Module Information

This module will approach the various forms of writing a travel experience in 16th-21st century France. Travel literature was among the most important forms of reading in the early modern and modern period. During this period, most people were not in a position to travel themselves, thus their reading of travelogues was their main source of information about the world.

In the second half of the 20th century, some (like Marc Augé) suggested that with the disappearance of the ‘other’ and the rise of the ‘same’, travel and travel literature would disappear. Others criticized Augé's ‘apocalyptic fallacy’ and pointed to the numerous forms of expression, occasionally stepping beyond the purely textual, through which travel writing was able to renew itself.

The module will offer first of all a theoretical knowledge of the particularities of travel as a text in various periods; its changing relationship to notions such as “truth” and “authorship”; changing ideas about its value as a form of “polite entertainment” and/or a crucial source of information. From the 19th century, we see new directions – on the one hand, an increased level of individualism expressed through travels; on the other, travels into other lands becoming expressing ‘humanitarian/humanist’ values. Parallel to this, students will study the changing relationship between France and the various destinations studied through the mobility, via the mirror of travel and this publicized personal experience

The module will assess a variety of questions related to the field of travel literature. Questions discussed may include:

- discourses related to specific destinations (i.e. French narratives of travel to various parts of the British Isles; Orientalism and French discourses of North Africa; France and the Americas etc.)
- gender and travel
- theories of travel and of travel writing
- travel and its impact on local communities ('travellees')
- travel and modernity
- the 'Other' and the 'Same' in travel writing