The Arabian Desert in English Travel Writing Since 1950

The Arabian Desert in English Travel Writing Since 1950 PDF Author: Jenny Walker
Publisher: Taylor & Francis
ISBN: 1000807576
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 234

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Book Description
Broadly this book is about the Arabian desert as the locus of exploration by a long tradition of British travellers that includes T. E. Lawrence and Wilfred Thesiger; more specifically, it is about those who, since 1950, have followed in their literary footsteps. In analysing modern works covering a land greater than the sum of its geographical parts, the discussion identifies outmoded tropes that continue to impinge upon the perception of the Middle East today while recognising that the laboured binaries of “East and West”, “desert and sown”, “noble and savage” have outrun their course. Where, however, only a barren legacy of latent Orientalism may have been expected, the author finds instead a rich seam of writing that exhibits diversity of purpose and insight contributing to contemporary discussions on travel and tourism, intercultural representation, and environmental awareness. By addressing a lack of scholarly attention towards recent additions to the genre, this study illustrates for the benefit of students of travel literature, or indeed anyone interested in “Arabia”, how desert writing, under the emerging configurations of globalisation, postcolonialism, and ecocriticism, acts as a microcosm of the kinds of ethical and emotional dilemmas confronting today’s travel writers in the world’s most extreme regions.

The Arabian Desert in English Travel Writing Since 1950

The Arabian Desert in English Travel Writing Since 1950 PDF Author: Jenny Walker
Publisher: Taylor & Francis
ISBN: 1000807576
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 234

Get Book Here

Book Description
Broadly this book is about the Arabian desert as the locus of exploration by a long tradition of British travellers that includes T. E. Lawrence and Wilfred Thesiger; more specifically, it is about those who, since 1950, have followed in their literary footsteps. In analysing modern works covering a land greater than the sum of its geographical parts, the discussion identifies outmoded tropes that continue to impinge upon the perception of the Middle East today while recognising that the laboured binaries of “East and West”, “desert and sown”, “noble and savage” have outrun their course. Where, however, only a barren legacy of latent Orientalism may have been expected, the author finds instead a rich seam of writing that exhibits diversity of purpose and insight contributing to contemporary discussions on travel and tourism, intercultural representation, and environmental awareness. By addressing a lack of scholarly attention towards recent additions to the genre, this study illustrates for the benefit of students of travel literature, or indeed anyone interested in “Arabia”, how desert writing, under the emerging configurations of globalisation, postcolonialism, and ecocriticism, acts as a microcosm of the kinds of ethical and emotional dilemmas confronting today’s travel writers in the world’s most extreme regions.

Travels in Arabia Deserta

Travels in Arabia Deserta PDF Author: Charles Montagu Doughty
Publisher: Cosimo, Inc.
ISBN: 1616405163
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 678

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Book Description
Travels in Arabia Deserta, originally published in 1888, is a two-volume set which describes English poet Charles Doughty's extensive travels through the Arabian deserts and the discoveries he made there. The work became well-regarded for its beautiful prose as well as its extensiveness, which made it a benchmark of ambitious travel writing in the early 20th century. Written in the style of the King James Bible, the text is extravagant and creative. In the 1920's, it was discovered by British Army Officer T.E. Lawrence, who spurred the book's republication, this time with an introduction from Lawrence. The book has been in and out of print since then, but the Cosimo edition is a rare 1921 reprint, and includes the Lawrence introduction. Volume I includes T.E. Lawrence's Introduction, as well as accounts of Doughty's treks to Mecca, Ammon and Moab, the Mountain of Edom, Arabia, the Passage of the Harra, Teyma, and more. He also describes nomad life in the desert and ancient stories, peoples, and myths connected with his travels. CHARLES MONTAGU DOUGHTY (1843-1926) was an English poet and writer born in Theberton Hall, Saxmundham, Suffolk. He attended King's College London and graduated from Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge in 1864. Among this author's works are an epic poem in six volumes titled The Dawn in Britain, published in 1906, and his well-known Travels in Arabia Deserta, for which he received much praise.

Travel Writing and Re-Enactment

Travel Writing and Re-Enactment PDF Author: Lucas Tromly
Publisher: Taylor & Francis
ISBN: 1000929418
Category : Literary Criticism
Languages : en
Pages : 129

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Book Description
Travel Writing and Re-Enactment: Echotourism explores the popular subgenre of travel narratives that re-enact historically prominent journeys. Drawing on philosopher Walter Benjamin, this monograph reads such re-enactments as quests for aura in which travellers seek to capture a sense of distinction and historical profundity. Travel Writing and Re-Enactment frames the re-enactment of past journeys in a number of contexts, including Benjamin’s writing on mechanical reproduction, Judith Butler’s work on gender performance, and postmodern parody. Echotourist journeys are surprisingly contingent and precarious, and force travellers to navigate historical changes involving empire, gender, and travel practice in densely performative ways. Through close readings of contemporary travel narratives, this monograph considers the legacies of Lord Byron, Charles Darwin, Graham Greene, Mary Kingsley, and Ernest Shackleton, among others. Travel Writing and Re-Enactment examines the way literary re-enactment expresses, and sometimes confounds, the desire to find meaning through travel in the contemporary world.

Traveling Bodies

Traveling Bodies PDF Author: Nicole Maruo-Schröder
Publisher: Taylor & Francis
ISBN: 100096177X
Category : Literary Criticism
Languages : en
Pages : 235

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Book Description
Traveling Bodies: Interdisciplinary Perspectives on Traveling as an Embodied Practice explores the central role the body has in and for traveling and thus complements and expands upon existing research in travel studies with new perspectives on and insights in the entanglement of bodies and traveling. The case studies assembled in this volume discuss a variety of traveling practices, experiences, and media with chapters featuring Asian, American, and European historical and contemporary perspectives. Truly interdisciplinary in its approach, the volume identifies and examines diverse literary, historical and cultural texts, contexts, and modes in which traveling and the body intersect, including ‘classic’ travelogues, (new) media (e.g., film, digital travel apps), surf culture, and travel-inspired tattoos. The contributions offer various avenues for further research, not only for scholars working with body theory and travel (writing), but also for anyone interested in the intersections of literature, culture, media, and embodied practices of traveling.

Ethics of Description

Ethics of Description PDF Author: Matt Reeck
Publisher: Taylor & Francis
ISBN: 1000926060
Category : Literary Criticism
Languages : en
Pages : 237

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Book Description
Ethics of Description: The Anthropological Dispositif and French Modern Travel Writing follows the development of a minor tradition in French literature where metropolitan authors traveling abroad demonstrate their awareness of the ethical conundrums of representing world peoples. During the colonial–modern era, currents of anthropological thought and representational practice are identifiable throughout society, and across literature, the arts, and the sciences. Collectively, they can be theorized as belonging to a dispositif, the anthropological dispositif. The modernization of anthropology serves as an ambivalent interlocutor for the realizations of the writers studied in this book about the difficulties of describing cultural realities that lie largely outside their ken. Anthropology motivates new literary representational strategies that are, alternatively, in keeping with scientific mandates or operate against them. Forty images are analyzed alongside literary works. A postcolonial chapter shows how the ethical awareness of the colonial–modern authors studied have impacted minority self-representation in contemporary France.

The Desert and the Sown

The Desert and the Sown PDF Author: Gertrude Lowthian Bell
Publisher: Beacon Press (MA)
ISBN:
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 380

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Book Description
Born to transcend the social constraints of Victorian England, Gertrude Bell left the comforts of her privileged life for the unconventional world of the Middle East. One of the first women to graduate from Oxford, she traveled to Persia and became drawn to the Arab people, the language, and their architecture. A skilled archeologist, historian, and linguist, Bell traveled the world and wrote compelling accounts of her journeys. This book is an account of personal discovery and political history, tracing her 1905 sojourn through Lebanon, Syria, and Palestine. "The female Lawrence of Arabia" offers intriguing images from her often dangerous "wild travel" through regions never seen by another foreign woman. Photos illustrate camel caravans; ruins of castles and monasteries; local markets and bazaars; Damascus with its gardens, domes, and minarets; and more. But it's Bell's impressions and conversations with contacts and confidantes of varied cultures that hold you captive.

The Arabian Desert

The Arabian Desert PDF Author: John R. L. Carter
Publisher: Immel Publishing
ISBN:
Category : Nature
Languages : en
Pages : 120

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Book Description


English Travel Writing From Pilgrimages To Postcolonial Explorations

English Travel Writing From Pilgrimages To Postcolonial Explorations PDF Author: NA NA
Publisher: Springer
ISBN: 1349624713
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 225

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Book Description
Travel writing has gained new appeal, and writers from the British Isles have been particularly productive and successful in this genre. This volume provides a concise introduction to the basic characteristics and historical development of travel writing as it has emerged in the British Isles from the Middle Ages to the present day. Examples considered include many classics such as Defoe, Sterne and Smollett, Isabella Bird and Mary Kingsley, Chatwin and Raban, and also lesser known representatives. Types of travel writing discussed include pilgrims' itineraries, exploration writing, tourist accounts as well as postmodern varieties.

Arabian Sands

Arabian Sands PDF Author: Wilfred Thesiger
Publisher: Penguin
ISBN: 1101160667
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 426

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Book Description
Arabian Sands is Wilfred Thesiger's record of his extraordinary journey through the parched "Empty Quarter" of Arabia. Educated at Eton and Oxford, Thesiger was repulsed by the softness and rigidity of Western life-"the machines, the calling cards, the meticulously aligned streets." In the spirit of T. E. Lawrence, he set out to explore the deserts of Arabia, traveling among peoples who had never seen a European and considered it their duty to kill Christian infidels. His now-classic account is invaluable to understanding the modern Middle East.

Camels in the Sky

Camels in the Sky PDF Author: V. Muzafer Ahamed
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
ISBN: 9780199489428
Category : Travel
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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Book Description
A unique tour of the largest sand desert in the world. The name Rub 'ul Khali (Empty Quarter) belies the immense diversity and life it harbours, says the author who lived and toured the Arabian deserts for over thirteen years as a journalist. A compulsive traveler since his student days, Ahamed describes in lyrical prose the history, pre-history, archaeology, legends, folklore and travails of the emigre Asian work force that tames the harsh desert. The book is perhaps the first Arabian travelogue by an Indian which takes a comprehensive view of Arabia beyond the Hajj to Mecca, which is guided anyway. It is probably witnessing the swansong of the fabled Bedouin culture in the wake of the oil tide that is distorting the Arab culture alongside the changing landscape. A valuable guide for the Saudi-bound.