Travel writing Flashcards
Summary
This kind of writing is less a text-type and more a category of writing.
Travel writing can be as recognisable as a Lonely Planet or Rough Guide recommendation for a trip to a foreign country or city.
Or it might take the form of an article, describing the experiences of the writer in a strange place, accompanied by photography, maps, or diagrams.
It’s possible for Travel Writing to be ‘literary’ in tone and mood, full of imagery, vivid descriptions, and figurative language, recreating the characters and situations the writer met along the way like a novelist.
Common themes in travel writing include the search for the self or one’s roots; curiosity about other people; the desire to be informed; the search for a religious, spiritual or abstract experience.
KEY FEATURES OF TRAVEL WRITING
Viewpoint
Perspective
Structure
Information
Description
Visuals
First person
Culture
Entertaining and informative
Viewpoint
travel writing often documents thepersonal experiencesof someone exploring a new place or country so is oftenfirst person.
Perspective
anoutsider’sperspectiveis common when reading travel writing, particularly if the destination is new, exotic or remote. Alternatively, the piece might be written from aninsider’s perspectiveand is inviting you to visit or share an experience in a different part of the world.
Structure
look out forchronologicaltimelines,past – presentstructures or alinearjourney of discovery.
Guidebooks will haveclear headingsandsubheadingsand will probably includebox-outsand the like.
Information
travel writing often seeks to be informative and can present you withfacts and figures, names and dates, historical or architectural or geographicalinformation and more.
Description
if the writer is trying to make the destination tantalising, or to help transport the reader, you might find examples ofvisual imagery, vivid description, evenfigurative comparisons, helping you visualise a far-off place.
Visuals
photographs, maps, orfloor plansof famous locations are all visual features that you might encounter in travel writing, particularly guidebooks.
