Search:

Travel Writing - The Common Thread

Travel books are extremely diverse. Some are barely identifiable as travel writing. Gerald Durrell is thought of as an eccentric naturalist but in fact his books are engaging books on travel with a special focus on animal life. The kinds of travel literature, or indeed travel writers, can be broadly categorized. Top of the list are travel writers who are travelers by occupation and writers by profession. Three such writers are Paul Theroux, William Least Heat-Moon and Bill Bryson. It is probably no surprise that writers in this sub-genre are often short-tempered about travel and indeed the act of travel writing. More writers in this category are Jan Morris and Eric Newby. Once again there is a cross-over, because Morris is known as an historian and Newby as a novelist. It seems as soon as you write anything other than travelogues you have lost your purity!

Then there are travel works that are more along the lines of essays, such as V.S. Naipaul’s India: A Wounded Civilization, in which a journey becomes the peg on which to hang reflections and considerable philosophizing about nations, people, politics and culture. Another such work is Rebecca West’s work on Yugoslavia entitled Black Lamb and Grey Falcon. We have already dealt with the naturalist-as-traveler in Gerald Durrell. There are many more such examples. What of Sally Carrighar, Ivan T. Sanderson who also write to support their scientific ambitions. Arguably this sub-genre started when Charles Darwin undertook the voyage on HMS Beagle and returned to write his famous account of the journey, which encompassed science, natural history and travel.

Finally there is what I call travel writers who reversed into the genre. Here authors who have established their names in other genres travel and try their hand at travel writing. More famous authors than you would think have tried this. Examples include Samuel Johnson, Charles Dickens, Robert Louis Stevenson, the essayist Hillaire Belloc, the novelists Lawrence Durrell, D.H. Lawrence, Rebecca West, John Steinbeck and Evelyn Waugh.

Some critics and analysts say that fictional travelogues (accounts of journeys that are imaginary and often to imaginary destinations) make up a large proportion of travel literature. I would say that is a long shot. They argue that no one really knows where the travel accounts of Marco Polo and John Mandeville stopped being fact and became fiction. Well, that doesn’t make any fictional journey travel writing, in my book. More acceptable are instances where fictional works are based on factual journeys – such as Joseph Conrad’s Heat of Darkness and Paul Theroux’s The Mosquito Coast. It must be said that it takes consummate skill to incorporate an account of a real journey into a fictional story. Conrad managed this superbly.

Finally there are the entirely imaginary journeys that form part of the literary heritage but which in my view cannot be construed as travel literature of any kind. Homer’s Odyssey, Danté’s Divine Comedy, Jonathan Swift’s Gulliver’s Travels, Voltaire’s Candide…. The list goes on and on…..One common thread does run through all of travel literature, though. It is the traveler’s – and the reader’s – boundless fascination with what lies over the next horizon, just out of sight and ready to be discovered.

Article Source: http://www.newagelivingarticles.com

Justine has been a journalist for 20 years and is a contributor to Just The Planet, the online luxury travel magazine for independent travelers.

Please Rate this Article

Not yet Rated

Click the XML Icon Above to Receive Writing Articles Via RSS!

Additional Articles From - Home | Writing

Article Directory Software
Click here to download the exact software that powers this directory for FREE. Start your own article directory today!

	Print This Article
	Post Comment
	Add To Favorites
	Email to Friends
	Ezine Ready

Top Authors
Submit Articles
Member Login
Most Popular Articles
Submission Guidelines
Ezine Notifications
Article RSS Feeds

Little Book Of Becoming
Masters of the Secret
The Singularity Is Near
Distribute Your Articles to 1000's!
Wildwind Enterprises
Bookstore
About Us
Link to Us
Contact Us
Privacy Policy
Terms of Service

LINKS

All Links DirectoryAll Links Directory is 100% SEO friendly Directory and Human Edited.

Dominate The Search Engines with this software

Make Money Being an Affiliate with this software it's easy!

Learn How to Make Daily Profits Online starting Right Now!

Idiot Proof Clickbank Trick Makes $6,513 In 24 Hours

Amazing New Discovery: True psychokinesis easy to Use. Learn to control it for manifestation, healing, karmic repair with chakras.Visit us to find out how This Is 'PK' Mind Over Matter (Ebook, Free Download) fosters positive permanent change!

Submit Your Articles Quick and Easy with this software!

Get Keyword Elite and never hunt for keywords again!

NewAgeLivingArticles.com » Copyright © 2007-2009 WildWind Enterprises
Terms of Service | Submission Guidelines | Contact Us | Link to Us| Privacy Policy | About Us | Article Submissions With A Click 100's of Sites!