ENG1036: Frontiers and Borders: Travel Writing Through the Ages

Abstract

COURSE DESCRIPTION: In this class, we will explore “travel writing” within its changing cultural and historical contexts. Our investigation begins in classical antiquity, with material focused on the westward migration of refugees following the Trojan War. Turning to later periods, it then considers how geographic knowledge and practice were implicated in, or shaped by, events such as crusades, pilgrimages, mass expulsions, and explorations to the far reaches of the known world; key here is the work of Italian merchant adventurer Marco Polo. Next, we consider the so-called age of discovery, and the role maps and other geographic conventions played in early modern representations of the Atlantic, perhaps most notably in Shakespeare and his contemporaries. After considering these and other early modern iterations of the genre (e.g., Gulliver's Travels), the semester concludes with travel narratives that frame the experience of the refugee, the migrant, and the asylum seeker. The course follows a chronological pattern in order to facilitate comparison between roughly contemporaneous readings, and thereby to develop a sense for how large topics or themes take shape over time. In addition to critical essays and presentations, students will have the opportunity to write their own travel narratives.¶ NB: This class has no pre-requisites. It fulfills the CUOT core requirement.¶ COURSE LEARNING OBJECTIVES: --To compare different cultures of geographic knowledge and representation --To think critically about identity and selfhood within specific historical contexts --To recognize both continuity and change in a specific tradition of writing --To draw informed historical conclusions about the present