Travel writing: 10 books to read
The Sherborne Travel Writing Festival, curated by the renowned British-Canadian travel writer Rory MacLean, took place from 14 to 16 April 2023. I was in Greece then, celebrating Easter, so I did not attend the festival. I have to admit here that I am yet to read any books by MacLean. Or, as a matter of fact, the writings of the ancient Greek geographer Pausanias, widely considered the first travel writer. But, what exactly constitutes travel writing?
According to the Auckland-based travel writer Petrina Darrah, travel writing is defined as “writing that describes places the author has visited and the experiences they had while travelling”. Most agree that travel writing has to be written in the first person. Strictly speaking, neither travel guides nor (most) travel blogs constitute travel writing.
7 books that arguably constitute travel writing:
Arabian Sands, by Wilfred Thesiger
Published in 1959, ‘Arabian Sands’ is considered a classic of travel literature. Born in Addis Ababa in 1910, Thesiger, the son of a British diplomat, was later educated at Eton and Oxford. In the second half of the 1940s, he travelled across the Empty Quarter of the Arabian Peninsula, and it is about these travels that he writes in the ‘Arabian Sands’. I bought a copy of his book at Abu Dhabi’s Louvre. I have to admit that I found it a rather difficult read, especially compared to the other books on this list.
“In the desert I had found a freedom unattainable in civilization; a life unhampered by possessions, since everything that was not a necessity was an encumbrance.”
― Arabian Sands
Journey Without Maps, by Graham Greene
Shortlisted for the Nobel Prize in Literature several times, Greene is regarded as one of the greatest English writers of the 20th century. He has written over 25 books (mostly novels), as well as plays and screenplays. Among his books, there’s ‘Journey Without Maps’. Published in 1936, it is a travel account of his 350-mile, 4-week walk through the interior of Liberia the year before.
“I had been afraid of the primitive, had wanted it broken gently, but here it came on us in a breath, as we stumbled up through the dung and the cramped and stinking huts to our lampless sleeping place among the rats. It was the worst one need fear, and it was bearable because it was inescapable.”
― Graham Greene, Journey Without Maps
The Happy Isles of Oceania: Paddling the Pacific, by Paul Theroux
American author Paul Theroux, father of documentarian Louis Theroux, has also written dozens of books, including novels and travel books. ‘The Happy Isles of Oceania’ was published in 1992, shortly after the break-up of his first marriage (to Anne Castle, Louis’s mother). This travel book is an account of his journey across the Pacific Ocean. He visits a total of 11 countries
Starting from New Zealand, he takes on a journey to Australia before crossing over to the Trobriand Islands (off the east coast of New Guinea). As well as Papua New Guinea, he also visits the Solomon Islands, Vanuatu and Fiji (four of the five countries that constitute Melanesia, the fifth being the recently-independent Timor-Leste). He then visits the Polynesian islands of Tonga, Samoa (formerly known as Western Samoa), American Samoa, Tahiti and the Marquesas Islands (an overseas collectivity of France), the Cook Islands (a self-governing state in free association with New Zealand) and the Easter Island (a special territory of Chile), before finally arriving to Hawaii.
I was rather disappointed that his journey did not include Micronesia: the Caroline Islands (Federated States of Micronesia and Palau), the Gilbert Islands (Kiribati), the Mariana Islands (the unincorporated US territories Northern Mariana Islands and Guam), the Marshall Islands or Nauru.
The Pillars of Hercules: A Grand Tour of the Mediterranean, by Paul Theroux
‘The Pillars of Hercules’ was published three years later. Here Theroux takes us on a journey around the shoreline of the Mediterranean Sea from one of Hercules’ Pillars (Gibraltar) to the other (Ceuta). After Gibraltar, he visits Spain and the Balearic Islands, the French Riviera and Corsica, Sardinia, Sicily and Southern Italy (Calabria, Basilicata and Puglia). From Bari, he makes his way up the Adriatic coast, passing through the regions of Molise, Abruzzo, Marche and Emiglia-Romagna. He then visits the northern regions of Veneto and Friuli-Venezia Giulia before leaving Italy for the (then) newly-founded countries of Slovenia and Croatia. Afterwards, he visits Albania and then Corfu, where he pauses his journey to fly home.
He then retuns to Nice to join a cruise. On his way to Istanbul, he visits the Italian region of Campania and Malta, before arriving back in Greece, sailing through the Corinthian Gulf, past the Peloponnese, and laying anchor in Crete. From there, he allegedly sailed through the Sporades towards Kos and the coast of Turkey, an itinerary that doesn’t make much sense. From Bodrum, he continues to Lesbos (Lesvos) and then to Istanbul. After Turkey, he visits Egypt, Israel, Syria and Cyprus, then returns (on a cruise ship) to Greece. By that point, his travel itinerary has become increasingly disjointed, and I feel increasingly annoyed by his negative attitude towards my home country. I want to shout out that cruising is not the way to explore such a diverse country, but it will probably fall on deaf ears.
Via Italy, he then goes to Tunisia and then finishes his journey in Morocco, sparing Algeria (as well as Libya and Lebanon, if I recall correctly). An infuriating book and the last one I’ve read from Theroux.
Evia: Travels on an Undiscovered Greek Island (also known as Evia: An Island Apart), by Sara Wheeler
Back to Greece now, in the much more pleasant company of a solo, female traveller, the British author Sara Wheeler. Published 31 years ago, ‘Evia’ was her debut travel book. Wheeler describes her five-month journey from the bottom to the top of the sea-horse-shaped and second-largest Greek island (sixth-largest in the Mediterranean). Unlike ‘the Pillars of Hercules’, I really enjoyed reading Wheeler’s book about an island that I have crossed many times (but never stayed). Unfortunately, the author (and speaker at the Sherborne Travel Writing Festival) did not take the ferry to Skyros (an hour and a half from the port of Kymi).
A Thing of Beauty: Travels in Mythical and Modern Greece, by Peter Fiennes
We’re still in Greece, but this time exploring Central Greece, the Peloponnese and Epirus in the company of another British author, Peter Fiennes, and his family. Not only he visits places of historical and archaeological significance (from the relatively unknown amphitheatre at Sicyon near Corinth to the better-known Epidavros, Olympia and Delphi), but he also re-visits ancient Greek myths. At the same time, he examines the dreams he has during his journey, adding a psychoanalytical dimension to the book.
The Best British Travel Writing of the 21st Century: A Celebration of Outstanding Travel Storytelling from Around the World, edited by Jessica Vincent et al
This compilation of 30 stories takes us on a journey around the world: from a rail journey in Iraq (‘The Night Train’ by Leon McCarron) to a boat journey in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (‘Pirogue: Descent of the River Lulua, DRC’ by Charlie Walker) and from the mountains of Bhutan (‘Royal Encounter by Solange Hando) to the icy landscape of Antarctica (‘Earth’s Last Great Wilderness’ by Stanley Stewart). At the same time, it introduces us to the new generation of British travel writers.
3 books about travel writing:
The Travel Writing Tribe: Journeys in Search of a Genre, by Tim Hannigan
In this book, academic Tim Hannigan visits contemporary travel writers to discuss issues related to travel writing. Among those are Rory MacLean, Colin Thubron, William Dalrymple, Nick Danziger (whom he visits in Monaco), Dervla Murphy (whom he visits in the little town of Lismore in Ireland) and Sara Wheeler (in her north London home). He also visits places associated with travel writers no longer alive, such as Eton College (where Wilfred Thesiger had been a student), the Peloponnese (where both Patrick Leigh Fermor and Bruce Chatwin had lived) and the National Library of Scotland in Edinburgh (to read Leigh Fermor’s manuscripts).
The Travel Writer’s Way: Turn Your Travels Into Stories, by Jonathan Lorie
This is a great book for those seeing to develop their travel writing skills. It is divided into two sections. The first one is structured around a 12-step programme of creative assignments to help the reader become a writer. The second section explains how to get published. Throughout the book, there are interviews with many of the travel writers mentioned above (including many of those that Tim Hannigan met): William Dalrymple, Colin Thubron, Paul Theroux, Dervla Murphy, Rory MacLean and Sara Wheeler. There are also multiple travel book recommendations.
How to Be a Travel Writer, by Don George with Janine Eberle
On the other hand, ‘How to Be a Travel Writer’ focuses comparatively less on the writing skills, and more on the practicalities of getting published, making money as a travel writer and the realities of travel writing. It also features excerpts from articles and interviews with travel writers and bloggers (including Rory MacLean once again).
To further enhance your travel writing skills, I would recommend Peter Carty’s Travel Writing Workshop.
“Even in Africa, I had never seen such a profusion of stars as I saw on these clear nights on Pacific isles – not only big beaming planets and small single pinpricks… but also glittering clouds of them – the whole dome of the sky crowded with thick shapes formed from stars, overlaid with more shapes, a brilliant density, like a storm of light over a black depthless sea, made brighter still by twisting auroras composed of tiny star grains – points of light so fine and numerous they seemed like luminous vapor, the entire sky hung with veils of light like dazzling smoke… they made night in Oceania as vast and dramatic as day.”
― Paul Theroux, The Happy Isles of Oceania
Alex
(the Traveling Psychiatrist)