRQ�
and falsehood (Mills 1991, 12). Alexandra David-Neel, for instance, is accused of having
exaggerated and lied about her trip to Lhasa because it was inconsistent with the discourses
about ZRPHQĜV�SRVLWLRQ�FLUFXODWLQJ�DW�WKH�WLPH��+HU�DFFRXQW�FRQVLVWV�RI�D�QDUUDWLYH�RI�KHU�
walking from northern India across the mountains to Lhasa, a forbidden city, existing on a diet
of Tibetan tea and barley, and at one stage having to carry her injured male companion to
safety. These strong representations of women do not fit in with the stereotypical codes for
representations of women of the time (Mills 1991, 109).
A series of questions relating to the truthfulness and reliability of travel accounts and
autobiographies, and to the faithfulness of representation and self-representation, is revealed in
(VWHOOD�&DQ]LDQLĜV�WKUHH�WUDYHO�ERRNs: Costumes, traditions and songs of Savoy (1911),
Piedmont (1913), and Through the Apennines and the lands of the Abruzzi (1928) (Polezzi 2004,
124). An Italian-English painter, she was accompanied on her Italian journeys by her father Enrico
Canziani, who directly helped in gathering material and information for her volumes, and also in
editing and revising them. She chooses to highlight the systematic nature of her work as a
collector of folklore and ethnographic data. The volumes are meant to offer a first-hand account
DO NOT C
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- 169 -
of unknown, and fast-disappearing ways of life (Polezzi 2004, 129-131). In all her travel books,
she portrays herself traveling with her father. His benign figure looms large over everything she
does. Whenever Estella travelled without her father, it was to places other than Italy, and she did
not produce any extensive accounts of her trips (Polezzi 2004, 132).
*HQGHU�DOVR�EHFRPHV�SDUW�RI�WKH�WUDYHOHUĜV�SHUIRUPDQFH of identity. Estella foregrounds
her female identity in order to gain access to women and to the sphere of private life; but she
also strives to project a masculine persona, marked by endurance of hardship and professional
determination. Whenever needed, she does not hesitate to revert to her English identity, and
even to the established stereotype of the English woman traveler, in order to explain her odd
habits, (such as sleeping with the windows open, or wearing strange hats) and her scandalous
behavior (traveling alone, approaching and talking to strangers, and so on), which clearly mark
her as an outsider (Polezzi 2004, 133).
But one should also be warned against romanticized readings in which assumptions are
PDGH�WKDW�WKHVH�ZRPHQĜV�ZULWLQJV�DUH�VLPSO\�DXWRELRJUDSKLFDO��,Q�IDFW��PDQ\�RI�WKH�Zorks by
women travelers are self-conscious fictions, and the persona is as much a character as a woman
in a novel (Bassnett 2007, 233-234). Later in the twentieth-century, evidence of a change in the
construction of travel narratives can clearly be seen in stylistic terms. Though the I-narrator still
occupies a dominant position, the increasing use of dialogue in travel writing has further closed
the gap between travel account and fiction, making the travel text resemble the novel much
more closely. The protagonist engages in conversations that introduce a range of other
characters into the narrative, and the reader is expected to believe that such conversations which
apparently transcend any language barrier are recorded rather than invented (Bassnett 2007,
235).
The Gendered Self in the British Empire
In addition to studying the female voice, it should be noted that ę>Q@RW all women
WUDYHOHUV�ZHUH�PLGGOH�FODVV��QRW�DOO�VKDUHG�WKH�VDPH�LGHRORJLFDO�VWDQGSRLQW��%DVVQHWW�����, 228).
7KXV��WKHUH�LV�D�QHHG�WR�VWXG\�ZRPHQĜV�WUDYHO�OLWHUDWXUH�LQ�FRQMXQFWLRQ�ZLWK�FODVV�DQG�HFRQRPLF�
privileges (Morgan 1996, 122-123). $�JRRG�H[DPSOH�FDQ�EH�IRXQG�LQ�,VDEHOOD�%LUGĜV�The Golden
Chersonese and the way thither (1883). It played a crucial role in relation to the British reading
audience as political propaganda for the British takeover of the Malay States (Morgan 1996,
167). In gendered terms, The Golden Chersonese is a feminine imperial discourse, popularizing
DO NOT C
OPY
- 170 -
E\�PHDQV�RI�D�ęZRPDQĜV�SHUVSHFWLYH,Ě�D�VSDWLDOO\�DQG�WHPSRUDOO\�VSHFLILF�GHILQLWLRQ�RI�%ULWLVK�
colonialism (Morgan 1996, 155).
In her preface dated February 1883, she offers basic knowledge of the Malay peninsula
in an authoritative voice.
I must once explain that my letters treat of only its western portion, for the
very sufficient reason that the interior is unexplored by Europeans, half of it
being actually so little known that the latest map gives only the position of
its coast-line. I hope, however, that my book will be accepted as an honest
attempt to make a popular contribution to the sum of knowledge of a
beautiful and little-traveled region, with which the majority of educated
people are so little acquainted that it is constantly confounded with the
Malay Archipelago, but which is practically under British rule, and its
probable destined to afford increasing employment to British capital and
enterprise. (Isabella Bird 2011, xv)
2EYLRXVO\��ę,�Ě�LWV�JD]H�DQG�YRLFH��LQ�WKH�DERYH�H[WUDFW�FRPPDQGV�DQ�DXWKRULWDWLYH�
stance, guaranteeing the authenticity and accuracy of the narration (Polezzi 2004, 122-123).
Contrarily, (PLO\�,QQHVĜV�The Chersonese with the gilding off (1885) explicitly offers another
version of the British colonial presence in the Malay Peninsula to counteract both the
representations of the Colonial Office and the brilliantly sunny picture conjured up in The
Golden Chersonese (Morgan 1996, 163-164). The self-positioning of The gilding off as a political
document and, even more precisely, as one important colonial record of the British presence in
Malaya takes place through the medium of gender (Morgan 1996, 168).
In the preface to The Golden Chersonese, Bird writes:
As I traveled under official auspices, and was entertained at the houses of
officials everywhere, I feel it to be due to my entertainers to say that I have
carefully abstained from giving their views on any subjects on which they
may have uttered them in the ease of friendly intercourse, except in two or
three trivial instances, in which I have quoted them as my authorities. The
opinions expressed are wholly my own, whether right or wrong, and I accept
the fullest responsibility for them. (Isabella Bird 2011, xv-xvi)
DO NOT C
OPY
- 171 -
:KLOH�%LUGĜV�WUDYHO�is considered a privilege, InnesĜV does not count for much in the
colonial or the European world, and her voice is little heard. And she sees from a perspective
GLIIHUHQW�IURP�%LUGĜV��VKH�VHHV�DQG�ZULWHV�ęXQGHU�WRWDOO\�GLIIHUHQW�FLUFXPVWDQFHV�Ě�EHFDXVH�VKH�LV�
in a different position. That difference is glossed as a specific combination of gender and class,
DW�OHDVW�DV�XQGHUVWRRG�LQ�WKH�UHDOP�RI�FLYLO�VHUYDQWV��7KH�QDUUDWRU�LV�ęMXVW�WKH�ZLIH�RI�D�MXQLor
JRYHUQPHQW�VHUYDQW��0U��,QQHV�LV�LQ�DQ�LQIHULRU�SRVLWLRQ�LQ�WKH�%ULWLVK�FRORQLDO�KLHUDUFK\��DQG�KLV�
ZLIHĜV�SRVLWLRQ�LV�ORZHU�WKDQ�KLV��0RUJDQ�����, 168).
Meantime, quite unlike Anna ForbesĜV�ORFDWLRQ�DV�WKH�ęGHDU�FRPSDQLRQĚ�WR�+HQU\�
Forbes, Margaret BrookeĜV�PDULWDO�SODFH�LV�UHSUHVHQWHG�LQ�KHU�QDUUDWLYHV, My life in Sarawak
(1913) and Good morning and good night (1934), as a deep and occasionally humiliating
disappointment to her and a nuisance to her husband, a necessary and temporary evil for a man
ZLWK�DQ�ęH[WUHPHO\�SURVDLF�DWWLWXGH�WRZDUGV�PDWULPRQ\Ě��Good morning, x). There is no union, no
harmony, no emotional connection between these two, only legal procreation, with Margaret as
the baby machine. Therefore, Margaret would have to locate her place somewhere else than as
the wife of Charles (Morgan 1996, 203).
As many feminist film theorists have shown, women tend to be the objects ęto-be-
looked-at,Ě and thus, she herself is positioned within the landscape, rather than being defined by
her position of exteriority to the landscape (Mills 2000, 31). The position of the scholar, which
was becoming professionalized during the nineteenth century, was clearly unavailable to women,
leaving them keepers of the domestic space��7KH�GLVFRXUVH�RI�ęKRPH�Ě�RI�GRPHVWLFLW\�ZDV�SOD\HG�
out differently in British India, when colonial rule became more authoritarian. For instance, the
English memsahib is seen as idle, useless, and too free in her associations with men while the
Indian woman was reconstructed as the moral and spiritual opposite of the Englishwoman,
PRUDOO\�DQG�VSLULWXDOO\�VXSHULRU�DQG�WKXV�WKH�SURSHU�V\PERO�RI�ęKRPHĚ���*UHZDO�����, 25).
Nonetheless, for the many women travelers who went to Asia and Africa to escape circumscribed
lives in England, these lands became places that, on the one hand, proved women to be equals
of men including taking on the role of the colonizing male. Travel, therefore, became
synonymous with political freedom because its Romantic discourse enabled them to label their
escape from some domestic gender constraints. They celebrated this kind of ęIUHHGRP�Ě�WKRXJK�
this freedom was only that of becoming a version of the imperial Englishman (Grewal 1996, 79).
7KH�VHFRQG�KDOI�RI�WKH�QLQHWHHQWK�FHQWXU\�VDZ�DQ�HPHUJHQW�ZRPHQĜV�PRYHPHQW�DQG�
an increasing number of women who ventured beyond the European continent as tourists and,
DO NOT C
OPY
- 172 -
sometimes, as explorers. Even though these women faced a restrictive gender order and
gendered exclusion in their home societies, their travel writing is not necessarily more
sympathetic towards the non-European other and demonstrates equally divergent and
DPELYDOHQW�DWWLWXGHV�DV�WKDW�RI�PHQ��,VDEHOOD�%LUGĜV�DFFRXQW�RI�&KLQD�LQ�The Yangtze valley and
beyond (1899), for instance, reveals her sense of European superiority, but Mary Kingsley, in
Travels in West Africa (1897), constructed herself as a traveler critical of missionary interference,
who was open to African life and on friendly terms with her African porters (Korte 2020, 176-
177). In their texts, Bird and Kingsley had to be concerned about their reputation and thus were
unable to fully emulate the heroic self-fashioning of Richard Francis Burton (1821-1890) or Henry
Morton Stanley (1841-1904). But they did not suppress the perils they underwent and
emphasized their proficiency as collectors of data and specimens for male-dominated scientific
institutions such as the Royal Geographical Society. They took obvious satisfaction from their
mobility and the crossing of gender gaps between private and public life, and they paved the
way for later adventurers and explorers such as Gertrude Bell and Freya Stark, who crossed
gender boundaries with even greater confidence (Korte 2020, 177).
Freya Stark, a travel writer and explorer, published more than two dozen books, one of
which is The valleys of the assassins and other Persian travels (1934). In the preface, she
indicates the purpose of the journey.
But as this book is intended for the Public, and is therefore necessarily truthful,
I must admit that for my own part I travelled single-mindedly for fun. I learned
my scanty Arabic for fun, and a little Persian ė and then went for the same
reason to look for the Assassin castles and the Luristan bronzes in the manner
here related. (Stark 1934, 11)
Stark sounds adamant about the objective of her trip. Her journey is meant to be
delightful, not educational. Meantime, Gertrude Bell begins The desert and the sown: Travels in
Palestine and Syria (1883) with similar confidence.
To those bred under an elaborate social order few such moments of
exhilaration can come as that which stands at the threshold of wild travel.
The gates of the enclosed garden are thrown open, the chain at the
entrance of the sanctuary is lowered, with a wary glance to right and left you
step forth, and, behold! the immeasurable world. The world of adventure
DO NOT C
OPY
- 173 -
and of enterprise, dark with hurrying storms, glittering in raw sunlight, an
unanswered question and an unanswerable doubt hidden in the fold of
every hill. Into it you must go along, separated from the troops of friends
that walk the rose alleys, stripped of the purple and fine linen that impede
the fighting arm, roofless, defenceless without possessions. The voice of the
wind shall be heard instead of the persuasive voices of counsellors, the
touch of the rain and the prick of the frost shall be spurs sharper than praise
or blame, and necessity shall speak with an authority unknown to that
borrowed wisdom which men obey or discard at will. (Bell 2008, 1)
She is well-prepared WR�WDNH�RQ�WKH�ZRUOG�RQ�KHU�RZQ�WHUPV��QRW�DV�VRPHRQHĜV�
companion. Here, it is noted, WKH�GLDU\�IRUPDW�LV�QRW�XVHG�DV�LQ�HDUOLHU�ZRPHQĜV�WUDYHO�ZULWLQJV�
Contemporary WQOGPğU�Travel Writing
WRPHQĜV�WUDYHO�ZULWLQJ�LQ�WKH�ODWH�twentieth century tends to focus more on the
relationship between the individual and the societies through which she travels (Bassnett 2007,
237). It has be noted for two major characteristics. )LUVW��ZRPHQĜV�WUDYHO�QDUUDWLYHV�Dre both
exploratory and disruptive, breaking the chain that ties generations of male explorers to the
land. Second, ZRPHQĜV�WUDYHO�OLWHUDWXUH�RIIHUV the possibility of liberation. This balance between
critique and celebratory self-expression has been emphasized in several recent academic studies
RI�ZRPHQĜV�WUDYHO�ZULWLQJ��
2QH�SDUWLFXODU�H[DPSOH�LV�.DUHQ�/DZUHQFHĜV�Penelope voyages: Women and travel in
the British literary tradition (1994), in which she sees British women travel writers as reinventing
an Odyssean tradition that legitimates the male explorer. ,Q�+RPHUĜV�Odyssey, the hero wanders
while Penelope, his wife, must wait. The journey plot is expressed in various modalities, such as
adventure, pilgrimage, and exile, in which women are generally excluded. Their absence
establishes the world of the journey as a realm in which men, like Odyssey, confront the
ęIRUHLJQĚ�ZKHUHDV�women, like Penelope, serve as the symbolic embodiment of home (Lawrence
1994, 1). /DZUHQFH�FRXQWHUDFWV�WKLV�RUWKRGR[�YLHZ�E\�VWUHVVLQJ�3HQHORSHĜV�UROH�DV�D�ZHDYHU�ZKR
can thus be seen as fashioning her own itinerary, rather than emulating the exploits of the male
explorer��%\�ęZHDYLQJĚ�WKHPVHOYHV�LQ�DQG�RXW�RI�HVWDEOLVKHG�SODFHV�DQG�VRFLDO�UROHV��ZRPHQ�
travel writers have carved out a space in which to explore their own identities. They have used
travel writing to liberate themselves, from the constraints placed upon them by their own
DO NOT C
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- 174 -
societies, and to find the freedom to engage in an alternative way of life (Holland and Huggan
2003, 112-113). In other words, ZRPHQĜV�Wravel literature explores a tension between the thrilling
possibilities of the unknown and the weight of the familiar and cultural constraints, ębetween
home and the foreign, domestic confinement and freedom on the roadĚ (Lawrence 1994, 19).
2EYLRXVO\��QRW�DOO�ZRPHQĜV�WUDYHO�QDUUDWLYHV�DUH�IHPLQLVW��7KH�FRPPRGLILFDWLRQ�RI�
ZRPHQĜV�WUDYHO�ZULWLQJ�WHQGV�WR�FHOHEUDWH�WKH�ZULWHUV�WKHPVHOYHV�IRU�EHLQJ�ęGLIIHUHQW�Ě�
Nonetheless, the traveling subject is irreducibly complex. It is situated within the race-class-
gender nexus that is also shaped by wider social, historical, and ideological forces (Holland and
Huggan 2003, 133). Mary MorrisĜV Nothing to declare (1988), for instance, relates her extended
journey to Central America. The external journey is accompanied by an inner quest for self-
understanding (Holland and Huggan 2003, 114). Yet, one needs to be reminded that she
belongs to a privileged group of First World wanderers. Hence, her romanticization of Third
World plight and her fierce critique of Western materialism are in part the product of a cultural
background that allows her freedom of movement and expression, in part the result of a genre
that tends to take such freedoms for granted (Holland and Huggan 2003, 116).
The privilege enjoyed by First World female travelers is also reflected in Robyn
DavidsonĜV�Tracks (1980). At twenty-seven, she spent a year in the town of Alice Springs learning
how to handle camels before setting out on a solitary journey, with a dog and two camels on a
trek across 1,700 miles of Australian scrubland (Russell 1994, 13-14). When she reached the
Indian Ocean and the end of her journey, she wrote:
The two important things that I did learn were that you are as powerful and
strong as you allow yourself to be, and that the most difficult part of any
HQGHDYRXU�LV�WDNLQJ�WKH�ILUVW�VWHS��PDNLQJ�WKH�ILUVW�GHFLVLRQ��>đ@�&DPHO�WULSV��DV�
I suspected all along, and as I was about to have confirmed, do not begin or
end, they merely change form. (Davidson 1998, 254)
It may be thought that because a woman attempts to achieve something in what has
hitherto been considered a male area, she is doing so with the primary intention of making a
statement about women. It is abundantly clear, however, that in the case of most women
travelers, this is not so. To describe all women travelers as feminists would be to take away from
them that very quality which makes each one unique ė their individuality (Russell 1994, 15). In
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- 175 -
trekking towards the Indian Ocean, Davidson had to negotiate her own journey, deciding which
track to take.
Now, the definition of a track in Australia is a mark made across the
landscape by the repeated passage of a vehicle or, if you are very lucky,
initially by a bulldozer. These tracks vary in quality from a corrugated, bull-
dust-covered, well-defined and well-used road to something which you can
barely discern by climbing a hill and squinting in the general direction you
WKLQN�WKH�VDLG�WUDFN�PD\�JR��>đ@�:KHQ�\RX�DUH�SUHVHQWHG�ZLWK�KDOI�D�GR]HQ�
tracks all leading off in the general direction you want to go, all used within
the last year, and none of them marked on the map, which one do you
choose? (Davidson 1998, 109-110)
Whatever their needs and motivations, women over the centuries have been offered a
chance to both discover and express their individuality through travel and travel writing. For
those with the will and means, ęa journey outwards into the unseen may be the only hope of
finding what lies within. Better the reality of the unknown than the artificiality of the known�
(Russell 1994, 16).
LGBTQ Travel Writing
In addition to the feminist revival, the civil rights movements in the 1960s and 1970s
also facilitated the greater visibility of lesbian and gay cultures, as well as developing a sense of
LGBTQ identity in a positive rather than negative light (Mahn 2020, 50). While a cohesive history
of LGBTQ travel writing is still not available, some glimpses into queer moments in Anglophone
travel and travel writing are possible. The late eighteenth century witnessed a rise in recreational
or touristic travel, and consequently a greater exposure to different models of sexuality around
the Mediterranean. In this pre-LGBTQ phase of writing, it is possible to identify a loose collection
of literary threads which challenged sexual norms and categories without necessarily belonging
to a cohesive movement (Mahn 2020, 47). In the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries,
SRSXODU�*RWKLF�QRYHOV�VXFK�DV�0DWWKHZ�/HZLVĜV�The monk (1796), and prurient accounts of Lord
%\URQĜV�WUDYHOV�KHOSHG�PDNH�WKH�0HGLWHUUDQHDQ�D�UHJLRQ�VWURQJO\�DVVRFLDWHG�ZLWK�WDERR�VH[XDO�
practices, such as incest, sodomy, and pornography (Mahn 2020, 48).
DO NOT C
OPY
- 176 -
ęGreek loveĚ was an aesthetic materialized through the bodies of the Greek boys and
men he had sexual relations with. For a highly selective intellectual elite, the Classics offered a
cultural acumen that could legitimate an interest in certain culturally tabooed and prohibited
practices. This interest in the Classics peaked in the late nineteenth century, when a growing
number of British and German writers and scholars were actively travelling to Greece to research
the diversity of sexuality and sexual practice in ancient and archaic Greek culture (Mahn 2020,
48). The young Virginia Woolf summarized her own observations of her travels in Reminiscences
of a sWXGHQWĜV�life (1925), where she catalogued life at the male-dominated British School at
Athens (Mahn 2020, 48-49). Meanwhile, Oscar Wilde (1854-������H[SORUHG�WKH�WKHPH�RI�ę*UHHN�
ORYH�LQ�his writings, such as The picture of Dorian Gray (1890) (Mahn 2020, 49).
As interest in the Classics waned at the beginning of the twentieth century, writers
interested in non-heteronormative lives and practices shifted to new forms of artistic expression,
creating new lines of queer inquiry. Modernism offered a fertile territory for queer writing and
politics in fiction although its presence in travel writing was less pronounced. Explorations of
strangeness and estrangement were bound up with the travel, writing, and philosophy of a
number of key figures. Virginia Woolf (1882-1941), Gertrude Stein (1874-1946), E.M. Forster
(1879-1970) are among those for whom literary and sexual experimentation went hand-in-hand.
2QH�RI�WKH�PRVW�VWULNLQJ�H[DPSOHV�RI�WKLV�LV�:RROIĜV�QRYHO�Orlando (1928), which explores
bisexuality through a historical fantasy focused on travel. Yet, queer themes are mostly explored
in fiction in this period, rather than in non-fictional travel writing, since fiction offered at least a
partial veil against legal and personal challenges in connection with sexual deviance or
difference��VXFK�DV�(�0��)RUVWHUĜV�Maurice (1912; published in 1971). While travel writings in the
period may have been sexually experimenting abroad to avoid the prying gaze of friends and
family, the status of travel writing as an authentic or real account of experience offered
potentially dangerous exposure (Mahn 2020, 49).
This is not to say that there are no canonical examples of travel writing in the early to
mid-twentieth century that address alternative forms of sex and sexuality. In the 1950s, the Beats
movement brought together a group of intellectuals for whom sexual and literary
experimentation was integrated into travel. Sex and sexuality was more than just a lifestyle for
the Beats; it was part of their self-fashioning and creative exSUHVVLRQ��-DFN�.HURXDFĜV On the road
(1957), for instance, has been hailed as a counter-cultural text partly because of its use of travel
DO NOT C
OPY
- 177 -
as a pseudo-spiritual state of being that reflects a disenchantment with the categories of home
and tradition.2
On the Road was written in 1951 when Kerouac spent three uninterrupted weeks
typing the words onto a 120-ft scroll of teletype paper. The novel recounts his travels across
America, often in the company of his friend and prime influence, Neal Cassady, renamed Dean
Moriarty in the book. The novel features many key figures of the Beat movement represented by
characters in the book, such as William S. Burroughs (Old Bull Lee), Allen Ginsberg (Carlo Marx),
Neal Cassady (Dean Moriarty), and Kerouac himself as the narrator Sal Paradise. It was once a
zeitgeist book that defined a transformative moment in postwar culture. It is set in a time when
traveling across America and smoking weed meant something �2Ĝ+DJDQ�������Q�SDJ��
However, one wonders if it would be considered a cult text if the principal protagonists
were openly gay. Apparently, the narrator in the novel is still unable to embrace his queerness as
KH�H[SHULHQFHV�ęIUHTXHQW�VOLSSDJH�EHWZHHQ�KRPRVRFLDO�DQG�KRPRVH[XDO�UHODWLRQV�ZLWK�WKH�PHQ�
hH�PHHWV��0DKQ���������-50). In San Francisco, he reveals:
There were plenty of queers. Several times I went to San Fran with my gun
and when a queer approached me in a bar john I took out the gun and said,
ę(K"�(K"�:KDWĜV�WKDW�\RX�VD\"Ě�+H�EROWHG��,ĜYH never understood why I did
that; I knew queers all over the country. It was just the loneliness of San
2 The WHUP�ę%HDW�PRYHPHQWĚ�UHIHUV�WR�D�JURXS�RI�86�ZULWHUV�DQG�SRHWV�ZKR�FDPH�WR�SURPLQHQFH�
LQ�WKH�����V�DIWHU�::,,��7KH�JURXSĜV�PRVW�LFRQLF�UHSUHVHQWDWLYHV�LQFOXGH Jack Kerouac, Allen
Ginsberg, William S. Burroughs, and Gary Snyder. The historical context of the Beat movement
lies in the idea that technological and economic progress that should have led to some form of
utopia eventually brought about the global devastation of the two wars. :KDW�IROORZHG�ZDV�ęD�
SHUYDVLYH�VHQVH�RI�HPSWLQHVV��LQ�ZKLFK�PDQ\�RI�WKH�\RXQJ�JHQHUDWLRQ�EHJDQ�WR�VHHN�PHDQLQJ�
beyond traditional values and the mainstream worldview. This gave rise to myriad alternative
DUWLVWLF�DQG�LQWHOOHFWXDO�FRPPXQLWLHV��DPRQJ�ZKLFK�WKH�ę%HDWVĚ�DUH�QRWDEle. 7KH�ę%HDWĚ�PRYHPHQW�
was a precursor to the countercultural movements of the 1960s. Members of these two camps
VKDUHG�VLPLODU�LGHDV��ęUHMHFWLRQ�RI�WKH�WUDGLWLRQDO�IDPLO\�XQLW��GLYHUJHQFH�IURP�WKH�
established work paradigm, focus on individual freedom, e[SHULPHQWDWLRQ��DQG�VH[XDO�OLEHUDWLRQĚ
(Bates 2014, n.pag.). On the road by Kerouac is considered to be one of the quintessential
H[DPSOHV�RI�ę%HDWĚ�OLWHUDWXUH��DORQJ�ZLWK Howl by Ginsberg and Naked lunch by Burroughs.
DO NOT C
OPY
- 178 -
)UDQFLVFR�DQG�WKH�IDFW�WKDW�,�KDG�D�JXQ��,�KDG�WR�VKRZ�LW�WR�VRPHRQH��>đ@�7KH�
WLPH�ZDV�FRPLQJ�IRU�PH�WR�OHDYH�)ULVFR�RU�,ĜG�JR�FUD]\���.HURXDF����������.
While there may have been a growth in writing about queer subjects and cultures from
the nineteenth century onwards, it would be misleading to assume that each successive
generation or group of writers represents a clearly defined period of a chronologically marked
trajectory of growing resistance to heteronormative values. However, from the mid-twentieth
century, it is possible to identify a growing number of travel writers who can fall under the
umbrella of LGBTQ travel writing. These are travelers who were either open about their sexuality,
or who were consciously aware of LGBTQ politics (Mahn 2020, 50).
2QH�VDOLHQW�H[DPSOH�RI�/*%74�WUDYHO�ZULWLQJ�LV�(GPXQG�:KLWHĜV�States of desire: Travels
in gay America (1980), in which he surveys some aspects of gay life in America. Moving from
New York to California, he makes a comparison between the gay culture of New Yorkers and
Angeleans.
7KH�PHQWLRQ�RI�1HZ�<RUN�EURXJKW�XS�RWKHU�FRPSDULVRQV��7KHUHĜV�QRW�WKH�
same urge in Los Angeles to go out every night for sex or dancing. During
the week people stay home and watch TV or work on their houses. Their
home improvement skills are often remarkable. Gay men do their own
building, masonry, electrical wiring, plumbing. Nothing daunts them.
(Edmund White 2014, 8)
The narrator further discusses the work ethics of the locals. They might claim that they
are laid-EDFN��EXW�LQ�IDFW�LW�LV�MXVW�ęD�SRVH�Ě
(YHU\RQH�LQ�/RV�$QJHOHV�ZLOO�WHOO�\RX�KHĜV�ODLG-back. At first I took it as a
rueful confession, an admission of regret, possibly an apology for tropical
listlessness in the presence of the reputed dynamism of New York. >đ@ Only
after a few days in Los AngHOHV�GLG�,�GLVFRYHU�,ĜG�EHHQ�WDNHQ�LQ�E\�IDOVH�
advertising. Angeleans are as frantic as anyone. They work long hours for
money and status, the twin gods of the city, and both gods smile with favor
RQ�WKH�HIIRUWV�RI�WKHLU�GHYRWHHV��>đ@�*D\�PHQ�WKHUH�KROG�D�wide range of
jobs. They are technicians for the film industry, they are teachers, designers,
waiters, hairdressers, lawyers, writers, and they are especially real estate
DO NOT C
OPY
- 179 -
brokers. People develop ulcers, suffer from hypertension, drug themselves
into sleep, shake with job anxiety ė DQG�DVVXUH�\RX�WKH\ĜUH�ODLG-back.
:KHUHDV�LQ�1HZ�<RUN�\RXĜUH�REOLJHG�WR�WHOO�IULHQGV�\RXĜUH�RYHUERRNHG�HYHQ�
ZKHQ�\RXĜUH�LGOH��LQ�/RV�$QJHOHV�\RX�WHOO�WKHP�\RXĜUH�UHOD[LQJ�E\�WKH�SRRO�
HYHQ�ZKHQ�\RXĜUH�KXGGOHG�LQ�\RXU�VWXG\�RYHU�IRXr phones and a desk
loaded with contracts. Insouciance is a West Coast pose. (Edmund White
2014, 8-9)
The narrator discovers that gay men take up a wide variety of professions. Yet, it is still
VXEWO\�SURKLELWHG�WR�RSHQ�XS�RQHĜV�VH[XDO�LGHQWLW\�LQ�WKH�ILOm industry.
Tennessee Williams has mentioned somewhere that actors have the hardest
time coming out and are the most penalized when they do because a
straight audience does not like to see homosexuals embodying its own
fantasies; who wants to watch a fag kiss the girl? Hollywood remains tightly
closeted, though in many cases the closet is roomy enough to hold dozens
of people. (Edmund White 2014, 4)
While gay travel writing is ostensible, lesbian travel writing is less visible than its gay
male counterparW��/LNH�ZRPHQĜV�WUDYHO�ZULWLQJ�LQ�JHQHUDO��DW�OHDVW�XQWLO�WKH�UHFHQW�VFKRODUO\�
recovery of this branch of the genre, lesbian travel writing has been neglected and excluded
IURP�WKH�PDLQVWUHDP�FDQRQ��*LOOLDQ�.HQGDOOĜV�HGLWHG�YROXPH�Something to declare: Good lesbian
travel writing (2009) deploys border crossings as a metaphor for the ways in which people can
ępassĚ unchecked (Mahn 2020, 51).
In the Introduction, the editor contemplates the definition of lesbianism.
But I had to wonder exactly What Makes a Lesbian a Lesbian when I got
pieces that contained no reference to sexuality or orientation: they were just
about places and people. Women. Who were, one assumed, lesbians. But,
WKHQ��ZKDW�GHILQHV�OHVELDQLVP"��<DZQ���,�GLGQĜW�FDUH��,�MXVW�ZDQWHG�WR hear
good stories. (Kendall 2009, 3)
0HDQWLPH��LQ�RQH�RI�WKH�VWRULHV��ę3RVWFDUG��$�VWRU\Ě�ZULWWHQ�E\�5XWKDQQ�Robson, the
narrator vacations in the Caribbean with her current partner named Deirdre. Throughout her
DO NOT C
OPY
- 180 -
stay, she plans to send a postcard to her ex-partner named Kiva (Catherine) in New York City,
with whom she had lived together for three years. Eventually, she comes to understand the truth
about a relationship she thought she had left a long time ago (Kendall 2009, 7). At one point,
she reflects on one comment Deirdre often makes.
ę,WĜV�QRW�MXVW�KHWHURVH[XDOLW\�Ě�'HLUGUH�ODXJKV��ę6RPH�SHRSOH�MXVW�KDYH�D�
KDUG�WLPH�EHLQJ�ORYHG�Ě
7KLV�LVQĜW�WKH�ILUVW�WLPH�'HLUGUH�KDV�VDLG�WKLV�WR�PH��>đ@�,ĜG�DSSOLHG�
'HLUGUHĜV�FRPPHQW�WR�.LYD�ė who was probably dialing my phone or
knocking at my door that very moment ė wondering if that was her problem,
WKDW�VKH�FRXOGQĜW�DFFHSW�WKH�IDFW�WKDW�,�KDG�ORYHG�KHU��>đ@�<HW�'HLUGUHĜV�
comment also pertained to me. As soon as I met her, I was already panicked
that Deirdre would soon see me as a shallow, disappointing, mediocre
ZRPDQ��VFDUUHG�ZLWK�FHOOXOLWH�DQG�PHVV\�PHPRULHV��7R�OHW�RQHĜV�VHOI�EH�ORYHG�
was to ULVN�EHLQJ�DQ�REMHFW��QRW�MXVW�DQ�ęREMHFW�RI�DIIHFWLRQ�Ě�EXW�D�WKLQJ��$V�
inconsequential and flat as a postcard. (Robson 2009, 152)
One day, she goes out snorkeling with Deirdre. Then, she realizes that for the past
seven years Kiva still loves her.
,ĜG�like to say I know right then. That I have an instantaneous
epiphany. That the sky opens up in a revelatory downpour and a bolt of
thunder strikes me. (Robson 2009, 153)
The growing visibility of LGBTQ subjects in literature coincided with surgical and
cultural explorations of the body, and a growing appreciation of the complex discontinuities that
can be in play between biological and lived gender. ęCisgenderĚ is a term recently adopted to
describe a person where there is no social conflict between biological sex and lived gender. For
example, a person identifies as a woman who was also biologically born as a woman. The
agitation around this term partially reflects a desire to develop a more sophisticated vocabulary
to describe the ways in which bodies and identities operate within ęnormalĚ or ęnot normalĚ
categories (Mahn 2020, 52). These issues are ostensibly UHOHYDQW�WR�RQH�RI�%ULWDLQĜV�PRVW�IDPRXV�
travel writers, Jan Morris, who was born as James Morris in 1926. Conundrum (1974) is an
account of her life, travels and transition from male to female (Mahn 2020, 52). Initially, she
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OPY
- 181 -
never thought that her transexual identity was determined by biological traits or social
HQYLURQPHQW��,W�ZDV�ęD�PDWWHU�RI�WKH�VSLULW�Ě
Trans-sexualism is something different in kind. It is not a sexual mode or
preference. It is not an act of sex at all. It is a passionate, lifelong,
ineradicable conviction, and no true trans-sexual has ever been disabused of
it. >đ@�Freudians and anti-Freudians, sociologists and environmentalists,
family and friends, intimates and acquaintances, publishers and agents, men
of God and men of science, cynics and compassionates, lewds and prudes ė
all have asked me these questions since then, and very often provided
answers too, but for me it remains a riddle. So be it. (Jan Morris 2002, 5-6)
In order to fulfill her childhood dream of escaping from maleness into womanhood
(Jan Morris 2002, 7), she had to set out on a pilgrimage.
I spent half my life travelling in foreign places. I did it because I liked it, and
to earn a living, and I have only lately recognized that incessant wandering
DV�DQ�RXWHU�H[SUHVVLRQ�RI�P\�LQQHU�MRXUQH\��>đ@�,�VXEOLPDWHG�LQ�WUDYHO�ė
perhaps even in movement itself, for I have always loved speed, wind and
great spaces. (Jan Morris 2002, 88)
Eventually, she crossed the national border, leaving the old house in Wales for
Casablanca in Morocco, where she underwent the sexual reassignment surgery, transitioning
from one gender to another.
I booked myself a return ticket to Casablanca in Morocco, and waving
a long farewell to the old house as I drove down the lane, in July 1972, I went
away to Africa, where I had found solace before, and knew of a magician now.
(Jan Morris 2002, 117)
Queering Travel Writing
Queer studies might productively intersect with travel writing studies. Queer theory is
LQWHUHVWHG�LQ�WKH�ZD\�ęQRUPDOĚ�FDWHJRULHV��HVSHFLDOO\�LQ�VH[XDOLW\��DUH�SURGXFHG�DQG�KRZ�QRQ-
normative sexualities are pushed out of cultural recognition and sanction through legal practices
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OPY
- 182 -
(such as the criminalization of sodomy), discursive structures (such as the vilification of
homosexuality), and the privileging of certain lifestyles and social customs (such as
heterosexuality) (Mahn 2020, 46).
Travel writing can be a perfect vehicle for the queer because travel has a long
association with subjects crossing conventional borders and boundaries, and the margin and
periphery are travel writing staples (Mahn 2020, 47). Queering travel writing allows one to
DFNQRZOHGJH�DQG�SURPRWH�WKH�JHQUHĜV�SRWHQWLDO�WR�GHVWDELOL]H�FXOWXUDO�DQG�VRFLDO�QRUPs.
ę4XHHULQJĚ�WUDYHO��WKHUHIRUH��LQYROYHV�LQWHUURJDWLQJ�KRZ�WKH�JHQUH�KHOSV�WR�SURGXFH��DQG�
sometimes challenge, knowledge and understanding about sexuality. It involves the disruption
and questioning of heteronormative paradigms. Queering the travel writing canon is to some
extent a matter of identifying and critiquing moments when the genre works in culture to
promote and enforce normative (hetero)sexuality (Mahn 2020, 47). ęQueerĚ has been used by
critics as a more open way to understand non-heteronormative experiences and communities,
thereby avoiding the narrow labeling of ęlesbianĚ or ęgayĚ practices which are not easily
translatable across the globe (Mahn 2020, 53).
Conclusion
,Q�WKLV�FKDSWHU��ZH�GLVFXVV�ZRPHQĜV�WUDYHO�ZULWLQJ�WKDW�ZDV�RQFH�considered a novelty
when relatively few women traveled. Although there is no obvious difference between male and
female writers, one needs to take into consideration issues of class, race and gender that have
GHWHUPLQHG�RQHĜV�DFFHVV�WR�FHUWDLQ�GLVFXUVLYH�structures while writing. Women travel writers may
have the privilege of witnessing firsthand the domestic sphere of places that have otherwise
been denied their male counterparts. Nonetheless, since their journeys are both physical and
spiritual, there is no clear-cut division between travel writing, memoirs, autobiography,
ethnographic work, and fiction. Meanwhile, one witnesses the increasing visibility of LGBTQ
travel writing by the late nineteenth century. Afterwards, queer theory is applied to the study of
travel writing, by identifying and challenging the cultural norm of sexual identity.
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OPY
- 183 -
Class Activities
Chapter-end Exercise
1. 1DUUDWH�D�EULHI�KLVWRU\�RI�ZRPHQĜV�WUDYHO�ZULWLQJ�DQG�/*%74�WUDYHO�ZULWLQJ�
2. Explain how women travel writers negotiate their position in the male-dominated
terrain of the British Empire.
3. Discuss the interplay between the physical journey and the inner journey of the
gendered self in travel literature.
Discussion Questions
1. Read the assigned short story.
2. What elements in the story reveal the writerĜs emphasis on personal experiences and
networks of interaction?
3. How does the narratorĜs cross-cultural negotiation lead their journey towards greater
self-awareness? In other words, what have they realized about themselves, especially
their gender identity, through traveling?
DO NOT C
OPY
- 184 -
Chapter 11
Others and Stereotypes
2ToEKU
This chapter discusses Orientalism as a concept and discourse, and, as the harbinger of
postcolonialism, how it may be applicable to the study of travel literature, and the European
representation of the cultural and racial others.
Objectives
After studying this chapter, students will be able to:
1. Explain WKH�WHUP�ę2ULHQWDOLVP.Ě
2. Explain how the Orientalist discourse is reflected in the representation of the self
and others.
3. Discuss how Orientalism is applicable to the study of travel literature.
Orientalism
One feasible approach to travel literature is to examine how the traveling subject views
the land and the people s/he visits��7KH�SUDFWLFH�RI�GHVLJQDWLQJ�LQ�RQHĜV�PLQG�D�familiar space
ZKLFK�LV�ęRXUV�Ě�DQG�WKH�SHRSOH�ZKR�DUH�ęXVĚ�ZKLOH�ODEHOLQJ�WKH�XQIDPLOLDU�VSDFH�DV�ęWKHLUV�Ě�DQG�
WKH�SHRSOH�ZKR�DUH�ęRWKHUVĚ�FDQ�EH�DUELWUDU\ because ęthere is no doubt that imaginative
geography and history help the mind intensify its own sense of itself by dramatizing the distance
DQG�GLIIHUHQFH�EHWZHHQ�ZKDW�LV�FORVH�WR�LW�DQG�ZKDW�LV�IDU�DZD\��6DLG�����, 55). This practice is
WHUPHG�ę2ULHQWDOLVPĚ�ZKLFK�GHULYHG�IURP�WKH�ę2ULHQW�Ě�,W�LV�DOVR�WKH�WLWOH�RI�WKH�VHPLQDO�ZRUN�E\�
Edward W. Said (1935-2003). Orientalism (1978) was the first work of contemporary criticism to
take travel writing as a major part of its corpus, seeing it as a body of work which offered
particular insight into the operation of colonial discourses (Hulme and Youngs 2007, 8).
Originally, the Orient referred to the Bible lands. Later, it came to encompass India, and
most of Asia including the Middle East (Near East). Orientalism is now used to refer to an
academic area, a style of thought, and a discourse. When Orientalism is considered an academic
area, anyone who ęteaches, writes about, or researches the Orient ė and this applies whether the
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person is an anthropologist, sociologist, historian, or philologist ė either in its specific or its
general aspects, is an Orientalist, and what he or she does is OrientalismĚ (Said 2003, 2). As a
style of thought, Orientalism is EDVHG�XSRQ�D�GLVWLQFWLRQ�PDGH�EHWZHHQ�ęWKH�2ULHQWĚ�DQG��PRVW�
RI�WKH�WLPH��ęWKH�2FFLGHQWĚ��6DLG�����, 2-3). As a discourse, Orientalism is deployed for dealing
with the Orient ė dealing with it by making statements about it, authorizing views of it,
describing it, teaching it, settling it, ruling over it. Orientalist discourse is laced with notions of
power and superiority to facilitate a colonizing mission. European culture gained in strength and
identity by setting itself off against the Orient as a sort of surrogate and even underground self
(Said 2003, 3).
Orientalism derives from a particular closeness experienced between Britain and France
and the Orient, which until the early nineteenth century had really meant only India and the
Bible lands. From the beginning of the nineteenth century until the end of World War II, France
and Britain dominated the Orient and Orientalism; since World War II the US has dominated the
Orient, and approaches it as France and Britain once did. Out of that closeness came the large
body of texts called Orientalist (Said 2003, 4). At the center of Orientalist theory, practice, and
values found in the West, the sense of Western power over the Orient is taken for granted as
having the status of scientific truth (Said 2003, 46). Meanwhile, the Oriental is constructed as the
stereotypical image of the person inhabiting the Orient. The Oriental is usually depicted as the
ę2WKHU,Ě who is inferior and alien. While the Oriental man is depicted as feminine, weak, and yet
strangely dangerous, posing a threat to white, Western women, the Oriental woman is both
eager to be dominated and strikingly exotic.
Since the middle of the eighteenth century, there had been two principal elements in
the relation between East and West. One was a growing systematic knowledge in Europe about
the Orient, knowledge reinforced by the colonial encounter as well as by the widespread interest
in the alien and unusual, exploited by the developing sciences of ethnology, comparative
anatomy, philology, and history. Furthermore, to this systematic knowledge was added a sizable
body of literature produced by novelists, poets, translators, and gifted travelers. The other
feature of Oriental-European relations was that Europe was always in a position of strength, not
to say domination (Said 2003, 39-40).
The Orientalist discourse reveals itself in how British travel journalism provides its
readership with cultural frames of reference for different tourist settings around the world. In his
study of a selection of articles from the travel supplements of British weekend newspapers, The
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Sunday Times and The Telegraph, Ben Cocking concludes that strategies deployed in travel
journalism on safari holidays in Africa are constitutive of broader British imaginings of Africa
(2014, 176). Those travel supplements arguably tap into collective British imagination and
memory of the region by drawing on imperial and colonial rhetoric, referring to the metaphor of
Africa as the Dark Continent. This casting of Africa is the result of its historically negative
articulation in Europe and North America in broad cultural and racial terms. The terms often
found in the Orientalist discourse including ęEDUEDUous�Ě�ęXQFLYLOL]HG�Ě�DQG�ęVDYDJHĚ�have had
ramifications on the idea of Africa in Western thought (Cocking 2014, 180-181).
Noticeably, those terms reflect the concept of natural philosophy, which claimed to
estabOLVK�D�XQLYHUVDO�NQRZOHGJH�RI�SUDFWLFDOO\�HYHU\WKLQJ�RQ�DQG�DERYH�WKH�HDUWKĜV�VXUIDFH��8SRQ�
this premise, models of human progress were proposed by several thinkers of the eighteenth
century, that project a unilinear progression towards a better and happier life for all races. In The
spirit of the laws (1748), for instance, Montesquieu (1689-1755), French philosopher, attempts to
show how the prosperity and happiness of a society depend upon its law and type of
government, and how these themselves are influenced by history, geography and climate. He
VWLSXODWHV�WKDW�WKHUH�DUH�WKUHH�ęVSHFLHVĚ�RI�JRYHUQPHQW��QDPHO\��UHSXElican, monarchial, and
despotic. A republican government is that in which the people possess the supreme power; a
monarchial government, that in which a single person governs by established laws; a despotic
government, that in which a single person governs without law or rule (Montesquieu 1748, cited
in Hyland et al. 2003, 152; 164-165).
Subsequently, Adam Smith (1723-1790), Scottish philosopher, expounds in Lectures on
jurisprudence that there are four distinct states which mankind passes through respectively: the
Age of Hunters, the Age of Shepherds, the Age of Agriculture, and the Age of Commerce. The
Age of Hunters is applicable to a group of ten to twelve people living on an uninhabited island.
They support themselves by gathering wild fruits, catching fish and hunting for wild animals. As
the population grows, it would be necessary for them to breed animals for future consumption.
Thus is ushered in the Age of Shepherds, exemplified by the Tartars and the Arabs. These
ęVDYDJH�QDWLRQVĚ�KDYH�QR�QRWLRQ�Rf cultivating the land. As the number of the people multiply,
they would naturally turn to tending the soil to produce food, and gradually advance in to the
Age of Agriculture. Eventually, when the population level allows them to specialize in producing
particular kinds of commodities which will be exchanged for other necessities, the Age of
Commerce arrives (Smith 1978, 14-16). Eventually, the linearity of human improvement inherent
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- 187 -
in European models of prosperity has had a profound and lasting influence on Western thought,
DQG�PD\�KDYH�SDYHG�WKH�ZD\�IRU�WKH�LGHD�RI�ęSURJUHVVĚ��)DON�����, 94-95).
Notwithstanding, one should be reminded that the models of prosperity were created
after the English and other Europeans set foot on foreign lands. What had been heard and read
about the alien landscape and its inhabitants in travel writing would find its way into the
eighteenth-century natural philosophy. Unfortunately, the idea of linear progression is
beleaguered with self-contradictoriness. The effect of abundance on the moral character may not
be universally or simultaneously experienced, especially for savages. Even though all human
races reside within the same planetary sphere, they are placed at different places along the
unidirectional scale of civilization, the line that stretches from time immemorial to eternity. The
sense of belatedness is inevitable for savages as they can never catch up with the European
whites. In their representation of distant societies and cultures as primitive or inferior versions of
contemporary European nations, many philosophers clearly expressed a belief in their own
VRFLHW\ĜV�PRGHUQLW\�DQG�VXSHULRULW\�DQG�WKH�OHJLWLPDF\�RI�FKDQJH��
The Traveling Self and the Others
(GZDUG�6DLGĜV�seminal work is one of the foundational works of postcolonial thought,
which explicitly identified the centrality of travel writing to the colonial project and cemented its
place as a primary source in and for postcolonial studies. 6DLGĜV�work has cast a huge influence
on postcolonial studies and on the analysis of travel accounts, which are always representations
of the cultural ęotherĚ�(Lindsay 2020, 27). Afterwards, 0DU\�/RXLVH�3UDWWĜV�Imperial eyes: Travel
writing and transculturation (1992) is included in the canon of postcolonial studies on travel
literature (Lindsay 2020, 29). The book is part of a large-scale effort to decolonize knowledge,
history, and human relations. Its main subject is European travel and exploration writing since
around 1750. Its predominant theme is how travel books written by Europeans about non-
(XURSHDQ�SDUWV�RI�WKH�ZRUOG�FUHDWHG�WKH�LPSHULDO�RUGHU�IRU�(XURSHDQV�ęDW�KRPHĚ�DQG�JDYH�WKHP�
their place in it. Travel books, Pratt argues, gave European reading publics a sense of ownership,
entitlement and familiarity with respect to the distant parts of the world that were being
explored, invaded, invested in, and colonized. They were one of the key instruments in creating
WKH�ęGRPHVWLF�VXEMHFWĚ�RI�HPSLUH��3UDWW����������
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In Home and harem: Nation, gender, empire, and the cultures of travel. (1996), Inderpal
Grewal postulates that travel and travel writing, as a mode of understanding and as a discourse
of power, infiltrate the knowledge of nation and its subjects and objects (Grewal 1996, 144; 232).
And, travel literature, as Orientalist text, constitute representations��QRW�ęQDWXUDOĚ�GHSLFWLRQV�RI�
the Orient (Said 2003, 21). One example of Orientalist representations is discussed in Syed
Hussein $ODWDVĜV� The myth of the lazy native: A study of the image of the Malays, Filipinos and
Javanese from the 16th to the 20th century and its function in the ideology of colonial
capitalism (1977). He posits that the image of the indolent native was the product of colonial
domination generally in the nineteenth century when the domination of the colonies reached a
high peak and when colonial capitalist exploitation required extensive control of the area. The
image of the native had a function in the exploitation complex of colonial times. This was the
time when the capitalist conception of labor gained supremacy. Any type of labor which did not
conform to this conception was rejected as a deviation. A community which did not
enthusiastically and willingly adopt this conception of labor was regarded as indolent (Alatas
1977, 70). The accusation of indolence against the Malays was not due to actual indolence but
to their refusal to work as plantation laborers. This attitude of the Malays offered a serious
problem to colonial British planters in their competition with Chinese planters who acquired
Chinese labor from China by deceitful means. The British planters in the 1880s and 1890s were
faced by labor shortage owing to the refusal of the Malays to work in their plantations (Alatas
1977, 79).
The colonialist discourse surrounding the colonial subjects is evidenced in the
stereotypical representations of the English as well as the Indian characters in Around the world
in eighty days (1873) and A passage to India (1924). In Around the world in eighty days, Jules
Verne (1828 ė1905) characterizes Phileas Fogg, the major character, as a stereotypical English
gentleman living his regimented life with one servant. A wealthy English gentleman in London,
he follows a rigid routine.
+H�OLYHG�DORQH�LQ�KLV�KRXVH�LQ�6DYLOOH�5RZ��ZKLWKHU�QRQH�SHQHWUDWHG��>đ@�+H�
spent ten hours out of the twenty-four in Saville Row, either sleeping or
preparing himself to go out. When he chose to take a walk, it was with a
UHJXODU�VWHS�LQ�WKH�HQWUDQFH�KDOO�ZLWK�LWV�PRVDLF�IORRULQJ�>đ@.
(Verne 1994, 11)
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All details in his life need to be kept to a mathematically determined standard.
The mansion in Saville Row, though not sumptuous, was exceedingly
comfortable. The habits of its occupant were such as to demand but little
from the sole servant; but Phileas Fogg required him to be almost
superhumanly prompt and regular. On this very 2d of October he had
dismissed James Forster, because that luckless youth had brought him
shaving water at eight-four degrees Fahrenheit instead of eighty-VL[�>đ@.
(Verne 1994, 12)
In the story, Mr. Fogg is a member of the Reform Club. One day, he becomes involved
in an argument over a newspaper article stating that a newly opened railway section in India
makes it possible to travel around the world in 80 days. Therefore, he accepts a wager for
��������WR�FRPSOHWH�DQ�DURXQG-the-world journey within the period. Accompanied by his newly
hired French vale Jean Passepartout, Fogg departs from London by train on October 2, 1872.
After reaching India on the steamer Mongolia, they take a train from Bombay to Calcutta. Fogg
learns that the newspaper article was wrong; an 80-kilometer stretch of track from Kholby
to Allahabad has not yet been built. Fogg, thus, purchases an elephant, hires a guide and heads
towards Allahabad. During this stretch of the journey, they manage to rescue Aouda, a young
Indian widow, who is drugged and forced to undergo sati (or suttee), a Hindu practice in which
a widow sacrifices herself by sitting atop her deceased husband's funeral pyre.
The characterization of Aouda is equally noteworthy. She is the daughter of a wealthy
%RPED\�PHUFKDQW��ZKR�KDV�ęUHFHLYHG�D�WKRURXJKO\�(QJOLVK�HGXFDWLRQ�LQ�WKDW�FLW\��DQG��IURP�KHU�
PDQQHUV�DQG�LQWHOOLJHQFH��ZRXOG�EH�WKRXJKW�DQ�(XURSHDQ��8QIRUWXQDWHO\��VKH�ZDV�OHIW�RUphaned
and married against her will to the old rajah of Bundelcund (Verne 1994, 78). At one point, she
is placed in sharp contrast with the guards who were bearing the corpse of her late husband on
a palanquin. While she is young, richly accessorized, and ęDV�IDLU�DV�D�(XURSHDQ�Ě�WKH\�are armed
ęZLWK�QDNHG�VDEUHV�KXQJ�DW�WKHLU�ZDLVWV��DQG�ORQJ�GDP-DVFHQGHG�SLVWROVĚ (Verne 1994, 73). She is
considered a noble woman (Verne 1994, 235) since she has received British education and
embodies ę(XURSHDQĚ�EHDXWy standard. Hence, she proves the most suitable bride when Fogg
finally decides to marry her.
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The Indians in E. M. ForsterĜV A passage to India are presented differently from Aouda.
The story takes place in the fictional city of Chandrapore in British India. Adela Quested, a young
British schoolmistress, is visiting India with the intention of marrying Ronny Heaslop, the British
city magistrate of Chandrapore. One evening at the Chandrapore Club, Adela expresses her wish
WR�VHH�ęWKH�UHDO�,QGLD�Ě�&\ULO�)LHOding, the British headmaster of the small government-run college
for Indians, suggests that she meet Indians. Ironically, she admits avoiding seeing them since she
arrived in the city. She only talks to her own servant. Meanwhile, Mrs. Callendar, who was once a
QXUVH��VD\V�,QGLDQV�ęJLYH�PH�WKH�FUHHSVĚ (Forster 1989, 48). While Aouda is accepted into )RJJĜV�
British circle because her demeanor and educational background comply with the European
standard, the Indians, even the well-educated Dr. Aziz, are viewed in contempt since their
appearances and manners prove despicable to the British colonialists.
On the other hand, through an observation of the other, the colonizer becomes aware
of his/her own self. For some eighteenth-century French travelers, the journey to the Middle East
is represented as a mode of ęself-realization�Ě�,W�is in the interest of the traveler alone that the
Orient is brought under examination and presented as the proper field of observation. In other
words, the desire to see the othHU��WR�NQRZ�WKH�RWKHUĜV�FXOWXUH�EHWWHU��LV�D�GHVLUH�IRU�VHOI-
recognition and self-realization on the part of the European. The traveler locates himself as ęthe
powerful enunciating subject invested with the authority to discourse about the other. In other
words, the traveler is the savant who knows and has enough credentials to judge and make
DXWKRULWDWLYH�UHPDUNV�DERXW�RWKHU�SHRSOH�DQG�FXOWXUHV��%HKGDG�����, 86).
Apart from establishing the traveling self, travel narratives can also play a crucial role in
the representation of the cultural and racial others. Noteworthily, the acquisition of languages
and the extended stay enable the traveler to interact with the other more directly, and thus
understand and know the object of study better. The knowledge of language, in sum, separated
the amateur adventurer from the serious traveler (Behdad 2009, 87). One depiction of the
Orientals based on the knowledge of a serious traveler who speaks local languages is located in
*HUWUXGH�%HOOĜV�The desert and the sown: Travels in Palestine and Syria (1883). In her preface, Bell
claims that this is not a travel book:
Those who venture to add a new volume to the vast literature of travel,
unless they be men of learning or politicians, must be prepared with an
excuse. My excuse is ready, as specious and I hope as plausible as such
things should be. I desired to write not so much a book of travel as an
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- 191 -
account of the people whom I met or who accompanied me on my way, and
to show what the world is like in which they live and how it appears to
them. And since it was better that they should, as far as possible, tell their
own tale, I have strung their words upon the thread of the road, relating as I
KHDUG�WKHP�>đ@���%HOO�����, ix)
Traveling in Jordan, Bell tries to avoid the well-used tourist roads frequented by
Thomas Cooks caravans and carriages. Meantime, her view of the Oriental is clarified. He is
childish, not carrying the kind of knowledge an Englishwoman does.
The Oriental is like a very old child. He is unacquainted with many branches
of knowledge which we have come to regard as of elementary necessity;
frequently, but not always, his mind is little preoccupied with the need of
acquiring them, and he concerns himself scarcely at all with what we call
practical utility. (Bell 2008, ix)
Bell considers herself and the English people far more superior in terms of her
knowledge of the region. And, therefore, the English people have the legitimacy to govern the
land and the people, leading it to prosperity.
Being English, I am persuaded that we are the people who could best have
taken Syria in hand with the prospect of a success greater than that which
might be attained by a moderately reasonable Sultan >đ@� Seated as we are
upon the Mediterranean and having at our command, as I believe, a
considerable amount of goodwill within the Turkish empire and the
memories of an ancient friendship, it should not be impossible to recapture
the place we have lost. (Bell 2008, xi-xii)
Having made several trips to the Middle East during the years 1900-������%HOO�ęNQRZV�
more about the Arabs and Arabia WKDQ�DOPRVW�DQ\�RWKHU�OLYLQJ�(QJOLVKPDQ�RU�ZRPDQ�(Howell
2006, 94). Her knowledge of the regional culture qualified her for governmental services during
and after World War I. In January 1917, she was appointed Oriental Secretary to the civil
administration for Sir Percy Cox, as well as head of the Arab Bureau (Iraq). She was instrumental
in shaping the future of Mesopotamia and the founding of the state of Iraq. Upon her advice,
Faisal ibn Hussain ibn Ali was crowned the first king in August 1921 (Howell 2006, 427-429).
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The sense of cultural superiority also dominates the travel lecture of Henry Morton
Stanley. In 1871, the journalist arrived on the ę'DUN�&RQWLQHQWĚ�DW�WKH�EHKHVW�RI�WKH�New York
Herald newspaper. He had been commissioned to take charge of an expedition to locate the
explorer David Livingstone (1813-1873), who had vanished in the heart of Africa several years
earlier. Stanley relates his African travel experiences from 1871 to June 1884 in My African travels
(1886), wishing it would benefit the visited regions.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
I propose to present you to-night with a short history of events that have
transpired since 1870 in Equatorial Africa, and it may be, if you are devoid of
prejudice in the matter, you will be able to perceive that the outcome of
them may in time result in great good to the Dark Continent, and to its
myriads of dark nations. (Stanley 2009, 1)
He implicitly considers himself a representative of a civilized nation. Therefore, he
hopes that his expedition, along with the Christian missionaries, would bring progress to the
native inhabitants of the continent.
For a second time, after considering the various countries round about it,
their natural resources and peoples, the conviction gradually came to my
mind that Livingstone after all was not very wrong when he tried to
persuade me that there were vast expanses in Africa fit for the white man to
live in, without which of course civilization for Africa was for ever impossible.
And yet Livingstone had never been within 600 miles of the southern end of
this lake, when expatiating upon the merits of the continent. Uganda
appeared to me, compared with the barbarity and ferocity I had witnessed
elsewhere, to be a semi-civilized country. I estimated its population at about
3,000,000, and over all reigned a despotic monarch more inclined than any
of his people to the arts of civilization. He made such an impression upon
me that I advised English people to send a mission out to him. The Church
Missionary Society responded to the call, and some of its members who
arrived in Uganda in 1877 still live here. (Stanley 2009, 16)
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Another postcolonial study of travel literature brings us closer to England. In ę$QLPDOV�
as figures of otherness in travel narratives of Brittany, 1840-�������������Jean-Yves Le Disez
examines travel narratives of Brittany, France, a popular destination for British Victorian travelers.
ęA tour through BrittanyĚ by the Reverend Thomas Price was one of those narratives that made
use of animal imagery in their responses to the region and its inhabitants (Le Disez 2004, 71).
For the Victorian visitors, Brittany served like rural Britain, ęboth close and distant, very different
and sometimes oddly familiar��/H�'LVH]����������� Le Disez argues that the contradictory nature
of his encounter with the Breton is revealed in the guise of an animal in the narrative ė a dog, a
horse, wolves, sheep, cows, or even sardines. The wooden shoes (called sabots) worn by the
locals are even associated with hooves (Le Disez 2004, 73). To a certain extent, the crossing of
the English channel is not only the crossing of the border that separates France from England,
but the crossing of the border between self and non-self, which is also the crossing of the
border between the human and the animal (Le Disez 2004, 76). Whenever the Self is threatened
by a sudden invasion of Otherness, the appearance of an animal figure invariably signals danger
(Le Disez 2004, 76).
As the Orientalist discourse in earlier travel narratives often associates the cultural and
racial others with animals or savages, one viable mode of resistance that challenges the
colonialist attitude can be carried out in a revisit to colonial projects of scientific exploration, one
of which was the expedition to the North Pole in 1909 aiming to establish a body of knowledge
of the other. It was popularly credited to Robert Peary (1856-1920); yet, it was fraught with
racism since Matthew Henson (1866-1955), the black American explorer, had been excluded
from this story of discovery, along with the Eskimo travelers who made the trip possible. When
an explorer/traveler is mentioned, one usually thinks of Victorian bourgeois travelers,
(in)advertently dismissing accompanied servants, many of whom were people of color. However,
WKHVH�LQGLYLGXDOV�KDYH�QHYHU�DFKLHYHG�WKH�VWDWXV�RI�ęWUDYHOHUV�Ě�7KHLU�WUDYHO�H[SHULHQFHV�DQG�WKH�
cross-cultural encounters they made seldom find serious representation in the literature of travel.
This is apparently because in the dominant discourses of travel, a non-white person cannot
figure as a heroic explorer, aesthetic interpreter, or scientific authority. A host of servants,
helpers, companions, guides, and bearers have been excluded from the role of proper travelers
because of their race and class, and because theirs seemed to be a dependent status in relation
to the supposed independence of the individualist, bourgeois voyager (Clifford 1997, 33).
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Meanwhile, in the account of her trekking in Australian outback, Tracks, Davidson also
recognizes the negative discourse surrounding the Aborigines that has been produced and
circulated.
I had planned to camp in the creek with the Aborigines until I could find a job
DQG�D�SODFH� WR�VWD\��EXW� >đ@�(YHU\RQH� >đ@�ZDUQHG�PH�DJDLQVW� LW��7KH�EODFNV�
were unequivocally the enemy ė GLUW\��OD]\��GDQJHURXV��>đ@�7KLV�ZDV�EHFDXVH�
of the press, where clichpd images of stone-age drunks on the dole were
about the only coverage Aborigines got, and because everyone had been
taught at school that they were not much better than specialized apes, with
no culture, no government and no right to existence in a vastly superior white
world; aimless wanderers who were backward, primitive and stupid. (Davidson
1998, 6)
She does not seem invested with the racist ideology, and afterwards, acknowledges the
major role of one Aborigine she encounters during her journey. In fact, Davidson emphasizes the
warmth and friendliness of the Pitjantjara Aborigines, who were returning to Wingelinna and
Pipalyatjara after a land rights meeting in Warburton. She shared her tea and blankets with them.
On the next day, one of the members accompanied her to Pipalyatjara, a two-day walk. Mr. Eddie
ZDV�ę>D@�GZDUILVK�PDQ�ZLWK�GDQFLQJ�KDQGV��VWraight back, and on his feet, one huge Adidas and
RQH�WLQ\�ZRPDQĜV�VKRHĚ (Davidson 1998, 155). During those two days, Davidson discovered that:
He was a sheer pleasure to be with, exuding all those qualities typical of old
Aboriginal people ė strength, warmth, self-possession, wit, and a kind of
rootedness, a substantiality that immediately commanded respect. And I
ZRQGHUHG�DV�ZH�ZDONHG�DORQJ��KRZ�WKH�ZRUG�ěSULPLWLYHĜ�ZLWK�DOO�LWV�VXEWOH�
and nasty connotations ever got to be associated with people like this.
(Davidson 1998, 159).
Another way to decolonize travel writing is to engage with colonial heritage by
producing postcolonial modes of travel writing (Lindsay 2020, 31). While colonial travel narratives
are usually presented from the perspective of the traveler/explorer, some postcolonial travel
ZULWLQJ�RIIHUV�SHUVSHFWLYHV�RI�WKH�WUDYHOHH��)RU�LQVWDQFH��-DPDLFD�.LQFDLGĜV�A small place (1988) is
a work of non-fiction, drawing on her experiences of growing up in Antigua, an island nation in
the West Indies.
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- 195 -
While the island is depicted as an exotic destination to be commodified, circulated and
consumed, the main narrator casts a contemptuous gaze on the tourist industry, the Antiguan
government, and the British colonial legacy (Lindsay 2020, 32; Fowler 2020, 61). Once, she
H[SODLQV�WKH�UHDVRQ�RI�HFRQRPLF�LQHTXDOLW\�WKDW�OLHV�EHKLQG�WKH�QDWLYHVĜ�QHJDWLYH�DWWLWXGH�WRZDUGV�
the tourist.
That the native does not like the tourist is not hard to explain. For every
native of every place is a potential tourist, and every tourist is a native of
somewhere. Every native everywhere lives a life of overwhelming and
crushing banality and boredom and desperation and depression, and every
deed, good and bad, is an attempt to forget this. Every native would like to
find a way out, every native would like a rest, every native would like a tour.
But some natives ė most natives in the world ė cannot go anywhere. They
are too poor. They are too poor to go anywhere. They are too poor to
escape the reality of their lives; and they are too poor to live properly in the
place where they live, which is the very place you, the tourist, want to go ė
so when the natives see you, the tourist, they envy you, they envy your
ability to leave your own banality and boredom, they envy your ability to
turn their own banality and boredom into a source of pleasure for yourself.
(Kincaid 2000, 18-19)
Here, travel writing can function as anti-colonial critique, providing an empowering
aspect for writers from otherwise marginalized communities (Fowler 2020, 62). Notwithstanding
the marginalization, what members of an ex-colonial community often grapple with is the
formation of the postcolonial identity. In A bend in the river (1979), V.S. Naipaul (1932 ė2018)
reflects on the conundrum of postcolonial subjects since they cannot be identified with a
particular race or a specific origin.
Salim, an ethnically Indian Muslim and a shopkeeper in mid-twentieth century Africa, is
found carving a place for himself after the independence of an unnamed country. He bought
and took over 1D]UXGGLQĜV�VKRS located in the town in the interior, at the bend in the great
river. Thus, he drove from his hometown on the east coast in a Peugeot (Naipaul 1989, 7). As he
proceeded further into the continent, he realized that he was going in the wrong direction
(Naipaul 1989, 8). During the journey to the next chapter of his life, he contemplated what he
FRQVLGHUHG�KLV�ęKRPH�Ě The coastal city ZKHUH�KH�KDLOHG�IURP�ZDV�QRW�ęWUXO\�$IULFDQĚ��LW�ZDV�D�
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OPY
- 196 -
multicultural place where people of diverse backgrounds around the Indian Ocean had settled.
7KH�ęWUXHĚ�$IULFD�OLHG�LQ�WKH�LQWHULRU��)XUWKHUPRUH��KH�GLIIHUHG�IURP�RWKHU�,QGLDQV�EHFDXVH�KLV�
family was Muslim. Yet, they felt closer to the Hindus of northwestern India.
Africa was my home, had been the home of my family for centuries. But we
came from the east coast, and that made the difference. The coast was not
truly African. It was an Arab-Indian-Persian-Portuguese place, and we who
lived there were really people of the Indian Ocean. True Africa was at our
back. Many miles of scrub or desert separated us from the upcountry
people; we looked east to the lands with which we traded ė Arabia, India,
Persia. These were also the lands of our ancestors. But we could no longer
say that we were Arabians or Indians or Persians; when we compared
ourselves with these people, we felt like people of Africa.
(Naipaul 1989, 16)
The ancestors originally came from northwestern India, but they could not put dates to
their stories. The past was simply the past. The official history of the Indian Ocean had been
learned from books written by Europeans. Even though they failed to offer him a sense of pride,
wiWKRXW�WKHP��WKH�IDPLO\ĜV�SDVW�ęwould have been washed away, like the scuff marks of
fishermen on the beach outside our townĚ (Naipaul 1989, 16-17).
Conclusion
In this chapter, we learn about Orientalism as an academic area and as a discourse,
whereby the European traveling subject realizes him/herself through an encounter with others in
unfamiliar cultures and lands. In travel and travel literature, as a mode of understanding and as a
discourse of power, the traveling self builds a body of knowledge based on an extended period
of time observing the Oriental others. Finally, the chapter provides some examples of
decolonizing projects to verify the possibility of challenging the colonialist discourse in travel
writing.
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Class Activities
Chapter-end Exercise
1. ([SODLQ�WKH�WHUP�ę2ULHQWDOLVP�Ě
2. Explain how the Orientalist discourse is reflected in the representation of the self and
others.
3. Discuss how Orientalism is applicable to the study of travel literature.
Discussion Questions
1. Watch the screening of Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981).
2. Discuss how the native inhabitants in Peru, Nepal, and Egypt are depicted in the movie.
3. Do those representations reveal any prejudice by the filmmaker? How?
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Chapter 12
Authenticity and Nostalgia
2ToEKU
This chapter discusses the effects of modernity and globalization on travel and travel
literature, the intertwining of authenticity and nostalgia, and the practice of tourism in the age of
globalization.
Objectives
After studying this chapter, students will be able to:
1. ([SODLQ�WKH�WHUP�ęPRGHUQLW\�Ě
2. Explain the relationship between the search for authenticity and nostalgia.
3. Discuss how globalization has influenced travel literature.
4. Discuss how globalization has affected tourism.
Travel and the Effects of Modernity
In Abroad: British literary traveling between the wars (1980), a study of travel writing in
the early part of the twentieth century, Paul Fussell argues that the social and literary
atmosphere in the years following World War I, dominated by the mood of lost illusions and lost
lives, produced writers who seemed determined to desert their homelands. For him, because of
this feeling of discontent and exhaustion, and because of the modern tendency for self-
examination, travel became the dominant literary metaphor for the period (Blanton 1997, 21).
This is understandable as (XURSHĜV�LQWHUQDO�UHODWLRQV�DQG�LWV�UHODWLRQV�ZLWK�WKH�ODUJHU�ZRUOG, after
World War II, changed rapidly and chaotically. Then, the travel narrative discovered new purpose
DV�D�PHDQV�RI�REVHUYLQJ�PRGHUQLW\ĜV�HIIHFWV�DEURDG�DQG�H[Slaining them to home audiences
uncertain whether such changes are to be celebrated or mourned (Burton 2015, 85).
According to social scientists, modernity is characterized by advanced urbanization,
expanded literacy, generalized health care, rationalized work arrangements, geographical and
economic mobility, and the emergence of the nation-state as the most important sociopolitical
unit. While these are merely the surface features of modernity, the deep structure of modernity
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- 199 -
is a totalizing idea, a modern mentality that sets modern society in opposition both to its own
past, and to those societies of the present that are premodern or un(der)developed (MacCannell
1976, 7-8). Deeply concerned with irrevocable changes these upheavals signaled, modern
travelers often narrate their experiences in terms of nostalgia for a world prior to modernization,
global diaspora, and global war. If not explicitly anti-modern, twentieth-century travel narrative is
nonetheless often preoccupied with imagined worlds before: before whichever war is, for a
particular place, The War; before urbanization or modern technology; before the end of empires,
or beginning; before so many narratives had been written. Many writers narrate quests for
pastoral forms of life that they suppose will be unmarked by the malaise of the metropolitan
center. In this sense, ętravel promises a privileged access to a prelapsarian world, revealing the
nostalgia for imagined worlds that Europeans had long imagined as existing in some earlier
stage of historyĚ (Burton 2015, 86).
Significantly, from the 1920s onward, the travel genre finds new serious purpose: to
narrate PRGHUQLW\ĜV�large-scale transformations DQG�ZDUWLPHĜV�GLVORFations through the mobile
critical spectator. 7UDYHO�EHFRPHV�D�PHDQV�RI�XQGHUVWDQGLQJ�PRGHUQLW\ĜV�JOREDO�UHDFK�ęthrough
observing its irruptions and metamorphoses abroadĚ (Burton 2015, 88-89). In the globalized
world of the twentieth century, transience and rupture replace stasis and continuity as the norm.
The common notion is that modernity diminishes authenticity and it understands these profound
changes as a story of loss. Modernity, in short, may be understood as ęa complex condition that
produces the pursuit of representations and circumstances it romanticizes as authentic.
Conversely, postmodernity is the historical condition that follows, in which authenticity can no
longer be recovered but only fashioned anewĚ (Burton 2015, 162-163).
Authenticity and Nostalgia
The modern travel narrative casts the journey as an attempt to transcend the conditions
of (post)modernity to obtain the knowledge and experience necessary to distinguish genuine
from spurious (Burton 2015, 164). ThiV�LV�SUREDEO\�HTXLYDOHQW�WR�WKH�WRXULVWĜV�DWWHPSW�WR�find
cultural experiences in DQ�ęXQVSRLOHGĚ�SODFH��6LQFH�ęXQVSRLOHGĚ�GRHV�QRW�PHDQ�RQO\�WKDW�D�SODFH�
is left physically intact, it means also that it has not been discovered by others (Percy 1983, 51-
52). Therefore, the notion of authenticity is attached to every aspect of travel and its
UHSUHVHQWDWLRQ��WUDYHOHUĜV�H[SHULHQFHV��SODFHV�DQG�SHRSOHV�REVHUYHG��DQG�QDUUDWLYHV�ZULWWHQ
(Burton 2015, 164).
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- 200 -
In the years following World War I, for example, H.V. Morton (1892-1979) traveled by
FDU�WKURXJK�(QJODQG��6FRWODQG��,UHODQG��DQG�:DOHV�ęLQ�VHDUFK�RIĚ�SODFHV�WKDW�PDLQWDLQHG�
ęLQGLYLGXDOLW\Ě�DQG�YLOODJHV�ZKHUH�ęWKH�QDWLRQDO�VSLULW�FDQ�WKULYH�LQ�SHDFH�Ě�Some other writers
seek authenticity through pilgrimage to sites credited with significance that might prove
uncompromised even in the era of simulation. They trek to Lhasa, go on haj to Mecca, climb
sacred Buddhist mountains, or ė in one of the more overdetermined journeys possible ė retrace
tKH�VWHSV�RI�-HVXV��,Q�VXFK�QDUUDWLYHV��WUDYHOHUV�YH[HG�E\�PRGHUQLW\ĜV�LUUHYHUVLEOH�WUDQVIRUPDWLRQV�
and the condition of postmodernity create new versions of affiliation and meaning. In
counterpoint to stories of alienation, ętravel narrative simultaneously performs and tells the story
of performing the authentic. The performance produces the meaning it promises to chronicle; it
makes elusive experience concrete and ineffable meaning realĚ (Burton 2015, 165).
The search for authenticity is carried out, for instance, LQ�-RKQ�6WHLQEHFNĜV�Travels with
Charley in search of America ��������,W�ZDV�ę$PHULFDĚ�GXULQJ�WKH�&ROG�:DU�DQG�DIWHU�KH�KDG�
become well recognized. Having not done a road trip for quite some time, he planned to
rediscover the country and the people.
My plan was clear, concise, and reasonable, I think. For many years I have
traveled in many parts of the world. In America I live in New York, or dip
into Chicago or San Francisco. But New York is no more America than Paris
is France or London is England. Thus I discovered that I did not know my
own country. I, an American writer, writing about America, was working from
memory, and the memory is at best a faulty, warpy reservoir. I had not heard
the speech of America, smelled the grass and trees and sewage, seen its hills
and water, its color and quality of light. I knew the changes only from books
and newspapers. But more than this, I had not felt the country for twenty-
five years. In short, I was writing of something I did not know about, and it
seems to me that in a so-called writer this is criminal. My memories were
distorted by twenty-ILYH�LQWHUYHQLQJ�\HDUV��>đ@�6R�LW�ZDV�WKDW�,�GHWHUPLQHG�WR�
look again, to try to rediscover this monster land. Otherwise, in writing, I
could not tell the small diagnostic truths which are the foundations of the
larger truth. (Steinbeck 1986, 5-6)
In order to learn more about the locals, he decided to drop in a roadside restaurant
where they had breakfast.
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- 201 -
I soon discovered that if a wayfaring stranger wishes to eavesdrop on a local
population the places for him to slip and hold his peace are bars and
FKXUFKHV��%XW�VRPH�1HZ�(QJODQG�WRZQV�GRQĜW�KDYH�EDUV��DQG�FKXUFK�LV�RQO\�
on Sunday. A good alternative is the roadside restaurant where men gather
for breakfast before going to work or going hunting. To find these places
inhabited, one must get up very early. And there is a drawback even to this.
Early-rising men not only do not talk much to strangers, they barely talk to
one another. Breakfast conversation is limited to a series of laconic grunts.
The natural New England taciturnity reaches its glorious perfection at
breakfast. (Steinbeck 1986, 33-34)
+DYLQJ�HDYHVGURSSHG�RQ�WKH�ORFDOVĜ�FRQYHUVDWLRQ��WKH�ZULWHU�FDPH�WR�UHDOL]H�WKDW�RQH�
distinctive characteristic of the Americans is their love of hunting.
[E]very American is a natural-born hunter. And every fall a great number of
men set out to prove that without talent, training, knowledge, or practice
WKH\�DUH�GHDG�VKRWV�ZLWK�ULIOH�RU�VKRWJXQ��>đ@�%XW�LW�LVQĜW�KXQJHU�WKDW�GULYHV�
millions of armed American males to forests and hills every autumn, as the
KLJK�LQFLGHQFH�RI�KHDUW�IDLOXUH�DPRQJ�WKH�KXQWHUV�ZLOO�SURYH��>đ@�WKLV�OHJDF\�
of the frontiersman is not a new thing. (Steinbeck 1986, 56-58)
Eventually, Steinbeck left the town with the belief that he had established the defining
characteristic of the American frontier spirit. Setting out on his road trip in search of the
authentic America, the writer inadvertently becaPH�ęWKH�H[SHULHQWLDO�WRXULVWĚ�ORRNLQg for a chance
to vicariously experience the authenticity of the life of others, but does not appropriate it for
himself (Cohen 1979, 186-188).
Underlining the search for the authentic is a sense of nostalgia, a means of grappling
with the modernizing forces that are felt to compromise the authenticity of the worldĜV�GLIIHUHQW�
cultures. Travel writing serves, in this sense, to protect the idea of cultural diversity from the
threat of homogenization and the undifferentiated sweep of global culture (Holland and Huggan
2004, 139-140). It is a genre that ironically seeks reassurance through the appeal to an invented
past, the past that has never existed except as narrative (Holland and Huggan 2004, 140).
Nostalgia thus assumes its full meaning when the real is no longer what it was. It gives rise to a
plethora of myths of origin and of signs of reality (Baudrillard 2006, 6-7). The nostalgic urge of
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travel writing serves as a subjective response to the spectacle of change, a prerogative of
cultures that consider themselves advanced, a practice intrinsic to modern life: to have nostalgia
is to be modern (Burton 2015, 87).
As an agent of imperial dominance, travel writing encodes the freedom of travel
writers, which is not the freedom of all. It is the privilege of mobility that allows them to travel
and to write. In the nineteenth century, ętravel narratives were among a plethora of adventure
tales that energized the myth of Empire: they reinforced prevailing notions that the world was
ripe to conquer�(Holland and Huggan 2003, 4-5). In a postcolonial world, persistent cultural
nostalgia thinly disguises desire to resurrect their imperial past. Imperialist nostalgia is still a
staple of contemporary travel writing. It is not the same as the commemorative mourning of
Empire. Rather, it describes the variety of elegiac modes of perception through which the West
mourns the passing of a world that it itself has irrevocably altered via European colonial
enterprise (Holland and Huggan 2004, 140). Contemporary travel writers are arguably caught in
this hiatus, aware of their temporal, as well as their geographical, displacement (Holland and
Huggan 2003, 23).
Travel Literature and the Sense of Belatedness
By the end of the 1980s, the postcolonial era and the postmodern era have shaken the
intellectual and moral certainties that underpinned much Western travel writing in the
nineteenth and early twentieth centuries (Thompson 2020, 196-197). The emergence of the Third
World underscores the imbalance of wealth in terms of mobility, leisure and access to cultural
production. This has ensured that travel writing since the 1950s has remained overwhelmingly a
genre produced by and for First World Westerners, notwithstanding the increasing prominence
of postcolonial travel writers in recent decades (Thompson 2020, 201-202).
There are two sets of responses in contemporary travel writing, which are symptomatic
RI�WKH�ęSRVWLPSHULDOĚ�HUD that has yet to deliver itself from the sense of displacement ė the
recognition of belatedness and globalization.
Contemporary travel writers find that they are arriving all too early. Changes in the
technology of transportation speeds up travel but takes away the chance to enjoy the leisure
time travel writers need. Speed is antithetical to the ęWUDYDLOĚ of conventional travel which relies
on modes of transportation that require the passage of time ėwalking, sailing, and rail travel
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- 203 -
(Holland and Huggan 2003, 23). Furthermore, contemporary travel writers realize that their own
endeavors have come too late; it rests for them to emulate what others before them have
achieved, paying respects to previous writers and travelers (Holland and Huggan 2003, 7).
Concurrently, globalization and the escalation in tourism have brought to recent travel writing a
pervasive mood of belatedness. Contemporary travel writers are well aware that the age of
heroic travel is long gone, and the chance for epic expeditions and major new discoveries is
rapidly diminishing. Yet, this mood has undoubtedly become more pronounced in the genre, as
demonstrated by recent accounts which retrace the journeys of earlier travelers (Thompson 2020,
206).
There are at least three possible strategies for travel writers to address the sense of
belatedness: 1) replicating old journeys; 2) designating themselves as comic and/or eccentric
figures; 3) casting themselves in the self-ironic figure of ęthe English gentleman DEURDGĚ�(Holland
and Huggan 2003, 22).
In the Footsteps
Postwar literary travelers have had to devise new strategies both for traveling and for
writing about it. Some create new points of departure while others constitute a reappropriation
of older routes (Matos 1992, 216). This approach to travel is referred to as footsteps or second
journey (Leavenworth 2020). The second journey form relies on the presence of two travelogues:
one of the first journey and the other of the second journey. The first journey supplies an
itinerary which the second traveler repeats, and the first travelogue is continuously used in the
second journey narrative for purposes of comparison and contrast (Leavenworth 2020, 86). This
is often found in literary heritage trips that trace past works of fiction as well as literal and
ILJXUDWLYH�SDWKV�RI�DQ�DXWKRUĜV�OLIH��The attainment of a sense of authenticity thus emerges as
central in footsteps travel and travel writing as a complex figurations of nostalgia (Leavenworth
2020, 89). For Romantic literary pilgrims, DXWKRUVĜ�JUDYHV�ZHUH�WKH�RULJLQDO�SRLQW�RI�LQWHUHVW��
ęJURZLQJ�LQWR�PRUH�H[WHQGHG�LWLQHUDULHV�GHOLQHDWLQJ�VLWHV�RI�LPSRUWDQFH�WR�DXWKRUVĜ�ELRJUDSKLHV�
or their literary production�(Leavenworth 2020, 90).
One cogent instance of footsteps travel writing inspired by great authors and great
ZRUNV�LV�(PPD�/DUNLQĜV�Finding George Orwell in Burma (2004). In 1995, she first visited Burma
(Myanmar) in search for places associated with Eric Arthur Blair (1903-1950). He had lived in
%XUPD�LQ�WKH�����V�DV�DQ�RIILFHU�RI�WKH�,PSHULDO�3ROLFH�)RUFH��$QG�WKHQ��ęVXGGHQO\�DQG�ZLWKRXW�
DO NOT C
OPY
- 204 -
warning, he returned to England and handed in his notice. Just as abruptly, he began his career
as a writer, exchanging his real name for the pen-name ě*HRUJH�2UZHOOĜĚ (Emma Larkin 2011, 2).
According to her, there is a joke in Burma that Orwell wrote not just one novel about the
country, but three: a trilogy comprised of Burmese days (1934), Animal farm (1945), and
Nineteen eighty-four (1949) (Emma Larkin 2011, 3).
In order to better understand the human rights situation in Burma, she revisited
2UZHOOĜV�ELRJUDSKLHV�DQG�QRYHOV�
It was during my efforts to understand this aspect of Burmese life that I
became fascinated by Orwell. All his novels explore the idea of individuals
being trapped within their environment, controlled by their family, the
society around them or an all-SRZHUIXO�JRYHUQPHQW��>đ@�$V�,�UHUHDG�2UZHOOĜV�
novels ė books I had not read since my schooldays ė I became curious about
KLV�SHUVRQDO�FRQQHFWLRQ�ZLWK�%XUPD��>đ@�,�ORRNHG�WKURXJK�WKH�YDULRXV�
biographies that have been written about Orwell, but their authors seemed
to underplay the significance of Burma and, as far as I could gather, none of
them had ever conducted any research in the places where Orwell spent five
life-changing years. The towns and cities where Orwell was posted span the
geographical heart of the country and, in a sense, it is still possible to
experience Burma as Orwell knew it ė almost half a century of military
dictatorship has given it the air of a country frozen in time. (Emma Larkin
2011, 4-5)
Dissatisfied with her initial research, she thus decided to visit Burma.
Before I left for Burma, I went to the George Orwell Archive in London to
ORRN�DW�2UZHOOĜV�ILQDO�PDQXVFULSW��:KHQ�2UZHOO�GLHG��LQ�������KH�KDG�RQO\�MXVW�
EHJXQ�WKH�SURMHFW��ě$�6PRNLQJ�5RRP�6WRU\Ĝ�ZDV�SODQQHG�DV�D�QRYHOOD�RI�
thirty to forty thousand words which told how a fresh-faced young British
man was irrevocably changed after living in the humid tropical jungles of
colonial Burma. In an inky scrawl on the first three pages of a notebook
bound in marbled paper Orwell had written an outline for the tale and a
short vignette. I flicked through the rest of the book and found the pages
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- 205 -
bland. The rest of the story, I realized, lay waiting in Burma. (Emma Larkin
2011, 6)
Noticeably, she visited the country with a set of predispositions. Burma in the present
days of the junta government, she hoped, would yield an image of an equally oppressive regime
LQ�2UZHOOĜV�FRORQLDO�SDVW��
I had come to Mandalay carrying a dog-HDUHG�FRS\�RI�2UZHOOĜV�Burmese
Days, the margins of its pages filled with messy notes and scrawls. As I saw
LW��WKLV�QRYHO�ZDV�WKH�EHJLQQLQJ�RI�2UZHOOĜV�XQFDQny and prophetic trilogy
which told the history of present-day Burma. Orwell was just nineteen years
ROG�ZKHQ�KH�DUULYHG�LQ�0DQGDOD\�WR�MRLQ�WKH�%ULWLVK�JRYHUQPHQWĜV�3ROLFH�
Training School. It was there that he began the colonial career which would
mark the beginning of his journey towards becoming a writer. And it was the
British administration in Burma, of which Orwell was a part, which laid the
foundations for the ruthless powers that have controlled the country for the
past half-FHQWXU\��>đ@�0DQGDOD\��Oocated in the flat, dry plains of what the
%ULWLVK�FDOOHG�8SSHU�%XUPD��LV�WKH�FRXQWU\ĜV�VHFRQG�ODUJHVW�FLW\��,Q�Burmese
Days 2UZHOO�GHVFULEHG�LW�DV��ěUDWKHU�D�GLVDJUHHDEOH�WRZQĜ�WKDW�ZDV�ěGXVW\�DQG�
LQWROHUDEO\�KRWĜ��7KRXJK�WKH�GHVFULSWLRQ�UHPDLQV�WUXH�WRGDy, little remains of
WKH�ZRRGHQ�KRXVHV�DQG�GLUW�VWUHHWV�RI�2UZHOOĜV�WLPH���Emma Larkin 2011, 11-
12)
7UDFLQJ�*HRUJH�2UZHOOĜV�URXWH�LQ�%XUPD��/DUNLQ�KRSHG�VKH�FRXOG�YLVXDOL]H�life in British
India. Yet, she realized that it was a vicarious, not authentic, e[SHULHQFH�RI�WKH�DXWKRUĜV�FRORQLDO�
career.
Eccentric Travelers
Another strategy to demonstrate the recognition of the sense of belatedness in
modern and contemporary travel narratives is for the writer to designate himself or herself as a
comic and/or eccentric figure. Here, eccentricity serves as an excuse for mistakes usually based
on cultural ignorance as they move from place to place (Holland and Huggan 2003, 7). One
travel writer well-known for his eccentric individualism is Bill Bryson (b. 1951), who is credited
with several travel books, such as The lost continent: Travels in small-town America (1989), Notes
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- 206 -
from a small island (1997), and A walk in the woods: Rediscovering America on the Appalachian
trail (1998).
In Notes from a small island, Bryson relates his final trip around the UK before
relocating to the US, his native country. He first came to England in 1973 before eventually
landing a job at The Times and The Independent. He recalls entering England via the English
Channel, so, some twenty years later, he decided to replicate the previous route by taking the
ferry from Calais (France) to Dover (England). In Dover, his first encounter with the idiosyncrasies
of the Britons is narrated. First is their sense of distance and place.
The fact is that the British have a totally private sense of distance. This is
most visibly seen in the shared pretense that Britain is a lonely island in the
middle of an empty green sea. Of course, the British are all aware, in an
abstract sort of way, that there is a substantial landmass called Europe
nearby and that from time to time it is necessary to go over there to give
ROG�-HUU\�D�GUXEELQJ�RU�KDYH�D�KROLGD\�LQ�WKH�VXQ��EXW�LWĜV�QRW�QHDUE\�LQ�DQ\�
meaningful sense in the way, say, Disney World is. (Bryson 2001, 4)
In addition to the sense of distance, Bryson also came upon a unique character at the
boardinghouse operated by D�ęMrs. Gubbins�Ě
,�GRQĜW�UHPHPEHU�LWV�QDPH��EXW�,�ZHOO�UHFDOO�WKH�SURSULHWUHVV��D�IRUPLGDEOH�
creature of late middle years called Mrs. Gubbins, who showed me to a
room, then gave me a tour of the facilities and outlined the many
FRPSOLFDWHG�UXOHV�IRU�UHVLGLQJ�WKHUH�>đ@�ZKHUH�DQG�KRZ�WR�ZLSH�P\�IHHW�DW�
each point of entry, how to operate the three-bar electric fire in my
EHGURRP�DQG�ZKHQ�WKDW�ZRXOG�EH�SHUPLWWHG�>đ@�7KLV�ZDV�OLke joining the
army. (Bryson 2001, 10-11)
The boardinghouse rules for the guests proved to be too regimented for the
travel writer. When he did not eat the fried tomato in the breakfast, he was
admonished by the landlady (Bryson 2001, 20). The last straw came when:
That evening, I forgot to turn off the water heater after a quick and stealthy
bath and compounded the error by leaving strands of hair in the plughole .
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- 207 -
The next morning came the final humiliation. Mrs. Gubbins marched me
wordlessly to the toilet and showed me a little turd that had not flushed
away. We agreed that I should leave after breakfast (Bryson 2001, 21).
While describing Mrs. Gubbins and the other guests at the boardinghouse as
eccentrics, Bryson himself had to admit his own cultural ignorance. He did not know what a
counterpane was (Bryson 2001, 11). It is an equivalent of an American quilt. And he also made a
blunder buying a pack of cigarettes.
I was positively radiant with ignorance. The simplest transactions were a
P\VWHU\�WR�PH��,�VDZ�D�PDQ�LQ�D�QHZVDJHQWĜV�DVN�IRU�ęWZHQW\�1XPEHU�6L[Ě�
and receive cigarettes, and presumed for a long time afterward that
HYHU\WKLQJ�ZDV�RUGHUHG�E\�QXPEHU�LQ�D�QHZVDJHQWĜV��OLNH�LQ�D�&KLQHVe
takeaway. I sat for a half an hour in a pub before I realized that you had to
fetch your own order, then tried the same thing in a tearoom and was told
to sit down. (Bryson 2001, 14)
&LJDUHWWHV�DUH�VROG�LQ�D�SDFNHW�RI�����+HQFH��ęWZHQW\Ě�PHDQV�D�SDFNHW�RI�FLJDUHWWHV�
ęNumber SixĚ�UHIHUV�WR�a popular bUDQG�ę3OD\HU�1R����Ě Therefore, asking for ęWZHQW\�1XPEHU�6L[Ě�
is in fact equivalent to placing an order for a packet of Player No. 6 brand cigarettes, instead of
the No. 6 item on the food menu.
The English Gentlemen
One of the tropes through which nostalgia is filtered in contemporary ė especially
British ė travel writing is the self-ironic figure of ęthe English gentleman.Ě Hopelessly behind the
times, guarding an obsolescent code of honorable conduct, the latter-day English gentleman-
explorer becomes the figure for an outdated genre of adventure writing (Holland and Huggan
2004, 141). The English gentleman/traveler usually assumes a strategy of neutrality and cool
detachment (Holland and Huggan 2003, 7). He yearns for the old days of easier access to more
individual and authentic forms of travel (Kinsley 2020, 242).
(YHO\Q�:DXJKĜV�SUHIDFH�WR�When the going was good �������DQG�3DXO�)XVVHOOĜV�
conclusion in Abroad (1980) share a common view of the impossibility of travel in the
contemporary world, clearly showing D�QRVWDOJLD�IRU�D�ęJROGHQ�DJHĚ�RI�WUDYHO��ZKHQ�SDVVSRUWV�
DO NOT C
OPY
- 208 -
DQG�RWKHU�UHVWULFWLRQV�RQ�WUDYHO�KDUGO\�H[LVWHG��ZKHQ�WKHUH�ZHUH�VWLOO�ODUJH�FKXQNV�RI�ę7HUUD�
,QFRJQLWDĚ�WR�EH�H[SORLWHG��ZKHQ��LQ�VKRUW��ędifficulties and hardships still conferred on a journey
WKH�DSSURSULDWH�DXUD�RI�ęDGYHQWXUHĚ (Matos 1992, 215). Such laments for a lost golden age and
the belief in a shrinking world can be traced back long before 1945. Yet, there is no denying the
post-World War II boom in mass tourism, the widespread availability of air travel, and ęthe
FRUROODU\�HUDVXUH�RI�WKH�ęSULPLWLYHĚ�DQG�WKH�ęH[RWLFĚ�EURXJKW�DERXW�E\�WKH�DOPRVW�FRPSOHWH�
Westernization of the globe�(Matos 1992, 215).
The changing conditions of travel in the contemporary world have also meant that
some writers have felt the need to develop new strategies of traveling and of writing as a way to
respond to such postwar phenomena as the package tour and the availability of cheap and
quick travel at any time of the year, and to almost every destination anywhere on the globe
(Matos 1992, 217). By refusing modern facilities, these writers attempt to make their journeys
more difficult, and to recover a sense of adventure that is now almost irretrievably lost. They are
traveling, one may say, against the grain of modern life (Matos 1992, 219).
One VXFK�WUDYHO�ZULWHU�LV�3DXO�7KHURX[��E���������,Q�ęStranger on a trainĚ���������KH�
DGPLWV��KH�SUHIHUV�QRW�WR�WUDYHO�ZLWK�D�GHVWLQDWLRQ�LQ�PLQG��+H�FRQVLGHUV�WKDW�ęWKH�SXUHVW�IRUP�RI�
WUDYHO�Ě�RIIHUs ęD�FRPELQDWLRQ�RI�IOLJKW�DQG�VXVSHQGHG�DQLPDWLRQĚ��7KHURXx 1985, 126). He also
claims that the only mode of transportation worth taking while traveling is by train. To him, a
WUDLQ�MRXUQH\�LV�ęWUDYHOĚ�ZKHUHDV�D�SODQH�WUDYHO�LV�ęWUDQVIHUĚ�VLQFH�LW�IDLOV�WR�LQVSLUH��7KHURX[�������
128).
A rail journey is virtually the one occasion in travel on which complete
strangers bare their souls, because the rail passenger ė the calmest of
travelers ė has absolutely nothing to lose. He has more choices than anyone
else in motion: unlike the air-traveler strapped in his chair like a candidate
for electrocution, he can stroll, enjoy the view and sleep in privacy in a
horizontal position ė KH�FDQ�WUDYHO��DV�WKH�QDWLYHV�GR��>đ@��7KHURX[�����������
7KHURX[ĜV�SUHIHUHQFH�RI�WUDLQ�WUDYHO�UHIOHFWV�KRZ�QHZ�PRGHV�RI�WUDQVSRUW�effect changes
not only in conveyance and communication, but also in thought, feeling, behavior and human
consciousness. Railroads, automobiles and airplanes have all placed new demanGV�RQ�WUDYHOHUVĜ�
eyes, nerves, and viscera. The motor car, E.M. Forster claimed in Howards End (1916), was quickly
WXUQLQJ�ODQGVFDSH�LQWR�ęSRUULGJHĚ (Kowaleski 1992, 3).
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- 209 -
Travel Literature and Globalization
The second set of responses to nostalgia in travel writing involves the recognition of
the process of globalization with intense interactions and exchanges between people, cultures,
and enterprises. There are at least three possible strategies for travel writing to approach the
process of globalization ė romanticizing the past; acculturation; anti-travel writing.
Romanticizing the past
Like the many travelogues that depict former colonies and other Third World nations as
dangerous and barely civilized, travel writing in this romanticizing vein at one level reassures
readers that the distinctions between ęthemĚ and ęusĚ remain strongly demarcated, even in a
decolonized, increasingly hybridized world (Thompson 2020, 204). Refusing to acknowledge the
contemporaneity and modernity of the cultures they visit, these travelers offer simplified
portraits which fixate their ętravelleesĚ in an idealized past, ęturning them into museum pieces
DQG�RYHUHPSKDVL]LQJ�WKHLU�H[RWLFLVP�WR�VXLW�WKH�WUDYHOOHUĜV�RZQ�IDQWDVLHV�RI�HVFDSH�DQG�UHQHZDOĚ�
(Thompson 2020, 204-205). This idealizing tendency, which is also fundamental to the tourism
industry, may obscure the hardships actually faced by local communities (Thompson 2020, 205).
Bruce &KDWZLQĜV�The songlines (1987) is one example of travel writing, which depicts a
romanticized, mystical culture of Australian Aborigines (Thompson 2020, 204-205). It invites
readers ęto enter nostalgically into yet another vanishing world, now to romanticize ė and
perhaps enact ė the individual nomadic tourĚ�(Holland and Huggan 2004, 144). In The songlines,
Chatwin found himself in Alice Springs, where he met a thirty-three-year-old Australian of
Russian background named Arkady Volchok (Bruce Chatwin 1988, 1). He was intrigued and
fascinated by the labyrinth of invisible pathways which weave their ways all over Australia. They
were known to EuroSHDQV�DV�ę'UHDPLQJ-WUDFNVĚ�RU�ę6RQJOLQHV.Ě To the Aborigines, they are
considered WKH�ę)RRWSULQWV�RI�WKH�$QFHVWRUVĚ�RU�WKH�ę:D\�RI�WKH�/DZ.Ě They are part of the
$ERULJLQDO�&UHDWLRQ�P\WKV�WKDW�WHOO�RI�ęWKH�OHJHQGDU\�WRWHPLF�EHLQJV�ZKR�KDG�ZDQGHUHG�RYHU�WKH
continent in the Dreamtime, singing out the name of everything that crossed their path ė birds,
animals, plants, rocks, waterholes ė DQG�VR�VLQJLQJ�WKH�ZRUOG�LQWR�H[LVWHQFHĚ (Bruce Chatwin
1988, 2). Arkady was invited by the Walbiri Elders to witness their most secret ceremonies and
encouraged to learn their songs (Bruce Chatwin 1988, 2). Since the Land Rights Act gave
Aboriginal ęownersĚ the title to their country, providing it lay untenanted, the job Arkady
invented for himself was to interpret ętribal lawĚ into the language of the Law of the Crown
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(Bruce Chatwin 1988, 3). As a result, when a railway route project from Alice Springs to Darwin
arose, the engineer asked the Aboriginal representatives to supply him with a survey so as not
to destroy any of their sacred sites. Thus, it was $UNDG\ĜV�MRE�WR�LGHQWLI\�WKH�ętraditional
landowners��GULYLQJ�them over their old hunting grounds in order to verify which rock or soak
or ghost-gum was the work of a Dreamtime hero (Bruce Chatwin 1988, 4). Obviously, ChatwinĜV�
interest lies in the pristine past of Australia.
Acculturation
In the advent of globalization, some travel writers resort to underscoring the
conflictedness of cultural origins, and focusing not so much on encounters between the traveler
and the target culture (or cultures) as on ęthe process of transculturation ė of mutual exchange
and modification ė that takes place when different cultural forms collide and intersectĚ (Holland
and Huggan 2003, 22-23). Globalization has unsettled, or at least complicated, the traditional
binarisms of ęhomeĚ and ęabroad,Ě ęthemĚ and ęus,Ě that we tend to assume are fundamental to
travel writing. On the one hand, for most travelers today ęKRPHĚ�is no longer a clearly bounded
locality from which they depart to encounter the wider world; rather, a range of global
connections, commodities and influences are everywhere apparent in our supposedly ęlocalĚ
environments. This sense of ęglocality,Ě as it is sometimes called, is further heightened by the
fact that many travelers now hail from multicultural societies, making it harder to assume any
singular, shared cultural identity at home. On the other hand, travelers now frequently encounter
an ęabroadĚ that does not match conventional expectations of foreigners and exotic difference
(Thompson 2020, 204). For instance, 5HGPRQG�2Ĝ+DQORQĜV Into the heart of Borneo (1984) is a
story of the young tribespeople who, instead of preserving their cultural identity, want to learn
disco dance (Thompson 2020, 204).
Other travelogues acknowledge, even foreground, globalization, but regard the
SKHQRPHQRQ�LQ�D�PRUH�SRVLWLYH�IDVKLRQ��$OWHUQDWLYHO\��WUDYHORJXHV�OLNH�3LFR�,\HUĜV�make
globalization the central theme and often celebrate the cultural cross-fertilization and
hybridization of recent years. Travelogues in this vein frequently emphasize the extent to which
non-Western cultures absorb Western influences, not passively but on their own terms, while
also making their own contributions to Western and global culture (Thompson 2020, 205). Pico
,\HUĜV�Video night in Kathmandu and other reports from the not-so-Far-East (1988) is a good
example of this kind of travel narrative. Iyer himself, a British subject, living in the United States,
of Indian background, is an embodiment of what happens when travel writing adjusts its gauges
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- 211 -
to a postcolonial world (Holland and Huggan 2003, 22-23). He spent seven months traveling
around Asia to visit sights and to witness how American pop culture was received in various
countries.
Over the course of two years, I spent a total of seven month crisscrossing
the continent on four separate trips, mostly in order to see its sights, but
also in order to visit the front lines of this cultural campaign. I was interested
WR�ILQG�RXW�KRZ�$PHULFDĜV�SRS-cultural imperialism spread through the
ZRUOGĜV�PRVW�DQFLHQW�FLYLOL]DWLRQV��,�ZDQWHG�WR�VHH�ZKDW�NLQG�RI�UHVLVWDQFH�
had been put up against the Coca-Colonizing forces and what kind of
counter-strategies were planned. And I hoped to discover which Americas
got through to the other side of the world, and which got lost in translation.
(Iyer 1989, 7)
One particular example of American pop culture is the movie John Rambo: First Blood
(1982), starring Sylvester Stallone (b. 1946). In the fall of 1985, every cinema that he visited for
ten straight weeks featured ęa Stallone extravaganzaĚ�(Iyer 1989, 6). Interestingly, different
audiences in different countries demonstrated diverse responses to the film and to its underlying
Cold War ideology.
In China, the very showing of the film had advertised a new cultural
RSHQQHVV�WR�WKH�:HVW��>đ@�LGHRORJLFDOO\��WKH�PRYLH�VHUYHG�ERWK�DV�SROLWLFDO�
propaganda (confirming the Chinese in their belief that the Vietnamese were
devious swine) and as a subject for earnest criticism, dialectically worked out
in the letter column of the China Daily. In India, the movie had been seized
upon by the quick-witted moguOV�RI�WKH�ZRUOGĜV�ODUJHVW�ILOP�LQGXVWU\�DQG�
VZLIWO\�UHGHVLJQHG�WR�ILW�WKH�P\WKLF�FRQWRXUV�RI�,QGLDQ�IRUPXOD�IDQWDV\�>đ@�,Q�
the Philippines, the movie had passed, like so much American cultural debris,
into the very language and mythology of the country, blurring even further
WKH�FRXQWU\ĜV�DOZD\V�XQFHUWDLQ�GLYLVLRQ�EHWZHHQ�SROLWLFV�DQG�VKRZ�EL]��
onetime Defense Minister Juan Ponce Enrile was wont to represent himself
on posters and in threats, as a kind of homegrown Rambo. And in Vietnam,
to complete the circle, the latest version of the war had, inevitably, become
an instrument of propaganda: the Vietnamese accused Ronald Reagan of
WU\LQJ�WR�ę5DPERL]HĚ�WKH�\RXWK�RI�$PHULFD��KDUGO\�PHQWLRQLQJ�WKH�PRUH�
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OPY
- 212 -
XQVHWWOLQJ�IDFW�WKDW�5DPER�ZDV�ę5HDJDQLQJĚ�WKH�\RXWK�RI�DOl the world. (Iyer
1989, 10)
Hollywood film industry, in this case, represents the encroaching
homogenization of world cultures, whereby most of Asia is to a certain level exposed
to US military-style figure. However, the viewers in each country displayed their
localized reaction or resistance to American cultural imperialism. And Iyer is fully
aware of this dilemma.
And if the image of America is perplexingly double-edged, the responses it
provokes in many parts of the globe are appropriately fork-tongued: with
RQH�EUHDWK��WKH\�VKRXW��ę<DQNHH�*R�+RPH�Ě�DQG�ZLWK�WKH�QH[W��ę$PHULFD�
1XPEHU�2QH�Ě (Iyer 1989, 13)
Anti-travel Writing
In an increasingly globalized world, one might wonder if it is still possible to visit a
different culture. If the global is everywhere even in the local, and if cultures around the world
are becoming more homogeneous, what is the point of travel? Thus, there is a growing body of
ęanti-travel writing,Ě as authors make a point of not leaving their local environments or
conspicuously not seeking out foreign adventures and cultural difference (Thompson 2020, 205-
206). For instance, Mark Lawson, in The battle for room service: Journey to all the safe places
(1993), relates his travel experiences in some of the safest places in the world.
My map would be that of the quiet world, tourist not terrorist, to adopt the
earlier distinction. I made my selection of places through a combination of
personal prejudice and outside nomination, criteria made clear in the
individual chapters. My object was to visit those places most unlikely to be
subject to bloody insurrection. (Lawson 1993, 9)
,QVWHDG�RI�UHYHOLQJ�LQ�DGYHQWXURXV�WULSV��KH�SUHIHUV�ęVWDWLF�WUDYHO�Ě�ZKHUHE\�RQH�LV�QRW�
transported to a foreign country. There is little chance of experiencing concrete foreign cultures
DQG�ULVNLQJ�RQHĜV�RZQ�ZHOO-being. For instance, in a cosmopolitan city, one has the opportunity
of vicariously dining in culturally diverse places ė ęAthens today, Peking tomorrow, Hanoi the
QH[W��WKURXJK�WDYHUQDV�DQG�WDNHDZD\V�>đ@�7KHUH�ZDV�DOVR��SHUKDSV��WKH�WDFLW�XQGHUVWDQGLQJ�WKDW��
DO NOT C
OPY
- 213 -
there, the pseudo-native food had been prepared with American cleanliness�(Lawson 1993, 219).
7KH�LGHD�RI�VWDWLF�WUDYHO�LV�LQWHQVLILHG�LQ�WKH�WUDYHO�ZULWHUĜV�YLVLW�WR�'LVQH\ODQG�in California. He
took a ride called ę,WĜV�$�6PDOO�:RUOG�Ě ZKLFK�ęSURPLVHG�ěD�IODYRXU�RI�HYHU\�FRXQWU\�RI�WKH�ZRUOd,
ZLWK�WKH�XQGHUO\LQJ�PHVVDJH�RI�FXOWXUDO�KDUPRQ\�DQG�SHDFHĜ��>đ@�\RX�ERDUGHG�D�VPDOO�ERDW�LQ�
the shape of a swan and floated round a snaking river circuit�(Lawson 1993, 228). During the
ULGH��KH�ZDV�ęWUDQVSRUWHGĚ�WR�YDULRXV�FRXQWULHV�ZKLFK�ZHUH�VLPSOLVWically represented.
Trapped, however in a dystopia in which the song had been foolishly used
by one nation, and others had been remorselessly drawn into a rendition as
retaliation, I contemplated the grottos allotted to each country. Despite the
pan-cultural ambitions of the entertainment, the displays betrayed American
attitudes. There was, for example, no Cuba, and Canada was, even by the
advertised parameters of a small world, microscopic, its history represented
only by a fibre-JODVV�0RXQWLH�VDOXWLQJ�IURP�KLV�KRUVH��>đ@�1Hw Zealand was
two Kiwis (birds, not fruits) and a grinning mannequin of a Maori. Australia
was a kangaroo and a midget Aborigine about to throw a boomerang. You
got the impression that the research on this project had been mainly
instinctive. Africa was cuddly toy lions and grinning black dolls banging
GUXPV��-DSDQ�ZDV�JHLVKDV�IODSSLQJ�SDSHU�IDQV��>đ@�%DJKGDG�ZDV�PRVTXHV�
and flying carpets, rather than flying Scud missiles. My own nation was a red
double-decker bus and a Beefeater, rather than a jobless miner and a
puppet in a grey suit and glasses looking as if he was unsure what to do.
(Lawson 1993, 229)
Remarkably, Lawson could rest assured that there was little chance of
dangerous encounters during this journey because any potential threats had been
removed from the national representations.
Tourism, Modernity, and Globalization
The turn of the nineteenth century is an important period in the history of British travel,
in terms of mobility practices, and the vocabulary used to give expression to the individuals who
make journeys. In Britain, steady improvements in roads and map-making over the course of the
eighteenth century made travel easier and safer. Spa and seaside towns gained popularity, as did
regions such as the Lake District, Scottish Highlands, North Welsh Mountains and the Wye
DO NOT C
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- 214 -
Valley. While the French Revolution and Napoleonic Wars may have tempered the flow of
travelers to Continental Europe, that lull was only temporary, and the first half of the nineteenth
century saw some important innovations which facilitated travel abroad, and made leisure travel
more accessible for a much larger portion of the population. By the 1830s, guidebooks for
travelers were being produced ė by the publishers John Murray in Britain and Baedeker in
Germany ė which offered advice on the itineraries in a standardized format. In the next decade
Thomas Cook, making use of the developing British railway system, began to organize travel for
groups, and quickly built on his experience of co-ordinating local trips by organizing package
holidays abroad (Kinsley 2020, 237-238). (See also Chapter 5 for details.)
The rapid development of tailored provision for travelers, and the infrastructures that
emerged in popular locations, signaled that tourism had become a commercial industry. While
this meant that opportunities for travel began to be extended beyond a privileged and wealthy
elite, it also evoked negative criticism from those who saw the new ęmassĚ tourism as eroding
the principles and values of an earlier and supposedly more genuine form of travel. While the
term ętouristĚ�first emerged in English in the late eighteenth century as a synonym for ętraveller,Ě�
it was not long before it began to be invested with negative associations. By the mid-nineteenth
century, ętouristĚ had come to denote a particular type of travel from which most commentators
actively attempted to distance themselves (Kinsley 2020, 238). With the emergence of tourists,
travelers disappeared. Barbara Korte explains in English travel writing from pilgrimages to
postcolonial explorations that tourists aUH�WKRVH�ZKR�ęGRĚ�VLJKWV�ęSUHVFULEHG�LQ�D�IL[HG�
SURJUDPPH��.RUWH�����, 96). Fussell thinks that tourists indulge in cultural consumerism
whereas travelers exercise itinerary as well as financial freedom and exhibit a refined taste
(Fussell 1980, 42). However, Thomas Cook (1808-1892), an early British tour operator, called
WUDYHOHUV�ęVWXFN�XS�SHRSOHĚ�ZKR�YLHZHG�ęFKHDS�H[FXUVLRQLVWVĚ�DV�LQIHULRU��QRLV\�DQG�JDXFKH�
(Withey 1997, 144).
Two issues peculiar to modernity can be seen as underlying the growth of tourism.
First, tourism is considered a social practice that separates work from leisure as two discrete
units of experience in modern societies �)�UVLFK�DQG�.DYRRUL������������Acting as a tourist is one
of the defining characteristics of being ęmodern�Ě This leisure activity has come to be organized
within particular places and to occur for regularized periods of time (Urry 2002, 2). In The tourist
gaze: Leisure and travel in contemporary societies, John Urry argues that actually, the tourist is
not seeking authenticity. S/he is seeking a contrast with everyday experiences. Tourism thus
results from a basic binary division between the ordinary/everyday and the extraordinary (Urry
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- 215 -
2002, 12). Second, the impact of technology on everyday life transformed cultural dynamics, as
rural communities ė associated with traditional sources of cultural coherence (e.g. religion and
patriarchy) ė were replaced by large urban centers. Hence, there arose the need to search for
alternate sources of cultural coherence. At the heart of this search was the desire for authenticity
�)�UVLFK�DQG�.DYRRUL�����������
In The tourist: A new theory of the leisure class, Dean MacCannell suggests that the
WRXULVW�LV�D�NLQG�RI�FRQWHPSRUDU\�SLOJULP��VHHNLQJ�DXWKHQWLFLW\�LQ�RWKHU�ęWLPHVĚ�DQG�RWKHU�ęSODFHVĚ�
DZD\�IURP�WKDW�SHUVRQĜV�HYHU\GD\�OLIH��7KH\�DUH�IDVFLQDWHG�ZLWK�ęUHDO�OLYHVĚ�RI�RWKHUV�ZKLFK�
somehow possess a reality which is hard to discover in their own experiences (MacCannell 1976,
8). One activity peculiar to tourists is sightseeing. MacCannell YLHZV�LW�DV�D�ULWXDO��ęa kind of
collective striving for a transcendence of the modern totality, a way of attempting to overcome
WKH�GLVFRQWLQXLW\�RI�PRGHUQLW\��RI�LQFRUSRUDWLQJ�LWV�IUDJPHQWV�LQWR�XQLILHG�H[SHULHQFH�
(MacCannell 1976, 13). Hence, the rhetoric of tourism is full of manifestations of the unified
experience, the importance of the authenticity of the relationship between tourists and what
WKH\�VHH��ęWKLV�LV�D�typical native house; this is the very place the leader fell; this is the actual pen
used to sign the law; this is the original PDQXVFULSW�>đ@Ě��0DF&DQQHOO���������; original
emphasis).
Meantime, touristic imagery can be assembled in advance of the arrival of the tourists.
2QH�H[DPSOH�OLHV�LQ�ęVWDJHG�DXWKHQWLFLW\�Ě�ZKLFK�DURVH�RXW�RI�WKH�GHVLUH�RI�WRXULVWV�WR�VHH�OLIH�DV�
it is lived. It reinforces the division between the front and the back. Generally, the front is the
meeting place of hosts and guests or customers and service persons, and the back is the place
where members of the home team retire between performances to relax and to prepare. The
back region generates mystification which sustains a sense of social reality. For tourists with
discerning tastes, the back region translates into an authentic and demystified experience of an
aspect of society. Ironically, the authenticity is staged. The back has been brought to the front
(MacCannell 1976, 142). Additionally, the staged authenticity is usually found in festivals.
&RQVLGHUHG�ęSVHXGR-HYHQWVĚ��%RRUVWLQ�������������WKH\�DUH�UHSHDWDEOH�DQG�IDFWLWLRXV��not
spontaneous cultural products but only those staged especially for tourist consumption. Tourists
are provided a full schedule of events at the best seasons and at convenient hours. Meanwhile,
the one who is fully aware of the staged authenticity is called the post-tourist, who is ęOHVV�
dependent on the tourist industry to stage HYHQWV�IRU�KLP��)HLIHU�����, 270). Above all,
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- 216 -
[T]he post-tourist knows that he is a tourist: not a time traveler when he
goes somewhere historic; not an instant noble savage when he stays on a
tropical beach; not an invisible observer when he visits a native compound.
5HVROXWHO\�ęUHDOLVWLFĚ��KH�FDQQRW�HYDGH�KLV�FRQGLWLRQ�RI�RXWVLGHU��%XW��KDYLQJ�
HPEUDFHG�WKDW�FRQGLWLRQ��KH�FDQ�VWRS�VWUXJJOLQJ�DJDLQVW�LW�DQG��>đ@��WKHQ�KH�
can turn it around. (Feifer 1986, 271)
Concurrently, the touristic search for authenticity has given rise to heritage tourism.
There is an absolute distinction between authentic history (continuing and therefore dangerous)
and heritage (past, dead, and safe). Heritage history, for Urry, is ębogus history.Ě It ęconceals
social and spatial inequalities, masks a shallow commercialism and consumerism, and may in
part at least destroy elements of the buildings or arteIDFWV�VXSSRVHGO\�EHLQJ�FRQVHUYHG��8UU\�
2002, 99).
In tandem with heritage tourism emerged literary tourism. Literature and tourism:
Essays in the reading and writing of tourism (2003) explores how travelers negotiate meanings of
the sites and sights of artistic and historical importance ė places featured in and/or associated
with writers, historical figures, literary works, historical events, etc. It stipulates the relationship
between literature and travel, the tri-partite relationship between authors, their writings, and the
concepts of place/landscape, giving rise to literary tourism. Literary works inspire visits to
physical sites/sights since they are reminiscent of incidents in the past. The portrayal of locations
in works of literature has shaped present perceptions and images. The connections between
location as a source of literary inspiration and location as a place to visit are generally
transparent, resulting in literary tourism (Robinson and Andersen 2003, 3-4).
Remarkably, the lack of distinction between the real and the imagined within the
literary form is one of the distinguishing features of literary tourism (Robinson and Andersen
2003, 11). Not surprisingly, the pattern of literary tourism development in the nineteenth century
reflected wider sociocultural trends and access/transport developments. Interests in landscape,
WKH�SDVWRUDO��VFLHQFH��DQWLTXLWLHV�DQG�WKH�OLYHV�RI�ęJUHDWĚ�VRFLDO�DQG�SROLWLFDO�ILJXUHV�ZHUH central
to the romantic movement and were filtered down to the educated middle classes through the
artists, novelists and poets of the day (Robinson and Andersen 2003, 13). Commodification of
literature takes place in various guises in the contemporary toXULVWLF�UHDOP��ęUDQJLQJ�IURP�ZHOO-
visited theme parks and packaged trails of fictionally derived experiences, to the preserved and
UHYHUHG�SODFHV�DVVRFLDWHG�GLUHFWO\�ZLWK�WKH�ZULWHUĜV�FUHDWLYLW\Ě��5RELQVRQ�DQG�$QGHUVHQ�����������
DO NOT C
OPY
- 217 -
Still, one may wonder whether reinterpretation is an enrichment or a distortion of the
original meaning of a literary work. The inherently selective and managerial process of
commodifying cultural expressions for tourists can lead to erosion of meaning and authenticity
as meaning is somehow ęlostĚ as the literary is packaged for tourists. It can be argued that
ęLQWHUSUHWDWLRQ�DQG�SUHVHQWDWLRQ��LQ�WKH�VKDSH�RI�WDEOHDX[�DQG�ULGHV�DW�WKHPH�SDUNV��DUH�D�
ěGLVWUDFWLRQĜ�IURP�WKH�DFWXDO�ZULWWHQ�ZRUN��LQ�WKH�VDPH�ZD\�WKDW�D�ILOP�DGDSWDWLRQ�Rf a novel or
SOD\�FDQ�EH�VDLG�WR�LPSRVH�D�SDUWLFXODU�LQWHUSUHWDWLRQ�RQ�WKH�RQORRNHU��5RELQVRQ�DQG�$QGHUVHQ�
2003, 14-15). When literature and history is packaged as heritage, nostalgia is important here,
and it seems that literary and historical travel increasingly plays to an audience that wishes to
travel in time as well as space.
:LWKLQ�WKH�UHDOPV�RI�OLWHUDU\�DQG�KLVWRULFDO�WUDYHO��ZH�ILQG�DQ�HPSKDVLV�XSRQ�WKH�ęJUHDWĚ�
ZRUNV��ęJUHDWĚ�DXWKRUV�DQG�ęJUHDWĚ�PHQ�ZRPHQ��7KH�ODEHO�RI�ęJUHDWĚ�or ęclassicĚ is significant in
the context of literary and historical travel. Places in fiction are generally anchored to the
emotions generated at particular times by the characters of a novel, or more explicitly in the
author providing the narrative. Like an archaeologist, the tourist is looking for the past, but it is
D�SDVW�PDGH�XS�RI�VLQJXODU�HYHQWV�DQG�SHUVRQDOLWLHV��3ODFHV�DUH�UHIHUUHG�WR�DV�ęZLWQHVVHVĚ�RI�
those events and people, and tourists in turn are witnesses of those places as events (Burton
2015, 167).
In considering the values associated with travelers on the one hand, and tourism on
the other, it becomes clear that the dichotomy between the two masks a range of cultural
assumptions and prejudices, not least regarding the supposedly superior value of individual over
communal experience. As travelers increasingly found themselves part of a crowd, they sought
to differentiate themselves as individuals from the others around them. 7KH�WUDYHOHUĜV�LQVLVWHQFH�
that s/he is not a ętouristĚ is often a claim for individualism, a rejection of sameness (Kinsley
2020, 238). The anti-touristic impulse to step beyond the limits of the ground that others tread
HQFDSVXODWHV�WKH�WUDYHOHUVĜ�GHVLUH�WR�EH�GLIIHUHQW�DQG�LQGLYLGXDO��ERWK�LQ�WUDYHO�SUDFWLFH�DQG�WH[W
(Kinsley 2020, 240).
One particular travel practice that probably serves this desire is dark tourism. The term
has been defined as the practice of visiting places of death, destruction and human suffering.
Such tourist attractions include a wide range of dark places associated with death, suffering,
violence or disaster: battlegrounds, sites of atrocities, massacres and genocides, natural and
accidental disasters, slave forts and prisons, as well as the locations of murder or violent crime
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(Edwards 2020, 308). Despite an increase in its popularity over the last two decades, dark
tourism is not a new phenomenon. People have long been drawn, purposely or otherwise,
towards sites, attractions and events linked in one way or another with death, suffering, violence
or disaster. Some see these places as socially acceptable environments to contemplate death
DQG�PRUWDOLW\��JLYLQJ�ULVH�WR�ZKDW�KDV�EHHQ�FDOOHG�ęWKDQDWRXULVPĚ��(GZDUGV������������ For
instance, visits to the battlefield of Waterloo became popular from 1816 onwards while visits to
the morgue were a regular feature of tours of Paris in the nineteenth century (Sharpley 2009, 5).
A contemporary equivalent would be a visit to Ground Zero in New York, which attracted three-
and-a-half million visitors after the 9/11 incident (Sharpley 2009, 5).
The darkness of human suffering is also captured in ęslum travelsĚ by the turn-of-the-
century writers, such as Jacob Riis (1849-1914) and Jack London (1876-1916). 5LLĜV How the other
half lives �������GRFXPHQWV�WKH�H[WUHPH�SRYHUW\�LQ�WKH�WHQHPHQWV�RI�0DQKDWWDQĜV�/RZHU�(DVW�
6LGH��DQG�/RQGRQĜV�People of the abyss (1903) captures the homelessness, workhouses and
squalid living condition he encountered during journeys through Whitechapel and Shoreditch.
These two texts anticipate the twenty-first-century favela tourism of Brazil, the Township tourism
of South Africa or the Dharavi slum tourism of Mumbai (Edwards 2020, 308).
In People of the abyss, London wishes to experience first-hand abject poverty. By
adopting the persona of the explorer, he legitimates his potential for revealing the truth,
validating his claimed attempt to establish the authenticity of his journey (Edwards 2020, 312-
313). Yet, the presence of his safe house on the edge of the East End ė a place where he can
return at any time ė signals the artifice that invalidates /RQGRQĜV�FODLP�WR�OLYH�WKH�DXWKHQWLF�OLIH�
of the East Ender. The poor have no such refuge (Edwards 2020, 314). This tension between
authenticity and artifice is reflecWHG�LQ�WKH�FRQIOLFWLQJ�SROLWLFDO�DJHQGDV�RI�/RQGRQĜV�GDUN�WRXULVP��
On the one hand, it can express an ethically progressive form of social and political reportage
that exposes suffering and injustice. On the other hand, it can also include an exaggerated and
sensationalist dimension that suggests that dark tourists are as much motivated by fantasies of
heroism and risk-taking, as they seek to distinguish themselves from other tourists (Edwards
2020, 314). A similar tension between authenticity and artifice may be found in Dark Tourist
(2018), a New Zealand documentary series about the phenomenon of dark tourism, presented
by journalist David Farrier. The first season released by Netflix in 2018 has eight episodes.
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Conclusion
In this chapter, we examine the condition of modernity as a result of the traumatizing
effects of the Two World Wars. Modern travelers often narrate their quest for a world before
urbanization and modern technology. The search for the authentic is indicative of a sense of
nostalgia for the real that never was. It is basically the quest for the disappearing golden age of
travel and exploration. There are possibly two sets of responses to the sense of nostalgia in
travel writing ė the recognition of the sense of belatedness, and the recognition of the process
of acculturation in the age of globalization.
Class Activities
Chapter-end Exercise
1. ([SODLQ�WKH�WHUP�ęPRGHUQLW\�Ě
2. Explain the relationship between the search for authenticity and nostalgia.
3. Discuss how globalization has influenced travel literature.
4. Discuss how modernity has affected tourism.
Discussion Questions
1. 5HDG�WKH�DVVLJQHG�FKDSWHU�RI�$ODLQ�GH�%RWWRQĜV�The art of travel (2004).
2. Discuss how the writer/poet/artist in the past have influenced the way the writer
negotiates the meanings of the sites he visits.
3. Are there any connections between the places De Botton visits and those featured in the
works of art?
Creative Writing
1. Who is the author whose journey you wish to relive/retrace? To where? Why?
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Chapter 13
Words and Images
Procis
This chapter discusses a history of visual representation, the interrelation between
image-making devices and theories of visual culture, the interrelationship of travel, travel
literature and several modes of visual representation, and, finally, the semiotic relationship
between travel literature and travel photography.
Objectives
After studying this chapter, students will be able to:
1. Explain theories of visual culture in relation to the history of visual representation
and image-making technologies.
2. Give definitions of photograph and photography.
3. Explain the structure of meaning(s) that arises out of the relationship between the
text of travel literature and the image of travel photography.
A History of Visual Representation
From the sixteenth century Europe witnessed an ęexplosion of geographyĚ involving a
ęmultiplication of images,Ě such as maps, topographical pictures, and the countless images in
which Europe dreamed the strangeness of distant regions and their peoples. (XURSHĜV�XQVHWWOHG�
and expansionist cultures came to rely on a knowledge gathered by optically based
observational and measuring techniques, such as the telescope and the microscope. Meanwhile,
the Italians revived and improved on another device, the camera obscura,1 employing it in the
surveying and mapping of land and urban planning and in the visualization for painting of
spatial depth and structure (Osborne 2000, 5).
1 The term camera obscura refers to the natural optical phenomenon that occurs when an image
of a scene at the other side of a screen (or, for instance, a wall) is projected through a small
hole in that screen as a reversed and inverted image (left to right and upside down) on a surface
opposite to the opening. The surroundings of the projected image have to be relatively dark for
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Figure 13.1 Illustration of the camera obscura principle
[Unknown. Illustration of the camera obscura principle. Undated (18th century?).
Wikimedia Commons. Accessed July 22, 2019. https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid
=52154597.]
Later in the seventeenth century the mercantile Dutch were able to manufacture a
more mobile version of the camera obscura which incorporated lenses. Other visualizing
mechanisms appeared over the next two hundred years. Two prominent examples of these were
the image to be clear, so many historical camera obscura experiments were performed in dark
rooms. The term "camera obscura" also refers to constructions or devices that make use of the
principle within a box, tent, or room. Camera obscuras with a lens in the opening have been
used since the second half of the sixteenth century and became popular as an aid for drawing
and painting. The camera obscura box was developed further into the photographic camera in
the first half of the 19th century when camera obscura boxes were used to expose light-sensitive
materials to the projected image (Wikipedia��ę&DPHUD�REVFXUD�Ě�ODVW�PRGLILHG�-XQH�����������
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Camera_obscura).
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the Claude glass2 and the camera lucida,3 each designed to organize and magnify the visual
pleasure of landscape. They re-HVWDEOLVKHG�WKH�FRQQHFWLRQ�ZLWK�ZKDW�ZDV�WKRXJKW�RI�DV�QDWXUHĜV�
PRVW�HVVHQWLDO�IRUP��UHILQHG�YLHZHUVĜ�DHVWKHWLF�HYDOXDWLRQV�DQG�VHUYHG�DV�GUDZLQJ�DLGV�ė the
means of producing images (Osborne 2000, 5). The Claude glass was developed by Claude
Lorraine (1600-1682), French painter, draftsman and etcher. It was a lightweight, mobile convex
mirror that fitted into a male pocket and became standard equipment among pre-photographic
tRXULVWV�LQ�(XURSH��,W�ęIDFLOLWDWHV�WKH�ZRUOG�RI�WKH�ěRWKHUĜ�WR�EH�FRQWUROOHG�IURP�DIDU��FRPELQLQJ�
GHWDFKPHQW�DQG�PDVWHU\��8UU\�DQG�/DUVRQ�����, 157-158)�
2 A Claude glass (or black mirror) is a small mirror, slightly convex in shape, with its surface
tinted a dark color. Bound up like a pocket-book or in a carrying case, Claude glasses were used
by artists, travelers and connoisseurs of landscape and landscape painting. Claude glasses have
the effect of abstracting the subject reflected in them from its surroundings, reducing and
simplifying the color and tonal range of scenes and scenery to give them a painterly quality.
They were famously used by picturesque artists in England in the late 18th and early 19th
centuries as a frame for drawing sketches of picturesque landscapes. The user would turn their
back on the scene to observe the framed view through the tinted mirrorĘin a sort of pre-
photographic lensĘwhich added the picturesque aesthetic of a subtle gradation of tones
(Wikipedia��ę&ODXGH�JODVV�Ě�ODVW�PRGLILHG�-XO\����������https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Claude_glass). 3 A camera lucida is an optical device used as a drawing aid by artists. It performs
an optical superimposition of the subject being viewed upon the surface upon which the artist is
drawing. The artist sees both scene and drawing surface simultaneously, as in a photographic
double exposure. This allows the artist to duplicate key points of the scene on the drawing
surface, thus aiding in the accurate rendering of perspective (Wikipedia��ęCamera lucida�Ě�ODVW�
modified June 13, 2019, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Camera_lucida).
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Figure 13.2 Man Holding a Claude Glass by Thomas Gainsborough
[Gainsborough, Thomas. Man holding a claude glass. Undated (1727-1788). Wikimedia
Commons. Accessed July 22, 2019. https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid
=22164942.]
Figure 13.3 A Claude glass from around 1775
[Unknown. A Claude glass from around 1775. Undated. British Galleries, Room 120, The Wolfson
Galleries, case 10. Accessed July 22, 2019. https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O78676/claude-
glass-unknown/.]
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Figure 13.4 Camera lucida in use drawing small figurine
[The Scientific American Supplement. Camera Lucida in use drawing small figurine. 1879.
Wikimedia Commons. Accessed July 22, 2019. https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.
php?curid=26091668.]
The Sublime and the Beautiful
It should be reminded that we never simply see the world in a direct, unmediated
sense-perception; rather, what and how we see are always informed E\�WKH�REVHUYHUĜV�
institutional, codified structures within which we as individuals operate, the attitudes we
unconsciously internalize as individuals, and also by political, economic and class affiliations
(Topping 2020, 78). Inherent in the practice of visual representation carried out via these image-
producing devices are the concepts of the sublime, the beautiful, and the picturesque. First of all
is the sublime, an inheritance from Romanticism. The sublime experience is a radically intensified
state of mind and emotion brought about by certain objects and events located beyond the
borders of the familiar. Typically, the sublime was thought to lie in the rapt apprehension of the
immense and powerful qualities of certain natural phenomena, such as limitless space, height or
depth or the convulsive energies of storms and quakes (Osborne 2000, 28-29).
In A philosophical enquiry into the origin of our ideas of the sublime and beautiful
(1757), Edmund Burke posits that aesthetic experience was not about making intellectual
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judgements, but a matter of basic human instincts. He suggests two opposed experiences of
beauty and sublimity as complementary forms of sub-rational sensation. The sublime is the
aesthetically pleasing quality of nature, emerging IURP�ZKDWHYHU�WKDW��H[FLWHV�WKH�LGHDV�RI�SDLQ�
and danger, WKH�ęDJUHHDEOH�KRUURUĚ�DULVLQJ�IURP�FRQWHPSODWLQJ�WHUULI\LQJ�WKLQJV�IURP�D�position
of safety. It is ęSURGXFWLYH�RI�WKH�VWURQJHVW�HPRWLRQ�ZKLFK�WKH�PLQG�LV�FDSDEOH�RI�IHHOLQJĚ (Burke
1998, 36). Comparing the idea of the sublime with that of the beautiful, he suggests that the
beautiful is defined by gentle curves, soft and unthreatening contours. It is founded upon what
is comparatively small, smooth and polished, light and delicate whereas the sublime is found in
vast objects, rugged and negligent, dark and gloomy, solid and massive (Burke 1998, 113).
Simultaneously, Immanuel Kant, in Observations on the feeling of the beautiful and
sublime (1764), stipulates that the constitution of the external things that arouse a finer feeling
is intrinsic to every person (Kant 2011, 13). There are two kinds of feeling of a finer sort: the
feeling of the sublime and of the beautiful. The feeling of the beautiful DULVHV�IURP�ęWKH�SURVSHFW�
RI�PHDGRZV�VWUHZQ�ZLWK�IORZHUV��RI�YDOOH\V�ZLWK�ZLQGLQJ�EURRNV��FRYHUHG�ZLWK�JUD]LQJ�KHUGV�
(Kant 2011, 14) while the feeling of the sublime derives from ę>W@KH�VLJKW�RI�D�PRXQWDLQ�ZKRVH�
snow-covered peaks arise above WKH�FORXGV��WKH�GHVFULSWLRQ�RI�D�UDJLQJ�VWRUP�(Kant 2011, 14).
,Q�RWKHU�ZRUGV��ę>W@he sublime must always be large, the beautiful can also be small. The
sublime must be simple, the beautiful can be decorated and ornamented. A great height is just
as sublime as a great depth, but the latter is accompanied with the sensation of shuddering, the
former with that of admiration; hence the latter sentiment can be terrifyingly sublime and the
former noble�(Kant 2011, 17).
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Figure 13.5 An example of the sublime in travel photography. The snow-capped jagged peaks of
the mountain wrapped in clouds are accentuated with the diagonal ray of sunshine.
[Unknown. ęLofoten Islands.Ě Digital image. February 12, 2019. Lofoten Islands Facebook Page.
Accessed August 3, 2019. https://www.facebook.com/LofotenNorge/photos/a.457488454584665/
819894741677366/?type=3&theater.]
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Figure 13.6 An example of the beautiful in travel photography. The blue sky is reflected on the
two-toned expanse of the undulating sea framed with the promontory on the left and the
vegetation in the foreground.
[Unknown. ęOkinawa.Ě Digital image. March 5, 2019. Visit Okinawa Japan Facebook Page.
Accessed August 3, 2019. https://www.facebook.com/visitokinawajapan/
photos/a.272402359504688/2043141089097464/?type=3&theater.]
It is also in the eighteenth century when the connection between traveling and the
development of the particular individual was also confirmed. In the picaresque novel or the
Bildungsroman, the importance of the journey of personal discovery for the evolution of the
modern self was fundamental. The self was unfinished, no longer given but something to be
made. Unlike the heroic or tragic journeys of self-discovery in premodern cultures, those of the
modern self did not seek to discover who one is but what one could become. By definition, the
modern self was a journey. But the journey functioned more than metaphorically. In the
seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, actual journeys and the visual experience they entailed
were considered essential for the nurturing education and taste of the person. Given that the
cluster of sights and encounters that constitute any particular journey belong to the traveler
alone, traveling and its visual epiphanies became linked to the actual formation of the individual.
By the seventeenth century traditional authority (usually Classical and literary) was being rejected
by LQGLYLGXDOLVP�DV�WKH�WUDYHOHUĜV�JXLGH�LQ�IDYRXU�RI�WKH�ęWUXWK�RI�RQHĜV�H\HV�Ě By the eighteenth
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FHQWXU\�WKH�MRXUQH\�DQG�WKH�H\HĜV�H[SHULHQFH�KDG�EHFRPH�ętwin testaments of evolving
individuality, and currencies in the status war-of-position being waged in an emergent consumer
FXOWXUH��2VERUQH�����, 9).
7KH�LQGLYLGXDOĜV�YLVXDO�H[SHULHQFH�KDV�VLPXOWDQHRXVO\�VHHQ�D�PDMRU�WUDQVIRUPDWLRQ�LQ�LWV�
mode of representation ė paintings. Before landscape paintings, oil paintings were prevalent.
They often depict things, things which in reality are buyable. To have a thing painted and put on
a canvas is not unlike buying it and putting it in your house. If you buy a painting, you buy also
the look of the thing it represents. This is an analogy between possessing and the way of seeing
(Berger 1977, 83). Works of art in earlier traditions celebrated wealth, which was then a symbol
of a fixed social or divine order. Nonetheless, oil painting celebrated a new kind of wealth
(Berger 1977, 90). Oil painting, before it was anything else, was a celebration of private property.
ęAs an art-form it derived from the principle that you are what you haveĚ (Berger 1977, 139). The
history of English painting from Tudor to Hanoverian times is that of oil painting, but from
about the middle of the eighteenth century watercolor comes into view as a medium of
preference since the equipment for painting watercolors was much easier to take on a journey
(Gaunt 1983, 111). Meanwhile, landscape was originally and centrally constituted as a genre of
painting associated with a new way of seeing (Mitchell 2002, 7) ė the idea of the picturesque.
The Picturesque
The picturesque is an aesthetic concept that flourished between roughly 1780s and
1820s. It helped establish conventions and practices that played a vital role in the practice of
travel for aesthetic appreciation still fundamental to modern tourism. Highly popular among
educated Britons, picturesque travel in its original form involved visiting scenic areas for the
purpose of viewing (or drawing) natural scenery. Yet, for landscape to be deemed picturesque, it
had to conform to an aesthetics derived from a canon of Continental and British landscape
paintings including those of Claude Lorraine, Salvator Rosa (1615-1673), and Thomas
Gainsborough (1727-1788). Criteria for picturesque views were further elaborated by theorists
including Uvedale Price (1747-1829), Richard Payne Knight (1751-1824), and William Gilpin
(1724-1804). Price and Knight theorized the picturesque as a way for other aristocratic
ODQGRZQHUV�WR�LPSURYH�WKHLU�HVWDWHV��&RQWUDULO\��*LOSLQĜV�LGHD�RI�WKH�SLFWXUHVTXH�ZDV�DLPHG�DW�
middle-class tourists. PictuUHVTXH�WRXULVP�WKXV�UHSUHVHQWHG�D�ęERXUJHRLV�GHPRFUDWL]DWLRQ�RI�ODQG�
DQG�WDVWH��D�FKDOOHQJH�WR�HOLWH�KHJHPRQ\��%RKOV������������ Notwithstanding, like all mainstream
aesthetic theories, the picturesque assumed a male viewer for the subject. Women travel writers
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also relied on the aesthetic concept in their writing as well. Among them was Dorothy
Wordsworth (1771-1855), whose Recollections of a tour made in Scotland A.D. 1803 (written
1803-1805, though not published in her lifetime) was composed in the genre of the picturesque
tour (Bohls 2020, 246-247).
Reverend William Gilpin, the English landscape artist, was among those who gave
shape to the idea of the picturesque. This is not seeing nature for what it is, but for how it
measures up to a culturally shaped aesthetic (Youngs 2014, 43). The idea was that roughness
and irregularity of form had a value preferable to that of the formal and regular in providing the
maximum titillation to the eye. It rationalized the practice of painting ruins, on the ground, not
of their being historical but of their offering all the variety of shape and color belonging to
crumbling walls (Gaunt 1983, 117-118). Gilpin wrote manuals to the landscape sketching style,
including three major treatises ė An essay upon prints (1768); Observations on the River Wye,
and several parts of South Wales, etc. relative chiefly to picturesque beauty; made in the summer
of the year 1770 (1789); Three essays: On picturesque beauty; on picturesque travel; and on
sketching landscape (1792). Published between 1782 and 1802, they sensitized a large audience
to the beauties of native, British scenery. They did this by teaching the picturesque tourist how
to look at the natural landscape as an ordered, coherent pictorial whole rather than as a chaotic
collection of bits and pieces (Bermingham 1994, 86).
*LOSLQĜV�YHUVLRQ�RI�WKH�SLFWXUHVTXH�DOORZV�XV�WR�UHDOL]H�WKDW�WUDYHOHUVĜ�DFFRXQWV�RI�WKH�
landscape do not provide neutral versions of it; they do not simply describe it; they construct it,
too. They regard it not as it is but as it strikes and affects us (Youngs 2014, 44; original
emphasis). In Three essays: On picturesque beauty; on picturesque travel; and on sketching
landscape, Gilpin points out the quality in objects, which particularly marks them as picturesque.
An elegant garden ground typifies smoothness, with the harmonious combination of the objects
and the winding of the walk. But, the smoothness of the whole in nature offends in picture.
ęTurn the lawn into a piece of broken ground: plant rugged oaks instead of flowering shrubs:
break the edges of the walk: give it the rudeness of a road: mark it with wheel-tracks; and
scatter around a few stones, and brushwood; in a word, instead of making the whole smooth,
make it rough; and you make it also picturesque��*ilpin 1792, 8; original emphasis).
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Afterwards, the picturesque concept is transferred to sketching:
In a hasty transcript from nature, it is sufficient to take the lines of the
country just as you find them: but in your adorned sketch you must grace
them a little, where they run false. You must contrive to hide offensive parts
with wood; to cover such as are too bald, with bushes; and to remove little
objects, which in nature push themselves too much in sight, and serve only
to introduce too many parts into your composition. In this happy adjustment
the grand merit of your sketch consists. No beauty of light, colouring, or
execution can atone for the want of composition. It is the foundation of all
picturesque beauty. No finery of dress can set off a person, whose figure is
awkward, and uncouth. (Gilpin 1792, 70; original emphasis)
Figure 13.7 An example of the picturesque. $Q�LPDJH�IURP�:LOOLDP�*LOSLQĜV Observations on the
river Wye, and several parts of South Wales, 1782.
[Gilpin, William. An image from Observations on the river Wye, and several parts of South Wales.
1782. *EC75 G4278 782o, Houghton Library, Harvard University. Accessed July 22, 2019.
https://commons.wikimedia.org/ wiki/File:Houghton_EC75_G4278_782o_-_Gilpin,_25.jpg.]
*LOSLQ�SURSRVHG�WKDW�WKH�ęZLOGĚ�QDWLYH�ODQdscapes, such as the Lake District, North
Wales, and the Scottish Highlands could please tourists with the same qualities that a painting
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would also present. In effect, he helped institute a way of seeing that anticipated the picture
postcards and snapshots of modern tourism. The special impact of picturesque travel in Britain
owed not only to aesthetic fashion, however. It can also be explained by political circumstances
because domestic tourism was stimulated when the Napoleonic Wars made continental travel
impossible for British tourists who found it difficult to even cross the Channel (Korte 2020, 180).
As the Napoleonic Wars finally ended the tradition of the Grand Tour, the new forms of
domestic and continental tourism began to establish themselves in forms still familiar today.
New infrastructures and the transport revolution of the nineteenth century made travel
increasingly affordable, comfortable, faster, and safer, and even more practicable for women.
From the 1820s the Channel could be crossed by steamboats, and rail networks developed
across Western Europe. Increased social mobility corresponded with increasing mobility in space,
and the continental tour that had begun as a rite of passage for the elite, often taking months
or years, was now democratized and transformed into middle-class leisure (Korte 2020, 180).
Inadvertently equipped with the idea of the picturesque, modern tourists take pleasure in
exercising their discriminating taste. They are seen wielding cameras, instead of Claude glasses,
affirming their taste and accumulating cultural capital by snapping photos of natural scenes pre-
viewed for them by guidebooks or websites (Bohls 2020, 256).
It has been suggested that landscape as a cultural medium naturalizes a cultural and
social construction, representing an artificial world as if it were simply given and inevitable,
freeing nature from the bonds of convention. ęPreviously, men looked at nature as an
assemblage of isolated objects, without connecting trees, rivers, mountains, roads, rocks and
forest into a unified scene. Now, those elements are combined in the new perception and
representation of landscapeĚ (Mitchell 2002, 12-13; 20). Now, landscape painting, as a visual
medium, is conceived as contributing to the discourses of imperialism. The expansion of
landscape is understood as an inevitable, progressive development in history, and expansion of
ęFXOWXUHĚ�DQG�ęFLYLOL]DWLRQĚ�LQWR�D�ęQDWXUDOĚ�VSDFH��7KH�ęSURVSHFWĚ�WKDW�RSHQV�XS�LV�QRW�MXVW�D�
spatial scene buW�D�SURMHFWHG�IXWXUH�RI�ęGHYHORSPHQWĚ�DQG�H[SORLWDWLRQ��0LWFKHOO�2002, 19; 15;
17). Like imperialism itself, landscape is an object of nostalgia in a postcolonial and postmodern
era, reflecting a time when metropolitan cultures could imagine their destiny in an unbounded
ęSURVSHFWĚ�RI�HQGOHVV�DSSURSULDWLRQ�DQG�FRQTXHVW��0LWFKHOO�2002, 20). Evidently, the Enclosure
Movement and the accompanying dispossession of the English peasantry were an internal
colonization of the home country, ętransforming what William %ODNH�FDOOHG�ęD�JUHHQ��SOHDVDQW�
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- 232 -
ODQGĚ�LQWR�D�ODQGVFDSH��DQ�HPEOHP�RI�QDWLRQDO�DQG�LPSHULDO�LGHQWLW\Ě (Mitchell 2002, 17).4 This
was followed by the great increase of country houses in the eighteenth century and the
development of rural sports, such as horse racing and fox hunting (Gaunt 1983, 89).
In the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, picturesque tourists typically chose
GHVWLQDWLRQV�OLNH�:DOHV�RU�WKH�6FRWWLVK�+LJKODQGV�LQ�%ULWDLQĜV�LQWHUQDOO\�FRORQL]HG�ę&HOWLF�IULQJH�Ě�
areas seen as less developed than England. There, the primitive were safely relegated to a space
and time removed from civilized modern life. This attraction had its roots in Enlightenment
theories of history that viewed all civilizations as moving through successive stages, from
hunting and gathering through herding and settled agriculture to the advanced commercial
societies of eighteenth-century Europe. By visiting or reading about places like the Scottish
Highlands, North America, Tahiti, or Africa, English tourists believed they could travel through
time, and experience earlier stages of civilization since the inhabitants of such places were still
stuck in the past (Bohls 2020, 249).
Picturesque travel was not, of course, confined to the British Isles. Some recent
scholarship takes up the ethnographic picturesque, often practiced by colonial travelers. It
originated in the domestic picturesque, which invested an intercultural element in gypsies with
SLFWXUHVTXH�DHVWKHWLFV��$IWHUZDUGV��ZLWK�%ULWDLQĜV�XQSUHFHGHQWHG�JOREDO�H[SDQVLRQ�GXULQJ�WKH�
French Wars (1793-1815), explorers and colonists started to apply this concept to topography
and climates very different from those of Britain or southern Europe. This metropolitan aesthetics
was invoked as part of the colonizing project (Bohls 2020, 250-251).
When the British took over the Cape Colony from the Dutch during the Napoleonic
Wars, and FRORQL]LQJ�6RXWK�$IULFDĜV�KLQWHUODQG�EHFDPH�D�SRVVLELOLW\, William Burchell (1781-1863),
trained as both a naturalist and an artist, arrived at the Cape in 1810, and set off to explore the
South African interior. Between 1811 and 1813, he traveled 4,500 miles, collecting numerous
crates of specimens ė plants, animal skins, seeds, insects, bulbs and fish. After his return to
(QJODQG��%XUFKHOO�WHVWLILHG�EHIRUH�D�SDUOLDPHQWDU\�FRPPLWWHH�RQ�6RXWK�$IULFDĜV�VXLWDELOLW\�IRU�
emigration, and subsequently published a pamphlet, Hints on emigration to the cape of Good
Hope (1819) (Bohls 2020, 251).
4 The Enclosure Movement was the legal process in England, probably between 1760-1832,
of consolidating (enclosing) small landholdings into larger farms. Once enclosed, use of the land
became restricted to the owner, and it ceased to be common land for communal use.
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Additionally, his two-volume Travels in the interior of southern Africa (1822-4) is
illustrated with his drawings of the landscapes and inhabiWDQWV�RI�ęWKLV�YDVW��KRW��DOLHQ�ODQG.Ě�His
illustrations of the indigenous people fall under the expanded sense of the picturesque that
includes exotic peoples, costumes, and customs: an ethnographic picturesque. It intersects with
the taxonomical system of natural history as well as the administrative needs of colonial rule. As
a result, his verbal and visual depictions of picturesque landscape and inhabitants in South Africa
helped promote the colonial project, by creating such an inviting image of the region.
Furthermore, the ethnographic picturesque is also apparent in the eight-volume People of India:
A series of photographic illustrations, published during the second decade of the British Raj,
from 1868 to 1875, and edited by John Wilson Kaye, Secretary of the Secret Department of the
India Office (Bohls 2020, 251-252).
Figure 13.8 A view of the Town Litikun��(QJUDYHG�IURP�D�GUDZLQJ�E\�:LOOLDP�-RKQ�%XUFKHOOĜV�
Travels in the interior of southern Africa, Vol. 2, 1824.
[Burchell, John. An engraving from Travels in the interior of southern Africa, Vol. 2. 1824.
Digitized by the University of Pretoria, Biodiversity Heritage Library. Accessed May 27, 2021.
http://biodiversitylibrary.org/page/48905971.]
Not only is the concept of the picturesque reflected in exotic landscapes, peoples,
customs, and costumes, it may also be found in the urban area. Old age and poverty also
provided the visual ruggedness favored by theorists of the urban picturesque, who were drawn
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by dilapidated structures and impoverished environments (Bohls 2020, 247). Uvedale Price
argues in his Dialogue on the picturesque and beautiful (1801) that poverty, neglect, and decay,
seen from a distance, could be aesthetically appreciated, even if they were ugly and disgusting
up close (Bohls 2020, 254). Later in 1872, the journalist Blanchard Jerrold and the artist Gustave
'RUp�SURGXFHd an illustrated volume entitled London: A pilgrimage, depicting /RQGRQĜV�
impoverished and multicultural East End (Bohls 2020, 254-255). The attraction to human
suffering would later become central to the practice of dark tourism. (See more in Chapter 12.)
Figure 13.9 An example of the urban picturesque. Talad Noi (Old Bangkok Chinatown)
[Boonthavevej, Panida. ę7DODG�1RL�Ě�'LJLWDO�LPDJH��0DUFK����������3HUVRQDO�FROOHFWLRQ�@
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OPY
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The Imperial Eyes
1RWLFHDEO\��WKH�ęVHHLQJ-PDQĚ�RI�ODQGVFDSH�painting or the main protagonist in
eighteenth-century travel literature is the white male subject for European landscape discourse ė
ęKH�ZKRVH�LPSHULDO�H\HV�SDVVLYHO\�ORRN�RXW�DQG�SRVVHVVĚ�(Pratt 2008, 9). The concept of the
imperial eyes arises out of a study of eighteenth-century European travel writings. In Imperial
eyes: Travel writing and transculturation (1992), Mary Louise Pratt proposes that:
Travel books, I argue, gave European reading publics a sense of ownership,
entitlement and familiarity with respect to the distant parts of the world that
were being explored, invaded, invested in, and colonized. Travel books were
very popular. They created a sense of curiosity, excitement, adventure, and
even moral fervor about European expansionism. (Pratt 2008, 3)
Remarkably, the act of discovery itself consisted of what in European culture counts as
a purely passive experience ė that of seeing. The visual possession is illustrated by promontory
descriptions very common in Romantic and Victorian writing of all kinds (Pratt 2008, 198). The
deployment of the imperial eyes is evident in 5LFKDUG�%XUWRQĜV�Lake Regions of Central Africa
(1860). Here, Pratt identifies three conventional means which create qualitative and quantitative
YDOXH�IRU�WKH�H[SORUHUĜV�achievement. First, the landscape is estheticized. The sight is seen as a
painting and the description is ordered in terms of background, foreground, symmetries. Second,
density of meaning in the passage is sought. The landscape is represented as extremely rich in
material and semantic substance. This density is achieved especially through a huge number of
adjectival modifiers. The third strategy ė the relation of mastery ė is predicated between the seer
and the seen. What Burton sees is all there is, and that the landscape was intended to be viewed
from where he has emerged upon it. Thus the scene is deictically ordered with reference to his
vantage point, and is static (Pratt 2008, 200-201). Hence, tKH�VHHU�LV�LQ�WKH�SRVLWLRQ�RI�ęWKH�
monarch-of-all-I-surve\��3UDWW�����, 204). After staging the primal fantasy of the European
seeing-man, a social vision is introduced into the empty landscape, making it available for the
narrative of progress (Pratt 2008, 175). For the Victorian viewer space something is to be filled, a
lack to be replaced by the fullness of possession. An imagery which in the eighteenth century
had invited the viewer to contemplation had become for the Victorian a call to action (Osborne
2000, 51).
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A similar case of the imperial eyes in the nineteenth century is illustrated in The Golden
Chersonese and the way thither (1879). In her letters from Kwala Kangsa (in modern-day Malaysia),
dated February 17, 1879, Isabella Bird writes:
February 17, 1879
From Kwala Kangsa
I was very glad that yesterday was Sunday, so that I had a quiet day, for
nearly twelve hours of jungle riding on an elephant makes one very stiff and
sleepy. Three days of solitude, meals in the company of apes, elephant
excursions, wandering about alone, and free, open air, tropical life in the
midst of all luxuries and comforts, have been very enchanting. At night,
when the servants had retired to their quarters and the apes to the roof, and
I was absolutely alone in the bungalow, the silent Oriental sentries
motionless below the veranda counting for nothing, and without a single
GRRU�RU�ZLQGRZ�WR�JLYH�RQH�WKH�IHHOLQJ�RI�UHVWUDLQW��,�KDG�VRPH�RI�WKH�ę,ĜP�
PRQDUFK�RI�DOO�,�VXUYH\�IHHOLQJ��DQG�ZKHQ�GUXP�EHDW�DQG�EXJOH�EODVW��DQG�
the turning out of the Sikh guard, indicated that the Resident was in sight, I
IHOW�D�OLWWOH�UHOXFWDQW�WR�UHOLQTXLVK�WKH�VRFLHW\�RI�DQLPDOV��DQG�P\�ęVROLWDU\�
UHLJQ�Ě�ZKLFK�VHHPHG�DOPRVW�ęDQFLHQWĚ�DOVR���Isabella Bird 2011, 247)
,Q�WKH�H[FHUSW��RQH�QRWHV�WKH�ZRUGV�ęPRWLRQOHVVĚ�DQG�ęUHLJQ�Ě�VXJJHVWLQJ�WKH�VHHUĜV�
dominance over the scene in front. Nonetheless, even though the idea of the imperial eyes is
usually associated with the eighteenth- and nineteenth-century literature when images were
predominantly paintings, photographs also demonstrate the concept, such as in the panoramic
view from the skyscraper in Chicago in the 1880s (Urry and Larson 2011, 162).
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Figure 13.10 An example of the imperial eyes. The seer commands the garden view from a man-
made hill.
[Boonthavevej, Panida. ę7DNDPDWVX�5LWVXULQ�*DUGHQ��-DSDQ�Ě�'LJLWDO�LPDJH��-XQH����������
Personal collection.]
At the turn of the nineteenth century a complex of significant meanings and practices
had gathered around travel and visual representation. Combined with later technical advances
and pressed by the economic demands and social needs of the new century, there emerged
photography (Osborne 2000, 9). Initially, photographs were viewed through a stereoscope used
to view a pair of separate images, depicting left-eye and right-eye views of the same scene,
rendering a single three-dimensional image (Wikipedia��ę6WHUHRVFRSH�Ě�ODVW�PRGLILHG�-XQH�����
2019, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stereoscope).
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OPY
- 238 -
Figure 13.11 A Holmes stereoscope, the most popular form of the 19th century stereoscope
[Davepape. A Holmes stereoscope. 2006. Wikimedia Commons. Accessed July 22, 2019.
https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=961098.]
Afterwards, in the 1880s Kodak launched its first user-friendly and lightweight cameras,
targeting the new middle-class family and tourism. In the 1890s, Kodak cameras were common
among European tourists traveling in Egypt. By the 1910s, Kodak became a household name,
making cameras and picture-PDNLQJ�ęPXQGDQHĚ�DQG�SKRWRJUDSKLQJ�D�SDUW�RI�DQ�HPHUJLQJ�
ęWRXULVW�KDELWXVĚ��8UU\�DQG�/DUVRQ�����, 170). Through these mechanisms the world was
becoming represented as a picture reconfigured through the human perspective as a founding
act of modernity, in an era named the ęage of the world pictureĚ (Heidegger 1977, 128-30).
,Q�ę7KH�DJH�RI�WKH�ZRUOG�SLFWXUH,Ě�0DUWLQ�Heidegger explains that world picture does
not mean a picture of the world, but the world conceived and grasped as picture by man
(Heidegger 1977, 129-130). What is distinctive is that man himself takes up his stand ęin relation
to whatever is as the objective >đ@�gaining mastery over that which is as a wholeĚ (Heidegger
1977, 132). Conclusively, the age has become modern when one of its chief activities is
producing and consuming images, when images ęhave extraordinary powers to determine our
demands upon reality and are themselves coveted substitutes for firsthand experienceĚ (Sontag
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OPY
- 239 -
1978, 153). Now, we live according to a generalized image-repertoire, whereby everything is
transformed into images (Barthes 1982, 118).
Defining Photography and Photograph
Photography is generally regarded as a modern image-making tool. Nonetheless,
UHIOHFWLQJ�RQ�WKLV�QHZ�WHFKQRORJ\��-HDQ�%DXGULOODUG�SHUFHLYHV�LW�DV�ęWKH�ZULWLQJ�RI�OLJKWĚ ė the
SKRWRJUDSKLF�DFW��LQ�ZKLFK�ęD�FRPSOLFLW\�EHWZHHQ�WKH�technical device and the world is
HVWDEOLVKHG��%DXGULOODUG�����, n.pag.). The application of this mobile visual system to the
depiction of travel is, on the one hand, a crystallization of three hundred years of culture and
science preoccupied with space and mobility and, on the other, the expression of its own time
(Osborne 2000, 9). At the same time, a photograph is not just the result of an encounter
between the device and the world, between an event and a photographer because ępicture-
taking is an event in itself, and our very sense of situation is now articulated by the camerDĜV�
interventionsĚ (Sontag 1978, 11).
7UDYHO�SKRWRJUDSK\ĜV�UROH�DV�DQ�DSSDUDWXV�RI�FRQWURO�LV�HYLGHQFHG�LQ�WKH�FRORQLDO�
enterprise. All forms of travel, and therefore all travel photography outside the metropolitan
centers, were in some way touched by colonialism. The subject matter and the visual structure of
the photographs established for the viewer a relationship to the world that was more than
perceptual or aesthetic (Osborne 2000, 18-19). The function of visual representation as an
apparatus of control is evidenced in the case of Egypt. In the years before photography
Europeans had transformed Egypt into picture and text. The numerous scholars and picture-
makers who accompanied the Napoleonic invasion of 1798 produced the encyclopedic
'HVFULSWLRQ�GH�OĜ(J\SWH, a vast conspectus of Egyptian life which included almost three thousand
illustrations featuring many of the ruins and artefacts of the ancient kingdoms. Egypt became
ęrediscovered�Ě Egypt was created in terms of the European view of world history and arranged
into a repertoire of items, themes and sites. Egypt was to be understood by means of
knowledge refined from the outside. It became a place to be looked upon, contemplated, and
represented (Osborne 2000, 23-24). The exoticized place, object or person exists as something to
be looked on, as eternally strange and impenetrable. The facility of the new ęEuropeanĚ medium
for making such visual records further legitimated the rights of Europeans to penetrate all
regions of the world (Osborne 2000, 25).
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OPY
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Although both the French and the British had a great interest in Egypt, among Great
%ULWDLQĜV�FRORQLDO�SRVVHVVLRQV�,QGLD�ZDV�VSHFLDO��7R�EHJLQ�ZLWK��LWV�HFRQRPLF�LPSRUWDQFH�ZDV�
pivotal in the British colonial economy. However, ęas a unified entity India was not only the
product of British material interests but also the creation of the British cultural imagination�
(Osborne 2000, 38). 3KRWRJUDSK\ĜV�ILUVW�IXQFWLRQ�LQ�FRORQLDO�,QGLD�ZDV�DV�DQ�DSSDUDWXV�RI�FRQWURO��
Most of the early European photographers were British army officers, or individuals working for
the East India Company or the British colonial administration itself (Osborne 2000, 39). Travel in
India was never separable from the colonial process. Indeed traveling had always formed an
essential part of the business of ruling. Colonial officers frequently crisscrossed enormous
territories in their endless administrative peregrinations. Their journeys represented British power
as ubiquitous. Later, the itineraries of tourism would re-enact these ceremonies of power by
holding to the routes the Raj had established, simulating the comforts of the rich and privileged
of earlier generations. In India, ęthe tour of the Prince of Wales in the 1870s laid down the
routes of the countless visitors who have followed�(Osborne 2000, 40). The most influential
travel guide of the Raj was 0XUUD\ĜV�+DQGERRN�WR�,QGLD. It was an aid to travel for pleasure and
interest, but one organizHG�E\�WKH�VDPH�WHPSODWH�WKDW�VWUXFWXUHG�WKH�FRORQ\ĜV�DGPLQLVWUDWLYH�DQG�
military knowledge (Osborne 2000, 40). Maps in the guidebook informed the (European, male)
traveler not merely where he was but where he belonged, and therefore who he was. A journey
would confirm the map and thereby confirm the politics of the map (Osborne 2000, 41). In its
own way, ęphotography was a form of mapping. It helped establish the range of locations and
experiences deemed important to British visitors or viewers and made them visually manifest.
Photography's visual structure mediated the visitor's relationship to the sites in ways that
ensured they would be consumed aesthetically and interpreted ideologically. In short, travel
photographs functioned to educate viewers and would-be visitors how to see India and
produced for them an India to see" (Osborne 2000, 41-42).
Viewed from this perspective, the prioritization of seeing invests the colonial subject
with a form of authority, reducing the world to visual experience in which the cultural other
becomes a spectacle (Topping 2020, 79). The idea common to colonialist discourse is that the
cultural other depends for its existence on the gaze of the traveler/colonizer ė a gaze which is
never presumed to be reciprocal. Within this gaze, the culture visited has the status of a
FRPPRGLW\�WKDW�FDQ�EH�IUDPHG��IL[HG��FDSWXUHG��DQG�ęGRPHVWLFDWHGĚ��7RSSLQJ������������7KH�
camera thus facilitates an encounter with the other that is more manageable or more contained
because they can be literally and metaphorically fixed and framed by the camera lens. The
photographed is rendered non-threatening, allowing for the convenient exclusion of all that
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OPY
- 241 -
GRHV�QRW�ILW�ZLWK�WKH�YLHZHUĜV�H[SHFWDWLRQV��7KH�SKRWRJUDSKHG�DUH�WKHQ�FDSWXUHG�DQG�
commodified, offering a mediated and/or sanitized experience (Topping 2020, 82-83).
While photography is configured as the writing of light, a representational tool, an
apparatus of control, and a form of mapping, as an image, a photograph is a proof of existence.
ę3KRWRJUDSKV�UHDOO\�DUH�H[SHULHQFH�FDSWXUHG��DQG�WKH�FDPHUD�LV�WKH�LGHDO�DUP�RI�FRQVFLRXVQHVV�
LQ�LWV�DFTXLVLWLYH�PRRG��6RQWDJ�����, 3-4). Painting can feign reality without having seen it. Yet,
in photography, one cannot deny that ęthe thing has been there��>đ@�LWV�UHIHUHQW�KDG�UHDOO\�
existedĚ�(Barthes 1982, 76-77). Simultaneously, the significance RI�D�VLWH�LQ�WKH�YLHZHUĜV�FXOWXUDO�
order determined the intensity of the viewing experience. In the minds of many Victorians
certain places had a quasi-mystical status. For the religiously devout or the enthusiast for
imperialism, images of the Holy Land or of colonial India could hold prodigious power.
7KHUHIRUH��WKH�SKRWRJUDSK�ZDV�H[SHFWHG�WR�IXUQLVK�SURRI�RI�D�VLWHĜV�H[LVWHQFH�DQG�UHFUHDWH�
something of its presence (Osborne 2000, 19).
1RQHWKHOHVV��D�SKRWRJUDSK�LV�ęERWK�D�SVHXGR-SUHVHQFH�DQG�D�WRNHQ�RI�DEVHQFHĚ�
(Sontag 1978, 16). The desire for distant landscape and faraway lands can be evoked by
photographs. Hence, the Victorians may not have believed they were literally photographing
*RG�LQ�WKH�+RO\�/DQG��%XW�WKHLU�LPDJHV�ZHUH�WDNHQ�DV�SURRIV�WKDW�WKH�VLWHV�RI�*RGĜV�GUDPDWLF�
appearances in the world existed. ęPhotographs of the region were empty stages for the
religious imagination to fill or opportunities for the travellers to introduce themselves into the
biblical scenery as a display of faithĚ (Osborne 2000, 37). In fact many Victorian photographic
DOEXPV�DFFRPSDQLHG�WKH�SULQWV�ZLWK�ELEOLFDO�TXRWDWLRQV��,Q�WKLV��ęWKHLU�IXQFWLRQ�DV�D�PHDQV�RI�
selecting and intensifying the experience of significant places and buildings is comparable to
WKDW�RI�WRGD\ĜV�WRXU-guide to the religious sites of the Middle East, whose rhetoric must focus
the imaginations of the tourist on the sacred place and bracket out the surrounding offices or
fast-food restaurants ė WKH�EDQDOLWLHV�RI�WKH�SURIDQH�FRQWHPSRUDU\�ZRUOGĚ��2VERUQH�����, 37).
A photograph may be regarded as a proof of reality, a pseudo-presence, and a token
of absence; yet, it also imprisons reality. While a photograph captures a memory, it actually
blocks memory. This is an act of violence performed by the photograph, not because it shows
violent things, but because ęon each occasion it fills the sight by force, and because in it nothing
can be refused or transformedĚ (Barthes 1982, 91). Photographs are, therefore, a way of
imprisoning reality, of making it stand still. One cannot possess reality, EXW�ęone can possess
(and be possessed by) imagesĚ (Sontag 1978, 163). For instance, family photos ędemonstrate the
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OPY
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IHVWLYH�XVH�RI�SKRWRJUDSK\��+HUH��SKRWRJUDSK\�LV�ęD�technology for the reiteration of the party�Ě�
,W�LV�XVHG�WR�FDSWXUH�H[FHSWLRQDO�REMHFWV��WKH�ěJRRG�PRPHQWVĜ�ZKLFK�LW�WUDQVIRUPV�LQWR�ěgood
PHPRULHVĜĚ�(Bourdieu 1998, 26-27).
In addition, as an image, a photograph is not a mechanical record. Every time we look
at a photograph, we are aware of the photographer selecting that sight from an infinity of other
SRVVLEOH�VLJKWV��7KH�SKRWRJUDSKHUĜV�ZD\�RI�VHHLQJ�LV�UHIOHFWHG�LQ�KLV�FKRLFH�RI�VXEMHFW��7KXV��DQ�
image became a record of how X had seen Y. This was the result of an increasing consciousness
of individuality, accompanying an increasing awareness of history. We never look at just one
thing; we are always looking at the relation between things and ourselves. Yet, although every
image embodies a way of seeing, our perception or appreciation of an image depends also
upon our own way of seeing (Berger 1977, 9-10). The convention of perspective, which is unique
to European art and which was first established in the early Renaissance, centers everything on
the eye of the beholder. Perspective makes the single eye the eye as to the vanishing point of
infinity. The visible world is arranged for the spectator as the universe was once thought to be
arranged for God. However, the spectator, unlike the omnipresent God, could only be in one
place at a time (Berger 1977, 16). After the invention of the camera, this contradiction gradually
became apparent. The camera showed that the notion of time passing was inseparable from the
experience of the visual (except in paintings). ęWhat you saw depended upon where you were
when. What you saw was relative to your position in time and space. It was no longer possible
to imagine everything converging on the human eye as on the vanishing point of infinity. The
camera ė and more particularly the movie camera ė demonstrated that there was no centUHĚ
(Berger 1977, 17-18). Hence, a photograph is not just the result of an encounter between an
event and a photographer��7KH�SKRWRJUDSKHU�DOORZV�KLPVHOI�ęperemptory rights ė to interfere
with, to invade, or to ignore whatever is going on. Our very sense of situation is now articulated
E\�WKH�FDPHUDĜV�LQWHUYHQWLRQVĚ (Sontag 1978, 11).
As images, photographs, and other modes of visual representations, are not only
products but also producers. Photography is not merely a passive, reflective process. It becomes
itself the cause of effects in the social and cultural worlds (Osborne 2000, 11). Susan Sontag
argues in On photography (1977) that photography does not simply reproduce the real, but it
recycles it. In the form of photographic images, things and events are put to new uses, assigned
new meanings. 7KH�SKRWRJUDSKLF�UHF\FOLQJ�PDNHV�FOLFKpV�RXW�RI�XQLTXH�REMHFWV��GLVWLQFWLYH�DQG�
YLYLG�DUWLIDFWV�RXW�RI�FOLFKpV��,PDJHV�RI�UHDO�WKLQJV�DUH�interlayered with images of images
(Sontag 1978, 174-175). With photography and photographic seeing as prime commodity forms
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in tourism, the photographic image that promotes a tourist site is in many instances the very
item consumed ė the advertisement has become its own commodity. ę7KH�DGYHUWLVHUĜV�LGHDO�
tourists see what they expect to see and expect to see what the advertiser has intended. Tourists
are positioned as both consumers and producers. Some promotional images reflect this by
SRUWUD\LQJ�WKH�WRXULVW�ORFDWLRQ�DV�D�ZRUOG�VWUXFWXUHG�E\�WKH�WRXULVWĜV�SOHDVXUHĚ (Osborne 2000,
84-85).
The Tourist Gaze
As a technology of visual representation, photography is undeniably characterized with
its advent in tandem with modern transportation. The co-presence of visual representation and
traveling was determined most powerfully by the general project of European expansion
(Osborne 2000, 7). While travel narratives discursively impose order upon traveled sites, travel
photography imposes order on the visual representation of those sites. As an image, a
photograph of a sight is a ęseeingĚ without a subject, for it pre-exists the arrival and activity of
any individual tourist-photographer. Thus, the sight is not so much an object to be viewed as an
already structured condition of seeing (Osborne 2000, 81). As tourists, we are not so much
looking as looking at images, or looking for images. Tourism provides us less with experience
than with events to see, or rather, events to look at. The privileging of the visual grants us
separation from our own experience, as if we are on holiday from things. ęThe world of the
WRXULVW�LV�ěRYHU�WKHUHĜ��LQ�WKH�SDVW-present, in the exotic-ordinary. It is framed off, the object of
imaging or description, in some spectacular distance, or set back as performanceĚ (Osborne
2000, 82).
In The tourist: A new theory of the leisure class, Dean MacCannell proposes, one way
travel photography manages to VWUXFWXUH�D�WRXULVWĜV�ZD\�RI�VHHLQJ is evident in tourism industry
when a site/sight is marked as a tourist attraction (1976, 44-46). In this case, the marker is a
pragmatic sign, simply a means of representing a sight to a tourist. It can take many forms, as
guidebooks, plaques, travel writing; advertisements on billboards or television, in magazines; as
posters and postcards; and as photographs, which can feature in all (Osborne 2000, 83). But the
marker is dedicated to a more complex process which, drawing on the language of pilgrimage,
MacCannell calls ęsight VDFUDOL]DWLRQĚ (1976, 44-46). Through a series of phases, a sight is
invented, given full cultural existence by being charged with meaning and power. In one of these
stages the sight is ęmechanically reproduced�Ě The existence of these reproductions is what
makes something an original, authentic, the real thing ė the original of which the souvenirs,
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postcards, prints, photographs, statues, and associated objects are reproductions. They are
eventually distributed through the culture increasing the fame and therefore value of the sight
(MacCannell 1976, 45 cited in Osborne 2000, 83; Culler 1988, 160).
:KHQ�WKH�VLJKWĜV�FRQQRWDWLRQV�DUH�IXOO�DEVRUEHG�LQWR�WKH�system of cultural values, it
becomes capable of generating significant cultural energy. Actually, the sight has become ęa
transmitter of meanings and sentiments and at the same time a magnet drawing to itself those
who wish to experience them embodied in material form�YLD�WKH�WRXULVWLF�DFWLYLW\�FDOOHG�
sightseeing ė ęWKH�V\VWHPDWLF�YLVLWLQJ�RI�WKH�HVWDEOLVKHG�VLJKWV��DFTXLULQJ�VRXYHQLUV��SRVWFDUGV��
makiQJ�YLGHRV�DQG��RI�FRXUVH��WDNLQJ�SKRWRJUDSKV�(Osborne 2000, 83-84; 74). For MacCannell,
WRXULVP�LV�ERWK�V\PSWRP�RI�DQG�FXUH�IRU�PRGHUQLW\ĜV�GLVFRQWHQWV��2Q�WKH�RQH�KDQG��LW�GLVSOD\V�
PRGHUQLW\ĜV�UHVWOHVVQHVV, its self-centeredness and feeling of personal incompleteness. On the
other hand, tourism provides encounters with the authentic experience absent in the dissociation
and insufficiency of modern life, and imagined to be located always elsewhere and in other
times ęin purer simpler lifestylesĚ (MacCannell 1976, 3). ęMore often than not these lifestyles will
be found in regions all but destroyed, ruined or devalued by the process of modernisation itself;
their remnants and traces turned into objects for the nostalgic modern visitor to gaze upon ė to
photograph�(Osborne 2000, 74). (See Chapter 12 for more details.)
The visualized nature of touristic experiences is demonstrated as the tourist is
interested in everything as a sign of itself. ,Q�ę7KH�VHPLRWLFV�RI�WRXULVP�Ě�Jonathan D. Culler, calls
WKH�WRXULVWV�ęWKH�XQVXQJ�DUPLHV�RI�VHPiotics >đ@�engaged in reading cities, landscapes and
FXOWXUHV�DV�VLJQ�V\VWHPV��&XOOHU�����, 155). For example, to the tourist, the Eiffel Tower is a
universal symbol of Paris. It is everywhere on the globe where Paris is to be staged as an image.
A journey to France or a film about France is incomplete, ęwhich fails to propose it as the major
sign of a people and of a placeĚ (Barthes 1979, 3-4). From its beginning, photography has been
instrumental in the production of the tourist experience. All tourists, whether or not they take
photographs, consume places and experiences which are photographic, as they have been made
or have evolved to be seen, above alO�WR�EH�SKRWRJUDSKHG��&RQVHTXHQWO\��ęPXFK�WRXULVW�
photography is quotation ė a reprising of the contents of the brochures, or the reproduction of
a view that as likely as not came into existence as a consequence of photography. Tourist
photography is more a process of confirmation than of discovery; a practice which takes place
ZLWKLQ�WKH�V\VWHP�RI�WRXULVP��2VERUQH�����������
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OPY
- 245 -
With the advent of new technology such as photography arrived a new perspective of
seeing among modern-day travelers. As commercial photographs produce desire for bodily
travel, they script and stage destinations with extraordinary imaginative geographies. They are
QRUPDOO\�FRPSRVHG�WR�PDNH�WKH�YLHZHU�GUHDP�LQWR�WKH�SLFWXUH��ZKLFK�DZDLWV�WKH�YLHZHUĜV�GHVLUHV�
and pleasures in order to be completed (Urry and Larson 2011, 173-181). Urry maintains that
photography gives shape to travel. It is the reason for stopping, to snap a shot, and then to
move on. People feel that they must not miss seeing particular scenes since otherwise the
photo-opportunities will be missed. Additionally, photography is intimately bound up with the
tourist gaze. What is sought for in a holiday is a set of photographic images, as seen in
brochures, TV programs, blogs, and social networking sites. Photographic images organize our
anticipation about the places we might gaze upon. When we are away, we record images of
what we have gazed upon. 3KRWRJUDSK\ĜV�QHWZRUNHG�FRQYHUJHQFH�ZLWK�PRELOHV�DQG�WKH�LQWHUQHW�
means that camera-SKRQH�SKRWRJUDSKV�WUDYHO�ęWLPHOHVVO\Ě�so the audience can gaze upon events
unfolding in real time (Urry and Larson 2011, 173-181).
Urry further divides the tourist gaze into two forms. The romantic form emphasizes
ęVROLWXGH��SULYDF\�DQG�D�SHUVRQDO��VHPL-spiritual relationship with the objecW�RI�WKH�JD]HĚ��Urry
2002, 43) whereas the collective form of the tourist gaze necessitates the presence of large
numbers of other people. Not only does the tourist gaze formulate the visual experience of the
tourist, it transforms ordinary visual experience into a self-pleasing end-in-itself. Differing from
everyday looking, the tourist gaze strengthens the essential demarcation of the time, space and
perceptions of the holiday from those of the working year, which gives touristic experience its
identity. Therefore, the tourist gaze is ęconstructed, experienced and maintained by visual images
ZKLFK�UHPDLQ�W\SLFDOO\�SKRWRJUDSKLF��2VERUQH�����������
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OPY
- 246 -
Figure 13.12 An example of the romantic gaze. Reflection Lake, Mt. Rainier National Park,
Washington
[Boonthavevej, Panida. ę5HIOHFWLRQ�/DNH��0W��5DLQLHU�1DWLRQDO�3DUN��Washington.Ě�'LJLWDO�LPDJH��
July 12, 2012. Personal collection.]
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OPY
- 247 -
Figure 13.13 An example of the collective gaze. Tourists looking at the statue of Sun Yat-sen
(1866-1925), first leader of the Republic of China.
[Boonthavevej, Panida. ę7KH National Sun Yat-VHQ�0HPRULDO�+DOO��7DLZDQ�Ě�'LJLWDO�LPDJH��
December 30, 2013. Personal collection.]
The tourist gaze is intrinsically part of contemporary experience, but the tourist
practices to which it gives rise are experiencing rapid and significant change. Such changes
cannot be separated from these more wide-ranging structural and cultural developments within
FRQWHPSRUDU\�VRFLHWLHV��FROOHFWLYHO\�FDOOHG�ęSRVWPRGHUQLVPĚ�(Urry 2002, 74). One aspect of
changes brought about by these developments is the increasingly problematized distinction
EHWZHHQ�ęUHSUHVHQWDWLRQVĚ�DQG�ęUHDOLW\�Ě�Signification is increasingly figural or visual and so there
is a closer, more intimate, relationship between the representation and the reality than where the
signification takes place through words or music (without film, TV, video, pop video and so on)
(Urry 2002, 77). Even within the romantic gaze, much of what is appreciated is not directly
experienced reality itself but representations, particularly through the medium of photography.
:KDW�SHRSOH�ęJD]H�XSRQĚ�DUH�LGHDO�UHSUHVHQWDWLRQV�RI�WKH�YLHZ�LQ�TXHstion that they internalize
from postcards and guidebooks, TV programs and the internet. And even when they cannot in
IDFW�ęVHHĚ�WKH�QDWXUDO�ZRQGHU�LQ�TXHVWLRQ��WKH\�FDQ�VWLOO�VHQVH�LW��VHH�LW�LQ�WKHLU�PLQG��$QG�HYHQ�
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OPY
- 248 -
when the actual object fails to live up to its representation, it is the latter which will stay in
SHRSOHĜV�PLQGV��8UU\�����������
As the tourist gaze is increasingly media-PHGLDWHG��PRVW�SODFHV�DUH�ęIORZLQJĚ�DQG�
connected through a circuit of images; faraway places are relentlessly traveling in and through
the everyday spaces of social media networks. Thus, it is virtually impossible to visit places which
people have not traveled to ęimaginativelyĚ at some time. Through these representational
performances, most tourist places have over time beHQ�LQVFULEHG�ZLWK�VSHFLILF�ęLPDJLQDWLYH�
JHRJUDSKLHV�PDWHULDOL]HG�DQG�PRELOL]HG�LQ�DQG�WKURXJK�ERRNV��EURFKXUHV��SRVWFDUGV�DQG�SKRWR�
albums. Furthermore, major films and soap operas often cause tourist flows where few roamed
before the location was made visible upon the silver screen. There has been an upsurge in
ęPHGLD�SLOJULPDJHĚ�LQ�VHDUFK�IRU�WKH�UHDOLW\�RI�D�ILOP�RU�VRDS�RSHUD��8UU\�DQG�/DUVHQ�������������
An example of media pilgrimage is found in the film series The Lord of the Rings (2001-2003).
The novels were written by the British novelist J. R. R. Tolkien (1892-1973), bearing no specific
relation to New Zealand. However, the films were directed by the New Zealander Peter Jackson
(b. 1961) and shot in New Zealand. This led many tourism providers in New Zealand to capitalize
XSRQ�LWV�ZRUOGZLGH�SRSXODULW\��(YHQ�WKRXJK�PRVW�VFHQHV�DUH�D�PL[�RI�ęUHDOĚ�ODQGVFDSHV��ILOP�VHWV�
and postproduction digital modifications, the official New Zealand tourist organization branded
itself the ęHome of Middle Earth.Ě Various companies, consequently, arranged tours to the major
sights of the filming locations; one can travel with ęthe Lords of the Rings location guidebookĚ
through this fictional and virtual environment (Urry and Larsen 2011, 117-118).
Travel Photography and Travel Literature
Apart from delving into the textuality of travel literature, readers can also explore
images that accompany the text, and negotiate the meanings deriving from the
confrontation/juxtaposition of the two elements. Initially, travel narratives already often included
maps, architectural plans, and ethnographic drawings; as the new technology became accessible,
writers added photographs. Into the 1940s, travel narratives often included at least a score of
photographs and a few maps, placed in the body of the text or a separate section (Burton 2015,
46-47). But, from mid-century on, the travel genre is reoriented from documentation to
QDUUDWLRQ��,W�PD\�EH�UHDG�DV�DQ�LQVWDQFH�RI�WUDYHO�QDUUDWLYH�IROORZLQJ�PRGHUQLVPĜV�OHDG�LQ�
querying, then rejecting realist modes of representation. Nevertheless, visual images return to
the genre at the turn of the millennium (Burton 2015, 47-48).
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OPY
- 249 -
The structure of the photograph, however, is not an isolated structure; it is in
communication with the text ė title, caption or article ė accompanying every photograph.
Although occupying their own defined spaces, these two different structures co-operate to
create a totality of new information (Barthes 1978a, 16). There are mainly two types of
relationships between the text and image in travel literature. First, when the text takes the center
stage. Second, when the image is dominant. In the first case, the image functions as the
illustration, a kind of paratext. According to *pUDUG�*HQHWWH��paratext LV�D�ęWKUHVKROG�Ě�VRPHWKLQJ�
that surrounds and extends the text, in order to present it��,W�LV�DQ�ęXQGHILQHGĚ�]RQH�EHWZHHQ�WKH�
inside and the outside, a zone without any hard and fast boundary. This fringe constitutes a
zone between text and off-text, a zone not only of transition but also transaction (Genette 1997,
1-2). In the second scenario, the image is the focal point. It no longer illustrates the words. On
the contrary, the text performs a parasitic function; it is now the words which are parasitic on the
image, as in the case of tourism promotional images accompanied by the captions (Barthes
1978a, 25-26). These captions, carrying the linguistic message, have two consecutive functions:
denotaton and connotation (Barthes 1978b, 37). In the photograph, the scene is captured
mechanically; the relationship of signifieds and signifierV�LV�RQH�RI�ęUHFRUGLQJĚ�(Barthes 1978b,
44) whereas the text directs the reader through the recording of the scene, the denotation of
the image, making it explicit (Barthes 1978a, 32-33; 26-27).
Figure 13.14 An example of the linguistic message denoting the image. The caption
accompanies a tourism promotional photograph of Fairbanks, Alaska, in spring.
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OPY
- 250 -
>'H�<RXQJ��0LFKDHO��6WDWH�RI�$ODVND���ę)DLUEDQNV�LQ�VSULQJ�Ě�'LJLWDO�LPDJH��April 10, 2019. Travel
Alaska Facebook Page. Accessed August 3, 2019. https://www.facebook.com/TravelAlaska/
photos/a.380125019656/10158606535604657/?type=3&theater.]
Concurrently, the text helps contribute to the connotation of the image. But, one needs
to be reminded that the reading of the photograph is always historical. ęTo find this code of
FRQQRWDWLRQ�ZRXOG�WKXV�EH�WR�LVRODWH��LQYHQWRULDWH�DQG�VWUXFWXUH�DOO�WKH�ěKLVWRULFDOĜ�HOHPHQWV�RI�
the photograph, all the parts of the photographic surface which derive their very discontinuity
IURP�D�FHUWDLQ�NQRZOHGJH�RQ�WKH�UHDGHUĜV�SDUW��RU��LI�RQH�SUHIHUV��IURP�WKH�UHDGHUĜV�FXOWXUDO�
situationĚ (Barthes 1978a, 28). 7KXV��ZH�DUH�GHDOLQJ�ZLWK�ęD�QRUPDO�V\VWHP�ZKRVH�VLJQV�DUe
GUDZQ�IURP�D�FXOWXUDO�FRGH��ZKLFK�YDULHV�DFFRUGLQJ�WR�LQGLYLGXDOV and societies (Barthes 1978b,
46-47). Furthermore, in a given society and history is shared a common domain of the signifieds
of connotation, which reflects its ideology. These same signifieds are to be found in different
media, such as image, language, objects, modes of behavior, and yet correspond to the general
ideology, specific to a certain culture (Barthes 1978b, 49).
One example of a culture-specific code of connotation lies in the depiction of the
South Seas, which have garnered a special place in the European imagination. In Judeo-Christian
myth, the garden Eden might be discovered on an island somewhere in the East, where life is
blissful and carefree. In the Age of Exploration, scientific expeditions to the South Seas revived
the fantasy of island Eden. It has been removed from the biblical myth, and implanted in the
secular time. The paradisial image of a tropical island offers an alluring escape from the grinding
routine of the modern society (Boonthavevej 2013, 193-194). The depiction of the South Seas as
a paradise is perpetuated in a tourism website promoting the islands of Tahiti. The front cover of
the vacation guide 2019-2020 reveals a speed boat at the bottom of the page making its way
into the blue sea, apparently heading towards the lush-green volcanic mountain at the top of
the picture.
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OPY
- 251 -
Figure 13.15 Bora Bora, Society Islands, 2018.
>6KDNXU��.DUO��ę%RUD�%RUD��6RFLHW\�IVODQGV�Ě�'LJLWDO�LPDJH��2018. The vacation guide of the islands
of Tahiti, Tahiti Tourisme. Accessed August 8, 2019. https://fr.calameo.com/read/
0034615039344627da1a2.]
The signifieds of connotation in the image is further complimented by one of the
marketing messages on the Tahiti Tourisme website. It presents the islands as an ideal location
for romantic holidays. The message on one website page reads:
The Islands of Tahiti are surely the prototype for the concept of the
far-flung, south seas romantic escape: archipelagos of volcanic islands
isolated in a gigantic blue ocean, protected entirely by barrier reefs
WKDW�IRUP�VRPH�RI�WKH�ZRUOGĜV�PRVW�IDEOHG�ODJRRQV�
Hundreds of empty white-sand beaches fringe these still turquoise
waters, while the forest-FRYHUHG�PRXQWDLQV�RI�)UHQFK�3RO\QHVLDĜV�
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OPY
- 252 -
dramatic volcanic hinterland rise hundreds ė sometimes thousands ė
of feet into the blue skies above.
,WĜV�LPSRVVLEOH�QRW�WR�JHW�VZHSW�XS�LQ�WKH�URPDQFH�RI�7he Islands of
Tahiti��:KHWKHU�LWĜV�QHZ-found love or the rekindling of an old
URPDQFH��\RXĜOO�ILQG�the perfect backdrop for your next romantic
adventure here.
French Polynesia is the ideal location for couples looking to relax on
vacation. It also offers rare treats for couples who prefer to explore
the adventurous side of The Islands of Tahiti.
>đ@
If \RXĜUH�ORRNLQJ�IRU�URPDQFH� honeymoon packages, or the
best beach wedding ORFDWLRQV��\RXĜOO�ILQG�LW�LQ The Islands of Tahiti.
(Tahiti Tourisme 2019)
The above linguistic message successfully encodes the image (Figure 13.15) with the
signifieds of connotation popular among the European imagination of the South Seas. The
islands of Tahiti, therefore, will continue to be associated with romantic getaways, blessed with
plentiful sunshine and calm blue sea.
Figure 13.16 Front cover of Pyongyang: A journey in North Korea, 2005.
[Delisle, Guy. 2005. Pyongyang: A journey in North Korea. Montrpal: Drawn & Quarterly Books.]
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- 253 -
Additionally, the interaction between the images and the linguistic text plays a crucial
in the development of graphic travelogue. For instance, in Pyongyang: A journey in North Korea
(2005), Guy Delisle (b. 1966), Canadian cartoonist and animator, gives an account of his
experiences as a supervisor of animation work by a studio in North Korea. He stays in the capital
of Pyongyang for two months, acting as the liaison between a French animation producing
FRPSDQ\��3URWpFUpD��DQG�WKH SEK Studio (Scientific Educational Korea) company. There he
struggles with the difficulties of outsourcing and the bureaucracy of the totalitarian state.
In the travelogue, the text comes in the forms of dialogues, descriptions, narratives,
commentaries, etc. It is complemented by the graphic images of the places he visits and the
people he interacts with on the daily basis. Initially, he is greeted at the airport by Mr. Kyu, his
guide, and the driver��ZKR�ęKDQGV�PH�IORZHUV�WKDW�,�NQRZ�DUHQĜW�UHDOO\�PHDQW�IRU�PHę�(Delisle
2005, 3). Actually, the flowers are for an obligatory visit to the 22-meter bronze statue of Kim Il-
Sung, the father of the nation (Delisle 2005, 7). Wherever he goes, he finds the portraits of the
Kim dynasty. In every room, on every floor, in every building throughout North Korea, portraits
of Papa Kim and his son (Kim Jong-Il) hang side by side on one wall, except in the bathroom
(Delisle 2005, 29). On one trip he visits the Pyongyang subway��ęRQH�RI�WKH�SULGHV�RI�WKH�QDWLRQ�Ě
Built 90 meters underground, it can double as a bomb shelter in case of nuclear attack (Delisle
2005, 31). It is decorated with marble floors, chandeliers, sculpted columns making it a
subterranean palace. However, the train merely operates between two stations (Delisle 2005, 32).
Conclusion
This chapter discusses a history of visual representation from the sixteenth century to
the present, emphasizing how innovations in imaging technology have heralded changes in
visual culture, from the sublime to the picturesque, from the imperial eyes to the tourist gaze. It
also reflects on meanings of photography from various perspectives ė as the writing of light, a
representational tool, an apparatus of control, a form of mapping, an image, and proof of
existence . Finally, we take a look at how the text and the image can interact to create meanings
in travel literature and photography.
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- 254 -
Class Activities
Chapter-end Exercise
1. Explain theories of visual culture in relation to the history of visual representation and
image-making technologies ėthe sublime to the picturesque, from the imperial eyes to
the tourist gaze.
2. Give definitions of photograph and photography.
3. Explain the structure of meaning(s) that arises out of the relationship between the text
of travel literature and the image of travel photography.
Discussion Questions
1. Study the selected images in travel writing.
2. Analyze the images in relation to the histories of visual culture discussed in this chapter.
3. Discuss how meanings are created from the interaction between the text and the image.
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- 255 -
Section IV
Conclusion
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OPY
- 256 -
Conclusion
In this course, we explore the rather Anglocentric concept of travel as inherent in
modern humanity, from the Middle Ages to the age of globalization. Though laborious and
troublesome, we allow ourselves this type of physical movement to disrupt our life, crossing
cultural, linguistic, and national boundaries so that we can reach our destinations near and far.
As a result, the kind of literature that emerges reflects the transgressiveness of human mobility.
Obviously, travel literature relies on an amalgamation of diverse literary genres: poetry,
diary, scientific treatise, etc. And the list continues to grow as it is conducive to various modes
and forms of writing. These days, travel literature can come in the form of video blogs (vlogs), or
even photo essays available on social media platforms. Meanwhile, there are several possible
approaches to travel literature since it is a fertile ground for critical study. From feminism to
Orientalism and visual studies, it appeals to various theories and will continue to do so as new
approaches enter the scene as what has been offered here is not exhaustive.
Yet, people will still travel outside their native countries or their planet. And they will
contribute to the ever growing repertoire of travel literature.
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Final Exam
(20 points)
Instructions
1. Watch the first episode of the documentary Joanna Lumley's Nile (2018) on YouTube
(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JQNToGZqdNE&list=PLvoRlZFMwbkoTE3awfaXaYrtIUr
HDYTHj).
2. Write a well-organized essay based on the video.
3. Provide an extensive discussion of the video by using one or more of the critical
approaches covered in class.
4. 3ODJLDULVP�LV�VWULFWO\�SURKLELWHG��DQG�ZLOO�EH�SHQDOL]HG�DFFRUGLQJ�WR�WKH�8QLYHUVLW\ĜV�FRGH�RI�
conduct.
5. Word count: 500 words
Grading Rubric
Grammatical accuracy and organization (5 pts)
Content (15 pts)
Total (20 pts)
Content: Ask yourself the following questions when writing the essay.
1. Do you clearly state the topic of your essay?
2. Do you give a summary of the documentary?
3. Do you discuss elements of the documentary as a form of travel literature?
4. Do you clearly state the critical approach(es) you are using?
5. Do you clearly state your main argument(s)?
6. Do you support your argument(s) with details ė particular scenes, particular dialogues,
timestamps, etc. ė from the documentary?
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