Travellers' Tales of Wonder
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Argues that ‘travellers’ tales of wonder’ are a vital yet unacknowledged presence in contemporary literature
Exploring travellers’ tales of wonder in contemporary literature, this study challenges a sensibility of disenchantment with travel. It reassesses travel writing as an aesthetically and ethically innovative form in contemporary international literature, and demonstrates the crucial role of wonder in the travel narratives of writers such as Bruce Chatwin, V.S. Naipaul, and W.G. Sebald. Their ‘travellers’ tales of wonder’ are read as a challenge to the hubris of thinking the world too well known, and an invitation to encounter the world – including its most troubling histories – with a sense of wonder.
Key Features
Reassesses the place of travel writing in literary history to argue that the genre is important as a site of aesthetic innovation and ethical engagement in contemporary literatureDemonstrates the central role of wonder in travel accounts often regarded as narratives of disenchantmentExplores the way travellers’ tales of wonder recover and renew ancient and early modern forms in approaching modern and contemporary issuesOffers new, in-depth readings of the work of three major writers, in each case drawing on as yet unpublished results of archival research
Simon Cooke is Senior Lecturer in English Literature at the University of Edinburgh. He has published on Modernism, life writing, the literature of travel, secrecy in literature, the relations between 'creative' and 'critical' writing. He is the convenor of the Edinburgh Life-Writing Network and a co-director of the Edinburgh Network for Studies in Secrecy.