ENH2660

Here and there: the literature of travel

E Barry

8 points
* 2 hours per week
* Second semester
* Clayton

Objectives On the successful completion of this subject, students should have developed a broad historical overview of the genre of travel literature and an understanding of contemporary theoretical perspectives on the subject of travel and `otherness'.

Synopsis This subject will examine, within an English-speaking context and over a broad historical timeframe, a spectrum of individual/social/cultural rationales for travel and the ways in which these experiences (real or imaginary) have found expression in literature. Texts will range from accounts of mediaeval pilgrimages, through imaginary voyages, utopian fantasies, New World travellers' tales, explorers' journals, the concept of the Grand Tour, to contemporary tourism.

Assessment Seminar paper (15 minutes, 1500 words): 20%
* Library writing exercise (2500 words): 40%
* Exam (2 hours): 30%
* Seminar participation: 10%

Prescribed texts

Bryson B The lost continent
Davidson R Desert places Penguin
Fussell P (ed.) The Norton book of travel Norton, 1987
Gerster R (ed.) Hotel Asia Penguin
Kerouac J On the road Penguin
Melville H Typee Penguin
Swift J Gulliver's travels OUP
Theroux P The pillars of Hercules Penguin

Preliminary reading

Bassett J (ed.) Great Southern landings: An anthology of Antipodean travel OUP, 1993
Buzard J The beaten track: European tourism, literature and the ways to `Culture' OUP, 1993
Feifer M Going places: The ways of the tourist from Imperial Rome to the present day London, 1985
Foster S Across new worlds Hertfordshire, 1990
Fussell P Abroad: British literary travelling between the wars OUP, 1980
Hindley G Tourists, travellers and pilgrims London, 1983
Pratt M L Imperial eyes: Travel writing and transculturation London, 1992