Travel Literature Makes My Heart Beat Faster.. discussion

I believe that travel literature can be broken up into many different facets- but one that I am unclear on is whether something can be considered travel literature if the story is set in the same location the entire time and none of the main characters are travelers. I think it can if it does either of these things: inspires you to travel to this place (or culture) or paints the atmosphere of this place so well that it's like the location is a character.
One example I can think of is V for Vendetta- after reading it I would love to go to London even though I know that the London I'd see is not the London portrayed in the book.
edit: i linked to v for vendetta.

Yes, I've pondered this a lot myself. On my own bookshelves I try not to put it under travel lit. unless there is some kind of outsiders perspective. But then there are the books in which the narrator is an outsider, but travel isn't really the main point, such as The Innocent Anthropologist Notes from a Mud Hutwhich is by the way a very funny and evocative book, but not travel really about travelling. And how about The Heart of the Matter and other fiction that really evokes a place but gives one no desire to travel there?

I tend to be more inclusive then exclusive when it comes down to it- so I would probably include The Heart of the Matter as travel lit. The only time I'll definitely exclude writing from being travel lit is when it has nothing to do with the place it is in. You could pick up the story and transplant it anywhere and it wouldn't change anything- like The Perks of Being a Wallflower. It could be in Michigan or Indiana or West Virginia. But I classify Bone The Complete Cartoon Epic in One Volume as travel lit because a) three of the main characters are travelers (each with his own unique travel personality) even though that's not what they set out to be and b) where they are is still etched in my mind.

Andrea, do you count nonfiction that gives you this evocation of location but no inspiration for travel feeling as travel lit?

Good question, Thorn. Definitely I do, and that brings up the question of authorial intent (dare we tread here?). After all, I really enjoy travel lit. about the Sahara Desert, but while I'm a bit curious, I don't really have a desire to experience eating rancid camel butter and drinking scummy water with a camel caravan for a week. For me, there has to be somebody who is outside looking in or I don't put it in "travel" literature. But I'm trying to think of examples where nobody travels in or out and I can't think of too many. I'm just talking about my own categories, by the way, not what I think other people "should" or "shouldn't" do. I'll give this some more thought, as I think defining genres is actually more important in understanding literature than we sometimes assume.

I agree. The reason I consider fictional literature that evokes a place but is not from an outsider's perspective travel lit is because I think that to get their start many travel writers will write about what's going on in their own backyard- and if they can do it in nonfiction, why not in fiction? But then it also becomes a question about size and quality. Does a short article about the hotspots in someone's hometown equate to Gone With The Wind being considered travel lit?
Andrea- could you delve more into what you mean about authorial intent?

I read expat memoir - for example, Peter Kerr's series on being an orange farmer on Mallorca. I put that on my "travel"shelf, considering it a sub-genre, but would understand if others disagree.

I was just thinking about whether what the author planned or intended for the work had any influence on how I classified it, and whether it should. Do we care whether a writer is thinking of themselves as an "outsider." Clearly, to create the evocative scenes you mentioned, the writer would have to have "creating a vivid scene" as one of his/her goals. It doesn't just happen.

How do spiritual journeys fit into this conversation?

What exactly do you mean by "spiritual" journeys? An example?

I have always enjoyed travel novels but only last year I discovered the spiritual journeys or more correctly called Pilgrimage. I picked up a book called "The Art of Pilgrimage" by Phil Cousineau amd discovered there is a vast amount of books written by travelers following the footsteps of recorded pilgrimages through the centuries. As Cousineau discribes it; "The seekers guide to making travel sacred". The next book I found from Couisineaus suggested reading is a book by Jack Hitt recounting his walk of 500 miles on the Pilgram's trail from France to Santiago de Compostela in Spain. It was both inspirational and amusing. I was hooked on a new catagory of travel books.

I have that Jack Hitt book on my TBR pile, which certainly would count as "travel lit" for me. I wasn't sure if you meant a person who described "finding herself" in a nearby park or some such - in that case I'd leaned towards "not really" as travel.
You might like this one in the spiritual travel genre: To Travel Hopefully.

Ok John, I promise not to tell you I read and liked The Time Travelor who ended up in much worst places then a park with no clothes on. :>)

Yes, I agree with John that I don't really classify books by WHY the person is travelling, but just that they are on a physical journey.

A Mapmakers Dream is fascinating even though he, the mapmaker, does not travel. Fra Mauro is a cartographer to the court of Venice in the 16th century. Travelors, merchants, explorers and many others visit his cell in the monestary, with their stories when they return, so their journeys will be recorded on his maps.

I will have to add A Mapmaker's Dream to my TBR pile.

That title sounds vaguely familiar and interesting.A Mapmaker's Dream: The Meditations of Fra Mauro, Cartographer to the Court of Venice