Curiosity and the aesthetics of travel writing, 1770-1840: from an antique land

Leask, N. (2002). Curiosity and the aesthetics of travel writing, 1770-1840: from an antique land. New York: Oxford University Press.

Leask’s book compiles a series of chapters dedicated to analyzing the literary “romanticism” of travel writing (and he even opens his text with a quote from Shelley’s “Ozymandias” – “I met a traveler from an antique land”). This highly literary survey ties together several narratives, all the while referencing postcolonial and cultural theories in order to shed light on their impact on travel writing.  The stories, depicted by the writing of English men and women travelers, illustrate travels to, as Shelley coined, “antique lands,” such as Egypt, India, South and Central America.  The purpose of the text seems to romanticize travel writing as a genre of unrealized potential: Leask locates implications of postcoloniality, however, he does not venture to denigrate the writing or the writers themselves.   What this book, in fact, does is provide valuable perspective for contemporary readers as to the attitudes of travelers (of the English upper-middle class) in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. This text self-consciously celebrates lost texts in order to create conversation about its literary value, however, its biases do little but reinforce a critical study into their composition.

This text does not cover contemporary travel writing, however, the bias present in its overall composition may provide an exemplar of the issues in categorizing travel writing as a genre.  Just as Huggan and Holland posed the question of the implied biases of travel writers themselves, Leask demonstrates favoritism for this type of elitism, which, in turn, may provide criteria for comparison between travel writing critics.  This text can provide some text examples of criticism that may prove what travel writing is, but also what it isn’t.  As for applying this text to travel blog analysis, there seems to be a common thread among several writers (which is evident from the collection of writings in this book) – the notion that they are each part of a sort of “club” for travelers, and that they have a gifted perspective on the subject.