Morris, Jan. (2009, Sept.) “The allure of travel writing.” The Smithsonian. <http://www.smithsonianmag.com/travel/Where-in-the-World-Intro.html>

Jan Morrison, who is a renowned travel writer herself, composes this piece for The Smithsonian in an effort to comment on the challenges that face contemporary travel writers. She suggests that the criteria for “good” travel writing is shifting with the attitudes on and accessibility of travel.  According to Morrison, travel writers these days “are recording the effects of places or movements upon their own particular temperaments—recording the experience rather than the event, as they might make literary use of a love affair, an enigma or a tragedy.”  From the perspective of her own experience with/expression of travel, she views the danger that many new writers are venturing closer to a type of fiction rather than a documentation of a journey.  She sense that much of the new travel writing (including blogs) involves more spectacle than reality, and she warns against sensationalizing a genre that should employ careful discretion.

Morrison’s article is a first-hand confirmation that the current state of travel writing may be problematized by “wonder” rhetoric.  The trend could be troubling especially considering the guise of realism that travel writing commonly hides within or underneath.  This view provides ample reaffirmation that travel blogs may contain the illusion of spirit-of-adventure and magical fiction that characterized much of early travel writing.  Morrison, being a travel writer and critic, establishes a dual expertise in the area that will be very insightful when applied to my survey of latest travel blogs.