The Travel Writing Tribe: Journeys in Search of a Genre

by Tim Hannigan

Where can travel writing go in the twenty-first century? Author and lifelong travel writing aficionado Tim Hannigan sets out in search of this most venerable of genres, hunting down its legendary practitioners and confronting its greatest controversies. Is it ever okay for travel writers to make things up, and just where does the frontier between fact and fiction lie? What actually is travel writing, and is it just a genre dominated by posh white men? What of travel writing’s queasy colonial connections?

Travelling from Monaco to Eton, from wintry Scotland to sun-scorched Greek hillsides, Hannigan swills beer with the indomitable Dervla Murphy, sips tea with the doyen of British explorers, delves into the diaries of Wilfred Thesiger and Patrick Leigh Fermor, and gains unexpected insights from Colin Thubron, Samanth Subramanian, Kapka Kassabova, William Dalrymple and many others. But along the way he realises how much is at stake: can his own love of travel writing survive this journey?

The Travel Writing Tribe tackles head on the fierce critical debates usually confined to strictly academic discussions of the genre. This highly original book compels readers and travellers of all kinds to think about travel writing in new ways.

Genres: Travel, Nonfiction, Journalism, Books About Books

365 pages, Hardcover

Published May 1, 2021

About the author

Tim Hannigan was born in Penzance in Cornwall in the far west of the United Kingdom. Before becoming a full-time writer, he worked as a chef and an English teacher. He started his writing career as a travel journalist based in Indonesia. His first book, Murder in the Hindu Kush (The History Press, 2011), was shortlisted for the Boardman Tasker Prize. His second book, Raffles and the British Invasion of Java (Monsoon Books, 2012), won the 2013 John Brooks Award. He also wrote A Brief History of Indonesia (Tuttle, 2015), and edited and wrote new chapters for Willard Hanna's classic narrative history of Bali, now republished as A Brief History of Bali (Tuttle, 2016). His more recent books include The Travel Writing Tribe (2021) and The Granite Kingdom (2023). He has worked on guidebooks to many destinations including Nepal, India, Myanmar, Bali and Cornwall.

Reviews

[Paul · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have always been a reader reading mostly pulp fiction thrillers, what are now considered sci-fi classics such as Asimov and Clarke and various other things that have long since slipped my mind. I have no idea what made me pick it up, but the first travel book that I read was A Year In Provence by Peter Mayle and I loved it.

My next few visits to the library now involved visiting the travel and guidebook sections where I would pick up a book that looked interesting. I read Tom Vernon about him pedalling slowly around France on a bike, Nicholas Crane as he cycled up Kilimanjaro and to the centre of the earth with his brother and life in an Italian Village with Anne Hawes.

I had discovered a new genre and I wanted to explore a whole world from my armchair.

Tim Hannigan had a similar experience to me. He discovered travel writing and it opened a whole world for him too. He wanted to discover more about these books and authors and as I was reading all sorts of books he was exploring the back catalogues of the travel writing canon and discovering the greats, Murphy, Leigh Fermor, Thesiger, Theroux, Thubron and Raban to name but a few. But more than that he wanted to live these adventures, and write his own travel book to put alongside those other authors in his collection. It didn’t happen though, but he did end up writing guidebooks.

Travel writing has fallen out of favour to a certain extent. There are still wonderful places like Stanford’s that stock almost exclusively travel books in their shops and have the Stanford Dolman Award for the best writing and it is a prize I have helped judge twice. I think that he is correct about the way that nature writing is taking over some of the literary landscape that travel writing used to occupy as there is quite an overlap. The Wainwright prize used to be for UK travel and natural history, whereas it is now seen as primarily a nature prize, which I find a shame really.

So where is travel writing going from here? It is a question that Hannigan tries to answer in this book. To seek those answers he meets with a dozen or so different travel writers. Some are from when it was at its height and some of the newer writers and who are finding different paths to follow and write about in the modern world. He poses similar questions to each of these authors that he meets and debates about whether there is a future for travel writing, and if so what that future might be.

I thought this was a fascinating study of one of my favourite genres. I think the days are long gone of the colonial style writer, invariably white, male and public school and Oxbridge educated and it is moving to writers who are more sensitive to other cultures and have a different perspective. It does need to evolve too from that older style and you can see that with the new newer writers who are being published by the few publishers still releasing new travel books. It is an exciting time and I am still going to keep reading it to discover more about this world we live in.

[Rory Lilley · Rating 5 out of 5]

4.5 star. Nice concept.

[Kuang Ting · Rating 5 out of 5]

It’s a great book for every travel writing lover. My review could be read in the link:

https://opinion.cw.com.tw/blog/profil...

[Charlie Mansfield · Rating 5 out of 5]

Hannigan's Tribe is a rigorously structured research thesis but is so perfectly concealed beneath a cloak of narrative that it is exciting and satisfying to read for pure enjoyment. Without giving away any story-spoilers, because it does have story, any keen academic could spot all the ingredients that make it worth buying if you are writing-up your own research: a sound literature review, semi-structured interviews with a purposeful sampling of respondents, research questions, which are analysed through sustained argument and, most enjoyable for the readers, some experimental writing to explore the concept of veracity in narrative, first person non-fiction. Hannigan's Tribe, I don't know how long we will resist, and start calling it Tim's Tribe at conferences, does wrestle with truth-telling in a way like Foucault's Louvain lectures published under the title Wrong-Doing, Truth-Telling, explore parrhesia. Indeed, isn't that what we seek in first-person writing? A confession of personal experience that dares to speak truth to power, παρρησία. Hannigan lifts the cloak of power to democratise literary travel writing for a new generation.

[Ulcia · Rating 5 out of 5]

if you want to learn basics about travel writing this is the book to read

[Biblio Files (takingadayoff) · Rating 5 out of 5]

Tim Hannigan, a travel writer, gets meta in The Travel Writing Tribe, and looks at travel writing itself. He considers the genre and interviews a number of writers, including Colin Thubron, Dervla Murphy, and Kapka Kassabova. I can remember when travel writing was not even a section at the bookstore, although of course, there was travel writing. It was shelved in adventure or biography, or wherever. When I first visited London in the 1980s, I found travel writing sections in the bookshops there, and was hooked. I immediately discovered Eric Newby and Martha Gellhorn and many others. But the fact that travel narrative often fits into many sections (essays, memoir) leaves you to wonder, as does Tim Hannigan, what is travel writing? Hannigan's musings and his interviews led me to several authors new to me, such as Monisha Rajesh, and to revisit some old favorites, like Dervla Murphy. An entirely enjoyable book on a slippery topic.

[Gus Hebblewhite · Rating 4 out of 5]

An unconventional book that succeeds at its goal of delving into the history, practice and philosophy of travel writing.

The only major complaint was that it spent a bit too long agonising over the ethics of travel writing, and especially exploring some not-particularly-persuasive ideas out of the academic literature. I don't think it's a mistake to engage with weird arguments, and ultimately the book comes down on the right side wrt these debates (insofar as it comes down at all). That said I think some of the academic arguments were implausible enough to have been ignored, or touched on briefly, without needing to become a focal point. In any case ethics is something that's best dealt with thoroughly (i.e. "lets consider X according to a range of different mainstream normative theories ...") or otherwise ignored completely.

[Thaths · Rating 4 out of 5]

What a lovely book.

Like the author I grew up devouring travel writing books. And like the author I too had (only briefly in my case) considered becoming a travel writer.

Hannigan originally wanted to write travel books like the ones he grew up reading since he was a teenager, but the gradual erosion of the genre, and the critical questions being asked about the veracity of famous travel writers meant that Hannigan had to re-do his plans. He ended up writing this book - a travel book exploring not so much a region or a country, but the whole field of travel writing and the critical discipline of travel writing studies.

[Julie Watson · Rating 5 out of 5]

An excellent read for newly published travel writers like myself, and anyone interested in this genre. A comprehensive and very thorough piece of work covering all the hotly debated aspects of travel writing (e.g. the fact vs. creative non fiction question; matters of perspective including that of the 'travelee'; question of gender difference in travel writing). Insightful interviews with some of the best travel writers of the current time and a good summary of the origins and history of travel writing.

[Yazz Dean · Rating 2 out of 5]

Whilst Hannigan is painfully aware of his pretentious beginnings in this literary journey, the book is a difficult read. It’s pages are stuffed with pretentious travel writers with some relief from the female writers that are interviewed. These seemed to be the only people that showed any personality in the book which meant that despite having interesting criticism (Postcolonialism and feminism) the topics fell flat. This has failed to inspire me to read travel writing and has instead ensured that I don’t touch anything written by a boy from Eton

[David Trembath · Rating 3 out of 5]

The urge to write a book is not sufficient reason to write it. Mr Hannigan developed a not very original thesis that a lot of travel writers were/are white privileged public school educated males and then sets out to explore that limited view. I don't think he really comes to grips with the end of that sort of travel writing nor new and emerging forms.
How anyone can claim to research English travel writing without mentioning Thomas Coryate or Samuel Purchas or taking the opportunity to interview Bill Bryson or Robert Mcfarlane is beyond me.

[Nick · Rating 5 out of 5]

Brilliant book, it's left me with an incredibly long list of other travel books I need to read immediately. I wasn't sure if this meta look into the whole genre would work, but there is a clear narrative complemented by splendid research and colour through the various interactions with the many authors he speaks to. The best book I've read this year and one I'll happily recommend. Thoroughly enjoyable.

[Sarah Novak · Rating 3 out of 5]

There were some really solid nuggets that I took away from this book but I found it way too wordy. I was not interested in all the backstory of the writers he profiled. I just wanted their insights and found myself fast-forwarding to get to that.

[Hannah · Rating 5 out of 5]

I feel this book is a must read for anyone who enjoys travel literature. I was expecting a cosy compendium of travel writers when I bought this book. What I received was a beautifully written in-depth study of the whole genre of travel writing. The book is fascinating and controversial on every page. There are long form interviews, recorded and meticulously transcribed with the greats of the travel writing tribe, each bookended by some of the best travel writing you will read as the author describes his journeys to meet each of the writers. Tim Hannigan appears so charming that none of them takes offence when he quizzes them in depth on the veracity of their tales. Throughout the book the controversies and scandals of centuries of travel writing are addressed, but we are not told what to think, Tim Hannigan chats about them as he might if we were sat in a pub together with the reader given space to form their own opinions. We want travellers’ tales to be completely truthful but know in our hearts that the whole truth would make a very boring read.
This book has not spoiled the genre for me, it has opened it up, introduced me to some writers I haven’t yet read, some publishers to keep my eyes on and revitalised my love of a genre I thought had begun to die a long slow death.

[Vaiva De Chatte · Rating 5 out of 5]

A very interesting and inspiring book about travel writing and writers