Some of
the most famous travel writers were engaged in other careers and went on to be
the foremost chroniclers of the places to which they were posted.
Travel writing has echoed the odysseys of famous travel writers. A
travel article written in a pleasing style will attract the reader and arouse
his curiosity about the places described in the piece.
Writers still feel it incumbent on them to have some higher
purpose to their journeys beyond mere self-indulgence or curiosity.
These days, because of the internet and that associated fiction,
that we do not need to be anywhere but at our computers, this phenomenon has
practically left our screens.
But we have been left with a recent legacy of great travel
writing, balancing on the back of sometimes lackluster other careers.
In the case of Lawrence Durrell, a contemporary diplomat, and
thinker, his urge to travel emerged from the nature of his family, who loved to
wander, but primarily from his experiences in the diplomatic corps.
He achieved world fame with his tetralogy, The Alexandria Quartet
(he resided in Alexandria, Egypt, which inspired the setting for the book), and
his oeuvre is in fact considerable, including many titles now almost totally
forgotten except by collectors and specialists in his work.
Others in the genre of diplomatic travel literature Durrell
produced were Sauve
Qui Peut and Stiff
Upper Lip set in some of the seamier outposts of the world. But travel and
examinations of time and place are common threads that run through them
all.
Harold Nicolson, author of The War Years, Congress of Vienna, Public Faces,
and Some
People — among others had a spell in the diplomatic corps, and out of
those experiences arose written classics of time and place: Esprit de Corps — Sketches of Diplomatic
Life with its perfect depiction of life in Yugoslavia early in the
20th century.
But grave and serious the book certainly was not. Critic John
Connell wrote: ‘Uproariously funny & shrewd; it is as if Sir Harold
Nicolson had gone into partnership with P. G. Wodehouse’.
These three classics of time and place are tales of diplomatic
misadventure by the British Foreign Office, accompanied by memorable and witty
drawings by Nicolas Bentley.
They are magnificent introductions to the countries they depict,
despite the fictitious character, the deadpan, loopy Antrobus, who populates
all the stories.
Durrell’s writings based on his diplomatic corps experiences were
by no means his only travel books.
There was also Prospero’s Cell: A Guide To The Landscape and Manner of the Island of
Corcyra, Reflections on a Marine Venus, Bitter Lemons of Cyprus, Blue Thirst,
Sicilian Carousel, the Greek Islands,
and Caesar’s
Vast Ghost.
So much was Durrell a traveler that this expatriate British
novelist, poet, dramatist, and travel writer resisted affiliation with Britain
and preferred to be considered cosmopolitan.
He was denied the right to enter or settle in Britain under the
new laws and had to apply for a visa for each entry. This travel writer was
forced by law, then, to be a permanent itinerant.
Travel books are extremely diverse. Some are barely identifiable
as travel writing. Gerald Durrell is thought of as an eccentric naturalist but
in fact, his books are engaging books on travel with a special focus on animal
life.
The kinds of travel literature, or indeed travel
writers, can be broadly categorized. On top of the list are those travel
writers who are travelers by occupation and writers by profession. Three such
writers are Paul Theroux, William Least Heat-Moon, and Bill Bryson.
It is probably no surprise that writers in this sub-genre are
often short-tempered about travel and indeed the act of travel writing. More
writers in this category are Jan Morris and Eric Newby.
Once again there is a cross-over because Morris is known as a
historian and Newby as a novelist. It seems as soon as you write anything other
than travelogues you have lost your purity!
Then there are travel works that are more along the lines of
essays, such as V.S. Naipaul’s India: A Wounded Civilization,
in which a journey becomes the peg on which to hang reflections and
considerable philosophizing about nations, people, politics, and culture.
Another such work is Rebecca West’s work on Yugoslavia entitled Black Lamb and Grey Falcon.
We have already dealt with the naturalist-as-traveler in Gerald Durrell. There
are many more such examples.
What of Sally Carrighar and Ivan T. Sanderson who also write to
support their scientific ambitions. Arguably this sub-genre started when
Charles Darwin undertook the voyage on HMS Beagle and returned to write his
famous account of the journey, which encompassed science, natural history, and
travel.
Finally, there are travel
writers who reversed into the genre. Here authors who have established
their names in other genres travel and try their hand at travel writing. More
famous authors than you would think have tried this.
Examples include Samuel Johnson, Charles Dickens, Robert Louis
Stevenson, the essayist, Hillaire Belloc, the novelists Lawrence Durrell, D.H.
Lawrence, Rebecca West, John Steinbeck, and Evelyn Waugh.
Some critics and analysts say that fictional travelogues (accounts
of journeys that are imaginary and often to imaginary destinations) make up a
large proportion of travel literature. I would say that is a long shot.
They argue that no one really knows where the travel accounts of
Marco Polo and John Mandeville stopped being fact and became fiction.
More acceptable are instances where fictional works are based on
factual journeys — such as Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness and Paul
Theroux’s The
Mosquito Coast.
It must be said that it takes consummate skill to incorporate an
account of a real journey into a fictional story. Conrad managed this superbly.
Finally, there are the entirely imaginary journeys that form part
of the literary heritage but which in my view cannot be construed as travel
literature of any kind.
Homer’s Odyssey, Danté’s Divine Comedy, Jonathan Swift’s
Gulliver’s Travels, Voltaire’s Candide…. The list goes on and on…..
One common thread does run through all of the travel
writing, though. It is the traveler’s — and the reader’s — boundless
fascination with what lies over the next horizon, just out of sight and ready
to be discovered.
Some of the greatest travel writers had no idea they would be travel
writers. They were engaged in other careers and then went on to be the foremost
chroniclers of the places to which they were posted.
The two basic objectives of travel writing are to inform readers
of facts and create an interest in them by way of impressions.
Photographs are an essential part to create a visual impact of the
article. A sophisticated writing style that includes imagery and has narrative
dialogues or other fictive technique makes for interesting reading.
As a travel
blogger, you should do preliminary research on the place, make actual
notes and be perceptive of people, customs and atmosphere along with landmarks
and scenery.
If you want to be a travel blogger, start by learning
travel writing, and then go on to start your own travel blog website and become
a travel influencer.
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