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87-614: The Silverado Squatters (1883) is a travel memoir by Robert Louis Stevenson of his two-month honeymoon trip with Fanny Vandegrift (and her son Lloyd Osbourne ) to Napa Valley , California , in 1880. In July 1879, Stevenson received word that his future American wife's divorce was almost complete, but that she was seriously ill. He left Scotland right away and travelled to meet her in Monterey, California , (his trip detailed in The Amateur Emigrant (1894) and Across

174-718: A Tour to the Hebrides in 1786 and Goethe published his Italian Journey , based on diaries, in 1816. Fray Ilarione da Bergamo and Fray Francisco de Ajofrín wrote travel accounts of colonial Mexico in the 1760s. Fannie Calderón de la Barca , the Scottish-born wife of the Spanish ambassador to Mexico 1839–1842, wrote Life in Mexico , an important travel narrative of her time there, with many observations of local life. A British traveller, Mrs Alec Tweedie , published

261-715: A colonial mind-set; and Belated Travelers (1994), an analysis of colonial anxiety by Ali Behdad. Prizes awarded annually for travel books have included the Thomas Cook Travel Book Award , which ran from 1980 to 2004, the Boardman Tasker Prize for Mountain Literature , and the Dolman Best Travel Book Award , which began in 2006. The Lowell Thomas Travel Journalism Awards , which began in 1985, are given by

348-656: A dollar. Like Dickens in American Notes (1842), Stevenson found the American habit of spitting on the floor hard to get used to. His experiences at Silverado were recorded in a journal he called "Silverado Sketches", parts of which he incorporated into Silverado Squatters in 1883 while living in Bournemouth , England, with other tales appearing in "Essays of Travel" and "Across the Plains". Many of his notes on

435-487: A form of fictional character was born named the " Byronic hero ", who is known to be rebellious in character. The Byronic hero "pervades much of his work" and Byron is considered a reflection of the character he created. Greek and Roman mythology was prevalent in the works of British Romantic poets including Byron, Keats and Shelley . However, there were poets who rejected the notion of mythological inspiration, including Coleridge, who preferred to take inspiration from

522-444: A group of metaphysic literary figures, metaphysical referring to a branch of philosophy which tries to bring meaning to and explain reality using broader and larger concepts. In order to do this, the use of literary features including conceits was common, in which the writer makes obscure comparisons in order to convey a message or persuade a point. The term metaphysics was coined by poet John Dryden , and during 1779 its meaning

609-581: A group of poets known as "revelatory poetics". The narrative which grew more prominent in English literature due to this movement towards Johannine theology incorporated an increase of spiritual themes, with "supernatural forces" and an "enchantment narrative" guiding the writings of the time. Johannine theology focused on the "divine" nature of Christ and disregards the materialistic and human aspect acknowledged in Catholic texts. It has been argued that

696-485: A more simplistic vernacular compared to the common Petrarchan diction, with imagery derived mainly from God. Donne was known for the metaphysical conceits integrated in his poetry. He used themes of religion, death and love to inspire the conceits he constructed. A famous conceit is observed in his well-known poem " The Flea " in which the flea is utilised to describe the bond between Donne and his lover, explaining how just as multiple bloods are within one flea, their bond

783-430: A multitude of categories, ranging across print and online media. Western literature Western literature , also known as European literature , is the literature written in the context of Western culture in the languages of Europe , and is shaped by the periods in which they were conceived, with each period containing prominent western authors, poets, and pieces of literature. The best of Western literature

870-475: A new genre of literature in 18th-century France of books of conduct for girls and unmarried women. Pieces by authors including Marie-Antoinette Lenoir, Louise d'Épinay and Anne-Thérèse de Lambert all shared the same role of shaping young French women to lead successful and progressive lives. However, this form of education for women during the 18th century has been observed to be more oppressive than empowering. The War of Spanish Succession (1701–1714) led to

957-470: A number of travelogues, ranging from Denmark (1895) and Finland (1897), to the U.S. (1913), several on Mexico (1901, 1906, 1917), and one on Russia, Siberia, and China (1926). A more recent example is Che Guevara 's The Motorcycle Diaries . A travelogue is a film , book written up from a travel diary, or illustrated talk describing the experiences of and places visited by traveller. American writer Paul Theroux has published many works of travel literature,

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1044-800: A series of books about discovering unique experiences in Canada, Australia and around the world. Bill Bryson in 2011 won the Golden Eagle Award from the Outdoor Writers and Photographers Guild. On 22 November 2012, Durham University officially renamed the Main Library the Bill Bryson Library for his contributions as the university's 11th chancellor (2005–11). Paul Theroux was awarded the 1981 James Tait Black Memorial Prize for his novel The Mosquito Coast , which

1131-419: A special kind of texts that sometimes are disregarded in the literary world. They weave together aspects of memoir , non-fiction , and occasionally even fiction to produce a story that is equally about the trip and the goal. Throughout history, people have told stories about their travels like the ancient tales of explorers and pilgrims, as well as blogs and vlogs in recent time. A "factual" piece detailing

1218-538: A structured rhyme format; and the pastoral mode, a genre of literature which is significantly attributed to English poet Edmund Spenser , who created collections of poetry which portrays an idealistic version of rural living. Spenser has been "dubbed 'the English Virgil '" due to his influence on this particular genre. Significant texts from 16th-century early modern England were primarily religious in context and include: The Spanish Golden Age spanned over

1305-458: A time "when Britain was struggling to prove the value of its own visual culture". The art gave inspiration and "shaped the aesthetic" of Romantic literature for writers including the likes of author Mary Shelley . The diversity and lack of standard seen in the work of infamous Italian artists including Michelangelo and Raphael allowed Romantic writers to celebrate new forms and ways of expression. English essayist William Hazlitt articulated how

1392-399: A trip to a distant country is that the travelogue emerged as a significant item in late nineteenth-century newspapers . Short stories genre of that era were influenced directly and significantly by the travelogues that shared many traits with short stories. Authors generally, especially Henry James and Guy de Maupassant , frequently wrote travelogues and short tales concurrently, often using

1479-418: Is Frederick Douglass ' autobiographical Narrative , which is deeply intertwined with his travel experiences, beginning with his travels being entirely at the command of his masters and ending with him traveling when and where he wishes. Solomon Northup 's Twelve Years a Slave is a more traditional travel narrative, and he too overcomes the restrictions of law and tradition in the south to escape after he

1566-542: Is a prolific travel writer. Among his many travel books is the acclaimed Roads to Santiago . Englishmen Eric Newby , H. V. Morton , the Americans Bill Bryson and Paul Theroux , and Welsh author Jan Morris are or were widely acclaimed as travel writers (though Morris has frequently claimed herself as a writer of 'place' rather than travel per se ). Canadian travel writer Robin Esrock has written

1653-550: Is a type of travel literature that developed during the 18th and 19th centuries, detailing how slaves escaped the restrictive laws of the southern United States and the Caribbean to find freedom. As John Cox says in Traveling South , "travel was a necessary prelude to the publication of a narrative by a slave, for slavery could not be simultaneously experienced and written." A particularly famous slave travel narrative

1740-591: Is an autobiographical work by the British naturalist. It tells of the years that he lived as a child with his siblings and widowed mother on the Greek island of Corfu between 1935 and 1939. It describes the life of the Durrell family in a humorous manner, and explores the fauna of the island. It is the first and most well-known of Durrell's "Corfu trilogy", together with Birds, Beasts, and Relatives and The Garden of

1827-508: Is argued by author P. M. Oliver that the theology which was indoctrinated in the poetry of revelatory poets including John Donne was expanded on and created by the poets themselves. Prominent forms of literature which shaped and contributed to this era of Reformation include significantly structured prose and poetry, including the Spenserian stanza ; the sonnet , which is a form of poem easily distinguishable by its fourteen-line form with

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1914-513: Is considered to be the Western canon . The list of works in the Western canon varies according to the critic's opinions on Western culture and the relative importance of its defining characteristics. Different literary periods held great influence on the literature of Western and European countries, with movements and political changes impacting the prose and poetry of the period. The 16th Century

2001-404: Is inseparable. The Enlightenment era was a time of progression which spanned over the 18th century across many western countries. Upon recent years, this time of "enlightenment" was split into two degrees of progression, both a "moderate" and "radical" form, and was observed to be less harmonious across regions in its nature than previously thought. Literature has been produced to comment on

2088-504: Is kidnapped and enslaved. Harriet Ann Jacobs ' Incidents includes significant travel that covers a small distance, as she escapes one living situation for a slightly better one, but also later includes her escape from slavery to freedom in the north. Some fictional travel stories are related to travel literature. Although it may be desirable in some contexts to distinguish fictional from non-fictional works, such distinctions have proved notoriously difficult to make in practice, as in

2175-461: Is known for A Walk in the Woods , made into a Hollywood film of the same name . There is no specific format for a travel journal, it typically includes details and reflections about an individual's experiences, observations, and emotions during the journey. Some of the common details in the journal include: The writings of escaped slaves of their experience under slavery and their escape from it

2262-471: Is known for the creation of Renaissance literature, while the 17th century was influenced by both Baroque and Jacobean forms. The 18th century progressed into a period known as the Enlightenment Era for many western countries. This period of military and political advancement influenced the style of literature created by French, Russian and Spanish literary figures. The 19th century was known as

2349-527: The Journey Through Wales (1191) and Description of Wales (1194) by Gerald of Wales , and the travel journals of Ibn Jubayr (1145–1214), Marco Polo (1254–1354), and Ibn Battuta (1304–1377), all of whom recorded their travels across the known world in detail. As early as the 2nd century CE, Lucian of Samosata discussed history and travel writers who added embellished, fantastic stories to their works. The travel genre

2436-623: The Lyrical Ballads is claimed to have "marked the beginning of the Romantic Movement". There was known to be two waves of British Romantic authors; Coleridge and Wordsworth were grouped into the first wave, while a more radical and "aggressive" second wave of authors included the likes of George Gordon Byron and Percy Bysshe Shelley . Due to the adamant aggression of Byron in his poetic works which advocated for an anti-violence revolution and world in which equality existed,

2523-468: The Bible to produce significantly religious-inspired works. British 19th-century Romanticism developed literature which focused on the "self-organisation of living beings, their growth and adaption into their environments and the creative spark that inspired the physical system to perform complex functions". There are observed close ties between medicine , a concept which was experiencing innovation during

2610-652: The Semanario de Salamanca and the Diario de Madrid  [ es ] . Numerous women who contributed to the Spanish Enlightenment period include poet Margarita Hickey , author Frasquita Larrea , and poet María Gertrudis Hore . During the 18th century, Russia was experiencing expansions in military and geographical control, a key facet of the Enlightenment period. This is reflected in

2697-470: The documentary , to the literary, as well as the journalistic, and from memoir to the humorous to the serious. They are often associated with tourism and include guide books . Travel writing may be found on web sites, in periodicals, on blogs and in books. It has been produced by a variety of writers, including travelers, military officers, missionaries, explorers, scientists, pilgrims, social and physical scientists, educators, and migrants. Travelogues are

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2784-591: The neoclassical movement of the 18th century through drama and poetic forms of literature. Only until the 20th century, however, was the Spanish Enlightenment period properly acknowledged by scholars, with past research regarding the Spanish Enlightenment period as a "time of foreign imitation". The Spanish Enlightenment held impact on women in Spain, with more women publishing literature, becoming members as well as subscribers to publications including

2871-602: The primitivist presentations of foreign cultures; Haunted Journeys: Desire and Transgression in European Travel Writing (1991) by Dennis Porter, a close look at the psychological correlatives of travel; Discourses of Difference: An Analysis of Women's Travel Writing by Sara Mills , an inquiry into the intersection of gender and colonialism during the 19th century; Imperial Eyes: Travel Writing and Transculturation (1992), Mary Louise Pratt 's influential study of Victorian travel writing's dissemination of

2958-959: The 16th century, accounts to travels to India and Persia had become common enough that they had been compiled into collections such as the Novus Orbis (" New World ") by Simon Grynaeus , and collections by Ramusio and Richard Hakluyt . 16th century travelers to Persia included the brothers Robert Shirley and Anthony Shirley , and for India Duarte Barbosa , Ralph Fitch , Ludovico di Varthema , Cesare Federici , and Jan Huyghen van Linschoten . Humanist travellers in Europe also produced accounts, often noting monuments and inscriptions, e.g., Seyfried Rybisch 's Itinerarium (1570s), Michel de Montaigne 's Journal de voyage (1581), Germain Audebert's  [ fr ] Voyage d'Italie (1585) and Aernout van Buchel 's Iter Italicum (1587–1588). In

3045-430: The 17th century was the use of metaphysical conceits , in which the poet uses "unorthodox language" to describe a relatable concept. It is beneficial when trying to bring light to concepts that are difficult to explain with more common imagery. John Donne was a prominent metaphysical poet of the 17th century. Donne's poetry explored the pleasures of life through strong use of conceits and emotive language. Donne adopted

3132-544: The 18th century, travel literature was commonly known as "books of travels", which mainly consisted of maritime diaries . In 18th-century Britain, travel literature was highly popular, and almost every famous writer worked in the travel literature form; Gulliver's Travels (1726), for example, is a social satire imitating one, and Captain James Cook 's diaries (1784) were the equivalent of today's best-sellers. Alexander von Humboldt 's Personal narrative of travels to

3219-532: The 19th century, and Romantic English literature. British Romanticism also had influences from 13th-/16th-century Italian art as a consequence of British artists who resided in Italy during the time of Bonaparte's invasion dealing paintings to London clients from medieval to the High Renaissance Italian periods. The exposure to these artworks influenced British literature and culture during

3306-880: The French control over Spain. This influenced their cultural identity and, therefore, the Enlightenment period held an impact on Spanish literature in the 18th century. The court of Madrid during the 18th century saw an increase in influence from the French and the Italian, with literary influences derived increasingly from authors during the English Enlightenment period. English authors who are stated to hold influence on Spanish "Ilustrados" include John Locke , Edmund Burke , Edward Young and Thomas Hobbes . New takes on literature began to emerge during this time, led by poets including Ignacio de Luzán Claramunt and Gaspar Melchor de Jovellanos , who contributed greatly to

3393-641: The Gods (1978). Ivan T. Sanderson published Animal Treasure , a report of an expedition to the jungles of then-British West Africa; Caribbean Treasure , an account of an expedition to Trinidad , Haiti , and Surinam , begun in late 1936 and ending in late 1938; and Living Treasure , an account of an expedition to Jamaica , British Honduras (now Belize ) and the Yucatán . These authors are naturalists , who write in support of their fields of study. Another naturalist, Charles Darwin , wrote his famous account of

3480-602: The Plains (1892)). Broken financially, suffering from a lifelong fibrinous bronchitis condition, and with his writing career at a dead end, he was nursed back to health by his doctor, his nurse, and his future wife, while living briefly in Monterey, San Francisco , and Oakland . His father having provided money to help, on May 19, 1880, he married the Indianapolis native, whom he had first met in France in 1875, soon after

3567-580: The Romantic era, in which the style of writing was influenced by the political issues of the century, and differed from the previous classicist form. Western literature includes written works in many languages: Early modern England was the time of reformation, in which a " Protestant aesthetic" was developed, while the Church of England attempted to separate their notoriety with the Pope and move away from

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3654-623: The Russian Ivan Goncharov , who wrote about his experience of a tour around the world in Frigate "Pallada" (1858), and Lafcadio Hearn , who interpreted the culture of Japan with insight and sensitivity. The 20th century's interwar period has been described as a heyday of travel literature when many established writers such as Graham Greene , Robert Byron , Rebecca West , Freya Stark , Peter Fleming and Evelyn Waugh were traveling and writing notable travel books. In

3741-669: The SATW Foundation, and include two awards for travel books and travel guidebooks, as well as awards for travel coverage in publications, websites, and broadcast and audio-visual formats, and for magazine, newspaper, and website articles in a variety of categories. The National Outdoor Book Awards also recognize travel literature in the outdoor and adventure areas, as do the Banff Mountain Book Awards. The North American Travel Journalists Association holds an annual awards competition honoring travel journalism in

3828-621: The White Cow: Memories of an Irish Island (1986), and Peter Mayle 's best-selling A Year in Provence (1989) and its sequels. Travel and nature writing merge in many of the works by Sally Carrighar , Gerald Durrell and Ivan T. Sanderson . Sally Carrighar's works include One Day at Teton Marsh (1965), Home to the Wilderness (1973), and Wild Heritage (1965). Gerald Durrell 's My Family and Other Animals (1956)

3915-468: The author, Spinoza , rejected the Jewish and Christian religions for their lack of depth in teaching. Spinoza discussed higher levels of philosophy in his treatise, which he suggested was only understood by elitists. This text is one of many during this period which attributed to the increasing "anti-religious" support during the time of Enlightenment. Although the book held great influence, other writers of

4002-440: The authors who considered themselves Romantics only created two-dimensional imitations of the works of German Romantic authors. The poetry of the Romantic era of Italy was focused greatly on the motif of nature. Romantic poets drew inspiration from ancient Greek and Latin poetry and mythology , while poets of this time period also sought to create a sense of unity within the country with their writings. Political disunity

4089-444: The course of the 16th century and was a time of development and acceleration in the arts and literature in Spain. This acceleration of poetry , drama and prose forms of literature was partly due to the increase in contact that Spain gained to other European nations including Italy. During this time, a prominent Spanish poet arose named Garcilaso de la Vega . He utilised literary devices seen in foreign nations within his work, and

4176-622: The crater of a volcano in the Lipari Islands in 1407, leaving us with his impressions. "Councils of mad youth" were his stated reasons for going. In the mid-15th century, Gilles le Bouvier, in his Livre de la description des pays , gave us his reason to travel and write: Because many people of diverse nations and countries delight and take pleasure, as I have done in times past, in seeing the world and things therein, and also because many wish to know without going there, and others wish to see, go, and travel, I have begun this little book. By

4263-428: The development of 19th-century British Romanticism . These revolutions birthed a new genre of authors and poets who used their literature to convey their distaste for authority. This is seen in the works of poet and artist William Blake , who used primarily philosophical and biblical themes in his poetry, and Samuel Taylor Coleridge and William Wordsworth , also known as the " Lake Poets ", whose literature including

4350-637: The different versions of "Enlightenment" that spawned across Europe during the 18th century. Henry Farnham stated in his book The Enlightenment in America that the "Moderate Enlightenment […] preaches balance, order and religious compromise", whereas the "Revolutionary Enlightenment" attempted to "construct a new heaven and earth out of the destruction of the old". Significant texts which shaped this literary period include Tractatus Theologico-Politicus , an anonymously published treatise in Amsterdam in which

4437-466: The earliest known records of taking pleasure in travel, of travelling for the sake of travel and writing about it, is Petrarch 's (1304–1374) ascent of Mont Ventoux in 1336. He states that he went to the mountaintop for the pleasure of seeing the top of the famous height. His companions who stayed at the bottom he called frigida incuriositas ("a cold lack of curiosity"). He then wrote about his climb, making allegorical comparisons between climbing

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4524-479: The early modern era , had a distinct Biblical influence which only began to be rejected during the Enlightenment period of the 18th century. European poetry during the 17th century tended to meditate on or reference the scriptures and teachings of the Bible , an example being orator George Herbert 's "The Holy Scriptures (II)", in which Herbert relies heavily on biblical ligatures to create his sonnets . The Jacobean period of 17th-century England gave birth to

4611-496: The equinoctial regions of America, during the years 1799–1804 , originally published in French, was translated to multiple languages and influenced later naturalists, including Charles Darwin . Other later examples of travel literature include accounts of the Grand Tour : aristocrats, clergy, and others with money and leisure time travelled Europe to learn about the art and architecture of its past. One tourism literature pioneer

4698-546: The events of An Inland Voyage . Still too weak to undertake the journey back to Scotland, friends suggested Calistoga , in the upper Napa Valley, with its healthy mountain air. The couple first went to the Hot Springs Hotel in Calistoga, but unable to afford the 10 dollars a week fee, they spent an unconventional honeymoon in an abandoned three-story bunkhouse at a derelict mining camp called "Silverado" on

4785-546: The famous instance of the travel writings of Marco Polo or John Mandeville . Examples of fictional works of travel literature based on actual journeys are: In the 21st century, travel literature became a genre of social media in the form of travel blogs, with travel bloggers using outlets like personal blogs , Pinterest , Twitter , Facebook , Instagram and travel websites to convey information about their adventures, and provide advice for navigating particular countries, or for traveling generally. Travel blogs were among

4872-475: The first telephone of his life. He meets a number of wine growers in Napa Valley , an enterprise he deems "experimental", with growers sometimes even mislabeling the bottles as originating from Spain in order to sell their product to skeptical Americans. He visits the oldest wine grower in the valley, Jacob Schram, who had been experimenting for 18 years at his Schramsberg Winery , and had recently expanded

4959-583: The first instances of blogging, which began in the mid-1990s. Notable travel bloggers include Matthew Kepnes , Johnny Ward , and Drew Binsky . The systematic study of travel literature emerged as a field of scholarly inquiry in the mid-1990s, with its own conferences, organizations, journals, monographs, anthologies, and encyclopedias. Important, pre-1995 monographs are: Abroad (1980) by Paul Fussell , an exploration of British interwar travel writing as escapism; Gone Primitive: Modern Intellects, Savage Minds (1990) by Marianna Torgovnick, an inquiry into

5046-421: The first success being The Great Railway Bazaar . In addition to published travel journals, archive records show that it was historically common for travellers to record their journey in diary format, with no apparent intention of future publication, but as a personal record of their experiences. This practice is particularly visible in nineteenth-century European travel diaries. Anglo-American Bill Bryson

5133-467: The form of travel websites . A travel journal, also called road journal, is a record made by a traveller, sometimes in diary form, of the traveler's experiences, written during the course of the journey and later edited for publication. This is a long-established literary format; an early example is the writing of Pausanias (2nd century CE) who produced his Description of Greece based on his own observations. James Boswell published his The Journal of

5220-683: The globe. Fictional travel narratives may also show this tendency, as in Mark Twain 's Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (1884) or Robert M. Pirsig 's Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance (1974). Sometimes a writer will settle into a locality for an extended period, absorbing a sense of place while continuing to observe with a travel writer's sensibility. Examples of such writings include Lawrence Durrell 's Bitter Lemons (1957), Bruce Chatwin 's widely acclaimed In Patagonia (1977) and The Songlines (1987), Deborah Tall 's The Island of

5307-885: The journey of HMS Beagle at the intersection of science, natural history and travel. A number of writers famous in other fields have written about their travel experiences. Examples are Samuel Johnson 's A Journey to the Western Islands of Scotland (1775); Charles Dickens ' American Notes for General Circulation (1842); Mary Wollstonecraft 's Letters Written during a Short Residence in Sweden, Norway, and Denmark (1796); Hilaire Belloc 's The Path To Rome (1902); D. H. Lawrence 's Twilight in Italy and Other Essays (1916); Mornings in Mexico and Other Essays (1927); Rebecca West 's Black Lamb and Grey Falcon (1941); and John Steinbeck 's Travels with Charley: In Search of America (1962). The Dutch writer Cees Nooteboom

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5394-578: The late 20th century there was a surge in popularity of travel writing, particularly in the English-speaking world with writers such as Bruce Chatwin , Paul Theroux , Jonathan Raban , Colin Thubron , and others. While travel writing previously had mainly attracted interest by historians and biographers, critical studies of travel literature now also developed into an academic discipline in its own right. Travel books come in styles ranging from

5481-462: The literature of the time period. Satire and the panegyric had influenced the development of Russian literature as seen in the Russian literary figures of the time including Feofan Prokopovich , Kantemir, Derzhavin and Karamzin . Spanish literature of the 18th century, apart from being influenced by the Enlightenment period, was influenced by the literary concept of the " sublime ". The "sublime"

5568-554: The mountain and his own moral progress in life. Michault Taillevent  [ fr ] , a poet for the Duke of Burgundy , travelled through the Jura Mountains in 1430 and recorded his personal reflections, his horrified reaction to the sheer rock faces, and the terrifying thunderous cascades of mountain streams. Antoine de la Sale ( c.  1388  – c.  1462 ), author of Petit Jehan de Saintre , climbed to

5655-439: The noted poet and statesman Su Shi (1037–1101) presented a philosophical and moral argument as its central purpose. Chinese travel literature of this period was written in a variety of different styles, including narratives , prose , essays and diaries , although most were written in prose. Zhou Daguan 's account of Cambodia in the thirteenth century is among the major sources for the city of Angkor in its prime. One of

5742-419: The reader into the mind of the speaker. The Romantic era for literature was at its pinnacle during the 19th century and was a period which influenced western literature. Italian writers of the 19th century, including the likes of Leopardi and Alessandro Manzoni , detested being grouped into a "category" of writing. Therefore, Italy was home to many isolated literary figures, with no unambiguous meaning for

5829-603: The same countries as their settings . Travel literature often intersects with philosophy or essay writing, as in V. S. Naipaul 's India: A Wounded Civilization (1976), whose trip became the occasion for extended observations on a nation and people. This is similarly the case in Rebecca West 's Black Lamb and Grey Falcon (1941), focused on her journey through Yugoslavia, and in Robin Esrock 's series of books about his discoveries in Canada, Australia and around

5916-614: The scenery around him later provided much of the descriptive detail for Treasure Island (1883). The Robert Louis Stevenson State Park now encompasses the area where the Stevensons stayed. The entrance to the park is at the summit of State Route 29 . A new trail has been constructed in recent years. The Robert Louis Stevenson Museum in St. Helena, California , is dedicated to Stevenson. Editions Resources Travel literature One early travel memoirist in Western literature

6003-534: The sense of "national redemption" is reflected heavily in the works of Italian Romantics, including Ugo Foscolo , who wrote the story The Last Letters of Jacopo Ortis , in which a man was forced to commit suicide due to the political persecutions of his country. Historical events including the European Revolution , within which the French revolution is claimed to be most significant, contributed to

6090-476: The shoulder of Mount Saint Helena in the Mayacamas Mountains . There they squatted for two months during summer, putting up makeshift cloth windows and hauling water in by hand from a nearby stream while dodging rattlesnakes and the occasional fog banks so detrimental to Stevenson's health. The Silverado Squatters provides some views of California during the late 19th century. Stevenson uses

6177-433: The taste of visiting the lakes by furnishing the traveller with a Guide; and for that purpose, the writer has here collected and laid before him, all the select stations and points of view, noticed by those authors who have last made the tour of the lakes, verified by his own repeated observations. To this end he included various 'stations' or viewpoints around the lakes, from which tourists would be encouraged to appreciate

6264-543: The teachings of the Roman Catholic Church . Johannine literature, being "hymnic, densely troped and symbolic, structured, inspired", became the inspiration for many poets of the period. A group of poets bloomed from this reformation, the rejection of the Pope and moving away from Roman Catholic Church. Amongst these were the most significant John Donne , George Herbert and Thomas Traherne , and constituted

6351-692: The term "Romanticism" itself. This was explained in the writings of Pietro Borsieri, in which he depicted the term Romanticism as being a literary movement that was self-defined by the writers. Contrastingly, it was noted by writers of the time, including Giuseppe Acerbi , how Italian Romantics were merely mimicking the trends seen in foreign nations in a hasty way which lacked the depth of foreign writers. Authors including Ludovico di Breme , Ermes Visconti  [ it ] and Giovanni Berchet did classify themselves as Romantics, however they were critiqued by others, including Gina Martegiani, who wrote in her essay "Il Romanticismo Italiano Non Esiste" of 1908 that

6438-411: The time rejected Spinoza's views, including theologian Lambert van Valthuysen. The time of enlightenment and advancement meant that both sacred and secular authors were pushing women to be at a higher level of literary knowledgeability. France was attempting to improve the education of young women and therefore have this be seen as a reflection of the advancement of society. This led to the emergence of

6525-619: The views in terms of their aesthetic qualities. Published in 1778 the book was a major success. Mariana Starke popularized what became the standard travel guide, a reference book that can include information relating to accommodation, restaurants, transportation, and activities. Maps of varying detail and historical and cultural information are also often included. Different kinds of guide books exist, focusing on different aspects of travel, from adventure travel to relaxation, or aimed at travelers with different incomes, or focusing on sexual orientation or types of diet. Travel guides can also take

6612-476: The wine cellar in his backyard. Stevenson also visits a petrified forest owned by an old Swedish ex-sailor who had stumbled upon it while clearing farmland—the precise nature of the petrified forest remained for everyone a source of curiosity. Stevenson also details his encounters with a local Jewish merchant, whom he compares to a character in a Charles Dickens novel (probably Fagin from Oliver Twist ), and portrays as happy-go-lucky but always scheming to earn

6699-564: The world on June 27, 1898. A guide book or travel guide is "a book of information about a place, designed for the use of visitors or tourists". An early example is Thomas West 's guide to the English Lake District , published in 1778. Thomas West , an English priest , popularized the idea of walking for pleasure in his guide to the Lake District of 1778. In the introduction he wrote that he aimed: to encourage

6786-583: The world. In the world of sailing Frank Cowper 's Sailing Tours (1892–1896) and Joshua Slocum 's Sailing Alone Around the World (1900) are classics of outdoor adventure literature. In April 1895, Joshua Slocum set sail from Boston, Massachusetts and in Sailing Alone Around the World , he described his departure in the following manner: More than three years later, Slocum returned to Newport, Rhode Island , having circumnavigated

6873-466: The writings of Saint John the Evangelist, which was considered an integral part of Johannine theology, coincided with Pauline theology during the early modern era to hold influence over the English literature of the time. Author Paul Cefalu claims this form of "high Christology" was seen in the writings of John Donne, when he states that the "Gospel of Saint John containes all Divinity". However, it

6960-585: Was Pausanias , a Greek geographer of the 2nd century CE. In the early modern period , James Boswell 's Journal of a Tour to the Hebrides (1786) helped shape travel memoir as a genre. Early examples of travel literature include the Periplus of the Erythraean Sea (generally considered a 1st century CE work; authorship is debated), Pausanias ' Description of Greece in the 2nd century CE, Safarnama (Book of Travels) by Nasir Khusraw (1003-1077),

7047-514: Was Robert Louis Stevenson (1850–1894) with An Inland Voyage (1878), and Travels with a Donkey in the Cévennes (1879), about his travels in the Cévennes (France), is among the first popular books to present hiking and camping as recreational activities, and tells of commissioning one of the first sleeping bags . Other notable writers of travel literature in the 19th century include

7134-489: Was a fairly common genre in medieval Arabic literature . In China, 'travel record literature' ( Chinese : 遊記文學 ; pinyin : yóujì wénxué ) became popular during the Song dynasty (960–1279). Travel writers such as Fan Chengda (1126–1193) and Xu Xiake (1587–1641) incorporated a wealth of geographical and topographical information into their writing, while the 'daytrip essay' Record of Stone Bell Mountain by

7221-626: Was able to, therefore, replace the stanza forms originally used in Spain with Italian meters and stanza forms. The poet was influenced by Petrarchan imagery and the works of Virgil , and was used as inspiration by subsequent poets of the time. Garcilaso integrated a variety of mythological allusions into his works, in which he took inspiration from the Italian Renaissance of the mid-16th century. Prose and poetic literature within western regions, most prominently in England during

7308-740: Was adapted for the 1986 movie of the same name. He was also awarded in 1989 the Thomas Cook Travel Book Award for Riding the Iron Rooster . In 2005, Jan Morris was awarded the Golden PEN Award by English PEN for "a Lifetime's Distinguished Service to Literature". The French writer, Lucie Azema , has noted that the majority of travel writing is by men and even when women have written travel books, these tend to be forgotten. In her book Les femmes aussi sont du voyage (Women are also travellers), she has argued that male travel writing gives an unequal, colonialist and misogynistic view of

7395-510: Was extended to represent a group of poets of the time, then called " metaphysical poets ". Major poets of the time included John Donne , Andrew Marvell and George Herbert . These poets used wit and high intellectual standards while drawing from nature to reveal insights about emotion and rejected the romantic attributes of the Elizabethan period to birth a more analytical and introspective form of writing. A common literary device during

7482-544: Was prevalent in 19th-century Italy, reflected in the Risorgimento . After the Neapolitan Revolution of 1799, the term "Risorgimento" was used in the context of a movement of "national redemption" as stated by Antonio Gramsci . The one facet which held Italy together during this time of political disunity was the poetry and writings of the time period, as suggested by Berchet. The desire for freedom and

7569-414: Was the linkage between Spanish Neoclassical poetry and Romantic poetry prevalent during the 18th century, and was a concept of literary, rhetorical and philosophical value. Longinus described the literary devices that the sublime creates as those that allowed the reader to experience something similar to the speaker. He had created a style of language that was not used to persuade, but merely to transport

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