The Writer Abroad : Literary Travels from Austria to Uzbekistan

by Lucinda Hawksley (Editor)

From the grand tour to the global village, novelists and poets have made particularly observant travelers. Many writers have been prone to wanderlust, eager to explore the world and draw inspiration from their travels. They recorded their notes in letters, journals, essays and books. In some cases, these became celebrated examples of travel writing, such as George Orwell’s Homage to Catalonia, but there are many more accounts which remain overlooked. This collection takes us on a literary journey around the world, through extracts from Arthur Conan Doyle in Australia, Aldous Huxley in India, Charles Dickens in Italy, Henry James in France, Mary Wollstonecraft in Sweden, and many more.

Genres: Travel, Nonfiction

224 pages, Paperback

Published June 1, 2017

About the author

Lucinda Hawksley is a British biographer, author and lecturer. She is the great-great-great-granddaughter of Victorian novelist Charles Dickens and his wife Catherine. Hawksley is an award-winning travel writer.
She also writes under the name Lucinda Dickens Hawksley.

Reviews

[Heidi]

Kiinnostavaa tässä oli aikalaiskuvaukset kohteista, joissa pääosin englantilaiset miehet (naisia kirjoittajina myös) vierailivat. Tekstit olivat kirjeitä, päiväkirjamerkintöjä ja (julkaistaviksi tarkoitettuja) matkakertomuksia. Tekstipätkät pääosin 1700- ja 1800-luvuilta ja joitakin 1900-luvun alkupuoliskolta, mutta myös antiikin ajoilta sekä "löytöretkien ajoilta 1400-luvun lopulta lähtien.


Ajoittain intensiivinen kuvailu paikoista oli puuduttavaa ja koska tämä oli kokoelma tekstipätkiä eri lähteistä, niin aloin kaipaamaan laajempaa kontekstia tai siis tekstipätkien alkuperäislähteitä.

Mistä sitten matkailijat kirjoittivat? Maisemista, matkustamisesta eri välineillä (ei lentokonemainintoja) ja on ihmiskuvauksia, luontoa (sis. eläimet ja linnut), muotia, kulttuuria, rakennuskuvailuja ja paikallisen kulttuurin pohdintaa. Kolonialismi kaikui taustalla joissakin teksteissä. Suomi ei ollut päässyt mukaan.

[Anaïs]

* all countries have a 'real' self, which no stranger can ever hope to see- Aldous Huxley
* she seemed to represent the tragedy of all ended holidays- Ian Fleming

[Tweedledum]

A very mixed anthology culled mostly from letters but dipping here and there into books of travel such as Voyage of the Beagle. Some of the entries were vivid descriptions which I read with great pleasure but others mundane in the extreme. Perhaps they were included for curiosity value rather than anything else...... But really WG Grace complaining about the state of the pitch for a cricket match.... With no other background setting seemed like a wasted opportunity. I feel like the editor lost interest by the time she got as far as looking for extracts to include for Australia and New Zealand as these entries were very sparse. To conclude with a letter complaining about the cost of living in New Zealand seemed a most bizarre ending. Lovely old illustrations throughout but annoying that these were only referenced in an index.... Not on the page itself.

It was a pity too that some biographical background was not included for each contributor. It felt like there was an assumption any reader would instantly know who all of these people were and what they did. Some may have indeed needed no introduction to the modern reader but even for the more famous contributees some relevant information would have been welcome.