Travel Literature and Writers
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About Travel |
We're such fans of travel, we like to read about it even when we can't do it. (Damn those jobs!) A long, venerable tradition in letters is the travelogue - a writer takes to the road, and tells about what he sees, and the effects of what he sees on herself and her thinking. You can find lots of travelogues on the net. They're often of the "I got up this morning and got a cup of coffee at the cutest little cafe" variety. But some of the world's great writers engage at least part time in travel writing. Typically a writer will specialize in travel books. We're going to list a few of our favorite travel writers and books here. Bruce Chatwin - called by carlos fuentes "one of the great writers of the 20th centuries." His great books are "in patagonia" and "the songlines", the latter of which basically finds him using what he learns amongs the australian aborigines to reexamine the origins of man. Pico Iyer - A beautiful writer, writes for Time, Travel and Leisure, and has a number of really great books out, including "Video Night in Katmandu," which is must reading for anyone about to hit the SE Asia backpacker trail. We also love "Falling off the map". Paul Thoreaux - He's mostly a travel writer, and he sort of covers the cranky side of things for us. Some people don't like him for this reason, thinking he's too negative, but we think it's totally true that sometimes on the road you're in a pissy mood, and for those times Thoreaux is a great companion. Plus we do think he's pretty perceptive and a good writer to boot. Peter Mathias - Has written extensively about China. Damn, we gotta read one of his books. People love him.
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