The Cambridge Introduction to Travel Writing
Cambridge University Press, 5/27/2013
EAN 9780521874472, ISBN10: 0521874475
Hardcover, 250 pages, 23.2 x 15.6 x 2 cm
Language: English
Critics have long struggled to find a suitable category for travelogues. From its ancient origins to the present day, the travel narrative has borrowed elements from various genres - from epic poetry to literary reportage - in order to evoke distant cultures and exotic locales, and sometimes those closer to hand. Tim Youngs argues in this lucid and detailed Introduction that travel writing redefines the myriad genres it comprises and is best understood on its own terms. To this end, Youngs surveys some of the most celebrated travel literature from the medieval period until the present, exploring themes such as the quest motif, the traveler's inner journey, postcolonial travel and issues of gender and sexuality. The text culminates in a chapter on twenty-first-century travel writing and offers predictions about future trends in the genre, making this Introduction an ideal guide for today's students, teachers and travel writing enthusiasts.
Acknowledgements
1. Introduction
defining the terms
Part I. Historical Overview
2. Medieval and early modern travel writing
3. Travel writing in the long eighteenth century
4. Travel writing in the long nineteenth century
5. 1900 to the present
Part II. Continuities and Departures
6. Quests
7. Inner journeys
8. Traveling b(l)ack
9. Gender and sexuality
Part III. Writing and Reading Travel
10. Writing travel
11. Reading travel writing
12. The way ahead
current travel writing
Bibliography
Index.
Advance praise: 'Magisterial ...' Conde Nast Traveller