The Cambridge Introduction to Travel Writing

Surveying various works of travel literature, this text argues that travel writing redefines the myriad genres it often comprises.

Tim Youngs (Author)

9780521874472, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 27 May 2013

256 pages, 2 b/w illus.
23.4 x 15.5 x 1.8 cm, 0.47 kg

'The Cambridge Introduction to Travel Writing impresses through its historical and thematic scope and the wide range of texts it covers as well as its discussion of the issues that preoccupy the field in the twenty-first century.' H-Net

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.

Subject Areas: Travel writing [WTL], Sociology [JHB], Literary studies: general [DSB]