Sell, J. P. A. (2006). Rhetoric and wonder in English travel writing, 1560-1613. Aldershot, England: Ashgate.
Jonathan P.A. Sell issue a challenging critical study of travel writing by identifying within it the themes of fantasy and wonder, marvels and monsters, and the lingering rhetoric of empire. His analysis defines “wonder” as the beginning of philosophy and discourse,” and also as “the heart of the aesthetic experience” (5). In other words, by locating the human trait of curiosity in pursuits of knowledge, he sees that the impetus to journal daily experience as an inspired response. However, Sell argues that “because readers were unable to assent to anything that did not coincide with the current belief system, it was the task of the writer to make the new acceptable and the unfamiliar familiar by utilizing.” His text, five chapters broken into five stages of what he considers “the rhetoric of wonder,” successfully paints a critical overview of the rhetorical strategies of travelers in the Renaissance. It is clear that Sell means to complement, and sometimes counter, recent criticism of early modern travel literature, and he does so by concentrating on the rhetorical constructs employed. He also keenly notes the importance of being familiar with the workings of rhetoric and its theoretical premises, as this working knowledge provides clarity as to the overall experience of reading travel narratives.
Though Sell does not venture into the contemporary setting, his examination of rhetoric is exactly the kind of criticism that is needed for the analysis of travel blog writing. Since much of the writing of contemporary travelers seems to render a sort of spectacular effect, it is noteworthy that I may cite Sell’s terminologies regarding “wonder” to highlight the possibilities that this exists in the digital genre as well. His work’s focus on ethos and elocution provide a connection to Aristotelian rhetoric, thus providing further tools for examining travel writing’s implications.
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