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30 - A Brief History of Travel and the Essay

from Part IV - Fractured Selves, Fragmented Worlds

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  31 October 2024

By
Barbara Schaff
Edited by
Denise Gigante  and
Jason Childs
Denise Gigante
Affiliation:
Stanford University, California
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Summary

Essayists have long reflected on the reasons for travel – its educational, cultural, and spiritual advantages – often (and uncritically) championing travel for its own sake. This chapter identifies the formal aspects of essayistic British travel writing in authorial perspective, thematic content, and publication format, tracking their change over time. It shows that the discursive and stylistic development of the British travel essay was closely bound up with the diversification of the periodical press and the expansion of the empire. Ultimately, it shows that essayists developed a more self-aware and critical attitude towards travelling, informed by a sense of geopolitical, ecological, and ethical responsibility.

Keywords

empiricismGrantaeducationdigressionperiodical presscolonialismpolyphonyThe Uncommercial Travellerautotelic travelgender
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Chapter
Information
The Cambridge History of the British Essay , pp. 453 - 468
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2024

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