The Worlds of Contemporary Travel Literature

What is the course about?

This in-college literature course explores the many worlds created, represented and imagined in contemporary travel literature, looking in particular at how writers from across the world in the late twentieth and early twenty-first centuries have used the genre beyond the Western and colonial literary traditions with which it is often associated. Over the six weeks of this course, we will read travel literature in English by writers whose backgrounds traverse Africa, Asia, the Caribbean, the Middle East, Europe and the United States, and whose writing represents what we might broadly term the postcolonial world. We’ll think together about what we can learn from these texts about the world in the long aftermath of Western colonialism, how their writers represent peoples, cultures and histories in a globalised world, and how travel literature has evolved as a genre to represent and circulate in the new worlds of today.

Tutor biography:
Rebecca Jones is a researcher and lecturer in African literature, world literatures and travel writing. She has a PhD from the University of Birmingham, where she subsequently worked as a Lecturer, and is now an Honorary Research Fellow at Birmingham. Her first book, At the Crossroads: Nigerian Travel Writing and Literary Culture in Yoruba and English was published in 2019. She is an editor of the literary travel writing journal Fortunate Traveller. She works as a researcher at a charity and also runs creative journalling workshops for mothers.

What will we cover?

We begin the course by discussing the history of travel writing as a literary genre and its social and political contexts. We also consider what ‘postcolonial’ means and the different ways this term has been defined. Then, for the first half of the course, we focus on three classics of postcolonial travel literature by Caryl Phillips, Pico Iyer and Jamaica Kincaid, published in the 1980s. For the second half of the course, we look at more recent travel literature by Emmanuel Iduma, Noo Saro-Wiwa and Raja Shehadeh.

We’ll explore how these writers use language and genre, and how they write within, against and beyond the travel writing genre. We’ll consider how they work with themes such as diaspora, tourism, globalisation, language, race, representation of self and other, memory, history, returning home, and the ethics of travel writing. We’ll think about these texts as a form of literary non-fiction, and how they relate to other genres such as fiction and memoir. We’ll also look at the bigger picture of the postcolonial and global context, and these writers’ attempts, in some cases, to decolonise the travel writing genre. Throughout the course we will make links to other works of travel writing and other literary works, as well as to the social, political and historical contexts for the texts we are discussing - so you’ll leave not only with a deeper understanding of travel writing and postcolonial literature, but also a sense of what you might like to read next.

Texts include:
Caryl Phillips, The European Tribe
Pico Iyer, Video Night in Kathmandu
Jamaica Kincaid, A Small Place
Emmanuel Iduma, A Stranger’s Pose
Raja Shehadeh, Palestinian Walks
Noo Saro-Wiwa, Looking for Transwonderland.

What will I achieve?
By the end of this course you should be able to...

Understand what travel literature is, and the global and postcolonial contexts for contemporary travel literature in English.

Identify key themes and literary characteristics of contemporary travel literature in English, and the texts’ literary, social, historical and political contexts.

What level is the course and do I need any particular skills?

This is a beginner level course and no prior experience or knowledge is required – just a willingness and ability to read the texts each week.

How will I be taught, and will there be any work outside the class?

You will be taught through a mix of presentations from the tutor, group discussion, small group activities, and close reading and analysis, with encouragement to share your own responses and ideas about the texts.
You will need to read the text for each week before each class. The tutor may also give you optional questions to go alongside each week’s reading – these are not compulsory, but can be used to help you think through your ideas about the text before the class if you find this useful.

Are there any other costs? Is there anything I need to bring?

You will need to borrow or buy a copy of four of the texts we will discuss, to bring with you in the relevant week:
Pico Iyer, Video Night in Kathmandu (Random House, 1988 / Bloomsbury, 2001)
Emmanuel Iduma, A Stranger’s Pose (Cassava Republic, 2018)
Raja Shehadeh, Palestinian Walks (Profile Books, 2008)
Noo Saro-Wiwa, Looking for Transwonderland (Granta, 2013)
I will supply digital materials, and extracts of other set readings and additional readings.

When I've finished, what course can I do next?

Please look for other literary non-fiction courses under History, Culture and Writing/Literature/Literary non-fiction at www.citylit.ac.uk.