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SoSe 15: S-Introduction to Cultural Studies:Travel and the 18th Century

Lenka Filipova

Comments

The 18th century saw a boom in the popularity of the hybrid genre of travel writing. Some of these narratives were fabrications, others were accounts of journeys actually undertaken, but all were widely read and contributed significantly to the emergence of 18th century Europe's idea of its own self and culture, as well as its relation to other selves and other cultures. To examine the Enlightened society's construction of its own identity, we will look at the various renderings of the self and 'the Other' in some of the classic travel narratives of the period and try to answer the following questions: How is 'otherness' produced in these texts through their literary mappings of space and place? What are the differences between travel accounts written by male and female travellers? What are the literary tropes and narrative perspectives employed by these writers to negotiate various ideas of one's own self and 'the Other'? What is the significance of the form the travel writing takes, e.g. personal correspondence, a diary, a novel or a report from a journey of (scientific) exploration? We will discuss such broad concepts as nation, empire, colonialism and Enlightenment, and how they came to being. The core focus of the course, however, will be on the concept of European identity in a world that seemed to be quickly expanding with the exploration of both real and imagined spaces of extraordinary diversity, as well as potential danger. Primary texts: Lady Mary Wortley Montagu: The Turkish Embassy Letters (excerpts); Laurence Sterne: A Sentimental Journey, Georg Forster: A Voyage round the World (excerpts), Lady Anne Barnard: Letters Written from the Cape of Good Hope (excerpts), Mungo Park: Travels in the Interior of Africa (excerpts), Mary Wollstonecraft: Letters Written during a Short Residence in Sweden, Norway, and Denmark. Assignments: active participation in class activities, a presentation, a response paper and a final paper. close

14 Class schedule

Regular appointments

Wed, 12:00 - 14:00 14 Class schedule

Wed, 2015-04-15 12:00 - 14:00

Lecturers:
Lenka Filipova