Tourists with Typewriters: Episodes in British Travel Writing

This seminar introduces into the genre of travel literature and its development in Great Britain since the sixteenth century. In the course of the semester, we will read and discuss excerpts from travelogues and travel fictions written by various authors, such as Hakluyt (Principal Navigations), Laurence Sterne (Sentimental Journey), Alexander Kinglake (Eothen), D. H. Lawrence (Twilight in Italy), Paul Bowles (Sheltering Sky) and Bruce Chatwin (In Patagonia). A folder containing articles and excerpts of relevant literature will be provided at the start of term. Students should buy copies of Paul Bowles Sheltering Sky and Bruce Chatwin’s In Patagonia, both available as paperbacks, and read as much of them as possible before the semester starts. Recommended introductory reading: Barbara Korte, English Travel Writing: From Pilgrimages to Postcolonial Explorations (London 1999).