Writes of Passage: Reading Travel Writing [Library Binding]

James Duncan (Editor), Derek Gregory (Editor)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0415160138 | ISBN-13: 978-0415160131 | Publication Date: 2000 | Edition: 1

Writes of Passage explores the interplay between a system of "othering" which travelers bring to a place, and the "real" geographical difference they discover upon arrival. Exposing the tensions between the imaginary and real, Duncan and Gregory and a team of leading internationa contributors focus primarily upon travelers from the 18th and 19th Centuries to pin down the imaginary within the context of imperial power. The contributors focus on travel to three main regions: Africa, South Asia, and Europe - wit the European examples being drawn from Britain, France and Greece.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

James Duncan is Professor of Geography at the University of Cambridge. Derek Gregory is Professor of Geography at the University of British Columbia. --This text refers to the Paperback edition.

Product Details

• Library Binding: 240 pages
• Publisher: Routledge; 1 edition (2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0415160138
• ISBN-13: 978-0415160131
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 6.3 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 15.5 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #10,186,200 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Imaginative Passages, August 29, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: Writes of Passage: Reading Travel Writing (Paperback)

Writes of Passage is a wide-ranging collection of scholarly essays, which while very theoretically informed and quite current, still manages to be very accessible. Anyone interested in the intensely interesting study of travel narratives and what they tell us about cultural assumptions will find essays of interest. Although Michael Brown's article on Neil Miller's Gay travel seemed a bit overwhelmed by the theory, this was the exception. The others balanced theory and historical background very nicely. Derek Gregory's "Scripting Egypt" was worth the price of the book alone. Laurie McMillin's "Enlightenment Travels" made some lovely connections between the British search for personal enlightenment in Tibet and Romanticism's interest in mountains, bring in interesting connections with Kipling's Kim. If you are working in the study of travel narratives, check this collection out--the introduction gives one of the best overviews of scholarly issues in travel writing I have seen.