Comments on: What’s To Become of Travel Writing?

By: Ms.N

Ms.N — Thu, 24 Sep 2009 10:15:27 +0000

I haven’t ready Dalrymple or some of the older travel writers. But sometimes, one gets the feeling of more writers, but lesser places to write about. But definitely – nothing to resent about in that, given the greater options and literary styles offered to the reader!

I dont know about travellers being misfits. One doesn’t have to rebel against what is to seek understanding of things they haven’t seen yet. His definition seems to apply to what is turning out to be a cliched definition of a traveller – the guy spends weeeks or months in a new place, or “goes native”. Travelling can simply be for the pleasure of change – and that to me seems valid enough reason to travel!

By: Lyn Harris

Lyn Harris — Tue, 22 Sep 2009 23:21:42 +0000

Dalrymple might have gone native, but he sounds old and stuffy.

I’ve traveled alone in 3rd world countries, often where I didnt belong. I wasn’t rejecting my nome– I’m just nosey.

Lyn
.-= Lyn Harris´s last blog ..Ski or Snowboard New Zealand =-.

By: pen4hire

pen4hire — Tue, 22 Sep 2009 19:12:12 +0000

Setting out is a rejection of home, huh? I can buy “embrace of the other” but I have trouble with that first part.

Well, about 200 posts… most of the tens of thousands blogs that are started each day are abandoned very quickly, as far as I can tell. Pro Blogger did a column back in 2006 in which he analyzed the top 100 blogs on technocrati and found their average life span was over 33 months. So longevity is something to be celebrated in blogdom, and 200 posts is just a baby step on the way.

By: Kerry Dexter

Kerry Dexter — Tue, 22 Sep 2009 13:33:51 +0000

many good and thoughtful points here. I think Frugal Kiwi has the right of it about the future of travel writing — it’s a time of transition for all sorts of publishing, which of course means transitions for writers as well. I share her hope for a bright future

to take on your question about writers who stand up with those you’ve named — yes, I think there are a number of them. Joel Carillet comes immediately to my mind, also — in very different styles, all of them, and not always found in travel sections — Tony Horwitz, Tim Severin, Gretel Erlich, Scott Russell Sanders, Monica Bhide, Tim Robinson. I also think that a lot of great travel writing is done in song, but that’s a whole other part of the compass.
.-= Kerry Dexter´s last blog ..work of autumn: music =-.

By: Andy HoboTraveler.com

Andy HoboTraveler.com — Tue, 22 Sep 2009 05:15:39 +0000

As a perpetual traveler for over 11 years and visiting 85 countries I would agree with this statement below completely.

Also, travellers tend by their very natures to be rebels and outcasts and misfits: far from being an act of cultural imperialism, setting out alone and vulnerable on the road is often an expression of rejection of home and an embrace of the other.

Not sure, 200 Blog post is this a lot?

By: Meredith Resnick

Meredith Resnick — Tue, 22 Sep 2009 04:45:28 +0000

I guess I don’t see how travel writing could be dead. The notion of discovering a new place and documenting that outer–or inner–discovery never gets old. In any case, I believe new voices and established voices writing in new ways will give the genre more life than ever.
.-= Meredith Resnick´s last blog ..The 5-Question Agent Interview: Jennifer Lawler =-.

By: Jackie Dishner

Jackie Dishner — Tue, 22 Sep 2009 03:17:59 +0000

Interesting dialogue going on here, Vera. I certainly hope travel writing isn’t dead. I just finished my first travel guide. I’m hoping to write more. Would hate to think all opportunity is gone. So I won’t.

Perhaps a grumpy old man is just trying to stir up publicity for his own book. Seems like he might have been successful, no?

Congratulations on your 200th post!
Jackie
.-= Jackie Dishner´s last blog ..What’s so great about grief? =-.

By: pen4hire

pen4hire — Tue, 22 Sep 2009 02:56:20 +0000

Very nice answer. However, I question that there are more writers with less to write about. The first part of that proposition is true only if you count as writers the contributors to magazines and websites that now exist largely on reader-contributed material . As for less to write about, as long as their are human beings–quirky, unpredictable, amazing and exotic as they are–there will be things going on that are worth writing about. I’m sure you meant that in the sense of “unexplored lands”, but I thought that Dalrymple’s article covered that rather well by quoting others who pointed out the areas of the world that are still lesser known to Westerners. And I imagine some Texans might be gol-durned exotic to a great number of Middle Eastern and Asian people.

By: Preetimus

Preetimus — Mon, 21 Sep 2009 22:37:29 +0000

pen4hire – Very interesting piece, thank you. I’m not sure if this is already mentioned but I disagree with Mr. Dalrymple. Unfortunately the only book of his I’ve read was “In Xanadu” (which I enjoyed) so I cannot speak to his prowess as an overall writer. To his point of a lack of good travel writers I believe he is missing the reality of our times. As you said in your article if we are to abandon travel writers due to the availability of info on the net then we should abandon writing as an art and profession all together. In fact what the internet has changed is the volume of writers which may have diminished the overall pool’s quality. That being said I think the era of a long standing travel writer publishing book after book is over. What we are seeing now is the average traveler writing about his or her experience. Instead of repeated success by one person you are finding a variety of pieces from an even larger variety of people and places. Gone are the times you could write about the iconic events and places on our globe. Writers need to find quirkier, lesser traveled roads to write about. Essentially there are more writers with less to write about. What that has produced is a highly competitive environment which is more likely to produce a great work rather than a great volume of works. As a life long wanderer I’d rather see this variety that helps create something for everyone as opposed to the same tired authors giving us an identical viewpoint of the world. I would ask Mr. Dalrymple what the problem is with more of the world traveling and writing about it? To refer to writers who are 50, 60, 70 years or more refers to a time where only the privileged few (of a certain economic sector) had ability or option to travel and then take the time to compose work based on that experience.

I feel sad for him.

By: Dave

Dave — Mon, 21 Sep 2009 21:32:24 +0000

Congrats on the 200th post!

I can’t say that I’ve read any of the authors you mentioned, however I did appreciate the way you put this post together.

As long as Paul Theroux is still kicking around, I’m happy.