Deconstructing travel:cultural perspectives on tourism

Berger, A. Asa. (2004). Deconstructing travel:cultural perspectives on tourism. Walnut Creek: Altamira Press.

Arthur Asa Berger is Professor Emeritus of Broadcast and Electronic Communication Arts at San Francisco State University (although he technically ended his teaching career in 2003). He has published more than 100 articles, numerous book reviews, and more than 60 books.  His text, Deconstructing Travel, is essentially a collection of commentary on the cultural effects of the tourist industry that includes discussion of the many facets of travel, including an in-depth analysis of travel writing as what he considers “an art form.”  The book offers reasons as to motivations for traveling, and it locates travel and tourism through social, cultural, psychological, and economic lenses as critique. Berger’s stroll through the historical molds for journey-making – such as classical text references to expeditions in mythology, history, and literatures – stretches through the ages to reach our modern captivation with travel and the implications that such pursuits present for everyday people.  Actually a book about the tourism industry at the end of the day, Berger’s documentation of the impacts and implications of travel advertising and travel writing offer a curiously critical view of these crafts.

Though the prose is lively and engaging, Berger’s work threads together the literal experience of travel with the sociological and psychological implications of being a “traveler.”  His chapter on travel writing offers a helpful glance as to the makings of effective travel writing, in other words, how to compose the adventure in lively prose (somewhere between personal narrative and a choose-your-own-adventure genre).  Berger’s insights may not fully explain the methods best employed in “good” travel writing, but his enthusiasm for the craft raises an intriguing question in terms of my research.  His writing may prove an exemplar of the implied masculine freedom in the realm of travel, as he himself does not seem to perceive the nature of the rhetoric he employs.