The Cambridge Introduction to Travel Writing [Paperback]

Surveying various works of travel literature, this text argues that travel writing redefines the myriad genres it often comprises.This text argues that travel writing redefines the myriad genres it often comprises and is best understood on its own terms. It surveys some of the most celebrated travel literature from around the globe and examines trends in twenty-first-century travel writing, making it an ideal guide for today's students, teachers, and travel writing enthusiasts.This text argues that travel writing redefines the myriad genres it often comprises and is best understood on its own terms. It surveys some of the most celebrated travel literature from around the globe and examines trends in twenty-first-century travel writing, making it an ideal guide for today's students, teachers, and travel writing enthusiasts.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 ninls>