The Routledge Companion to Travel Writing

Book excerpt: This book offers the ideal springboard for beginners to the area, but is also an essential resource for those already working in the field. Each essay provides the historical, theoretical and cultural contexts as well as cutting-edge approaches and close readings of travelogues.0Each of the 4 sections looks in turn at:0- Key Debates – summarising the crucial debates in the field0- Historical and Cultural Contexts – offering a guide to writing of different periods and regions0- Styles, Modes and Themes – goes into more depth on the various sub-genres and topics within travel writing and allows readers to approach them from an alternative angle0- Destinations – focuses in on different regions with a more interdisciplinary view0Covering all the relevant topics and debates, from postcolonial studies, women’s writing, sexuality and ecocriticism, this is an essential overview of the field, encouraging the study of travel writing to move in new and exciting directions.