The Cambridge companion to travel writing

Hulme, P. (2002). The Cambridge companion to travel writing. Cambridge, U.K.: Cambridge University Press.

Probably the broadest survey of travel writing published, The Cambridge Companion anthologizes fourteen essays of scholars’ critiques of English travel writing from 1500 to the present.   Among these essays, there are overviews of specific time periods’ works, particular regional case-studies, and analyses of theoretical and cultural implications.  Cambridge combines a cross-curricular study (literary studies, cultural studies, history, etc) to paint the extent to which travel writing has been a familiar genre in English since the Renaissance (and arguably earlier).

      As an anthology of historical travel writing in English, this book provides only a particular perspective to apply to my research.  However, the final three essays pertaining to critical and cultural theory and the implications of travel writing’s overall composition will serve as additional insight.  The text includes experiences of writers traveling to every continent except Antarctica, so it paints a broad enough picture to compare with the travels of contemporary travel bloggers.  It manages to locate writers of the 20^th century, however, it fails to reach far enough to consider digital implications on travel writing.  The book does provide a very useful list for further reading, man of which may or may not be applicable to my research.