a blog about travel literature
Why does too much often mean too little?
In the early 1990s, Nadine Hudson from Switzerland is struggling with mental health issues, most notably an eating disorder. She decides to embark on a backpacking trip through Asia…
What’s the difference between telling anecdotes and writing a book?
we’re at the end of World War II, and Brian Dawtrey is a young man from England who is crazily in love with a girl. He writes her a ton of letters…
Is this in any way comparable to the works of Ella Maillart?
remember Serge Roetheli, the guy who fabulously ran around the world and wrote a book about it? Well, Nicole Roetheli is his wife, and she kept him company on her motorcycle during the trip. This is the book she wrote, which is supposed to tell the story from her perspective. Obviously, we are reminded of Ella Maillart and Peter Fleming, both of whom were very good writers…
How can a book about a man running around the whole world be so… bad?
we’re in 1997, and Swiss Athlete Serge Roetheli has just returned from running all the way from South America to Alaska. He was accompanied by his wife on a motorcycle, and now that this “American Challenge” is now behind them, they decide to embark on a world tour…
If this guy writes so well and goes to so many cool places, then just why is this book he wrote so bad?
in the early 2000s, Xiaopeng is a young Chinese white-collar worker who decides to see the world. He travels around China, then ends up as an exchange student in the Netherlands. From there, he sets out to do the Grand Tour of Europe…
Was she just a traveler, or did she become a sort of archetype of all female Chinese travel writers?
in 1974, Chen Mao-ping (陳懋平) a young woman from Taiwan who has adopted the pen-name Sanmao (三毛) and the English name Echo, spends some time in the Western Sahara. She lives there with her Spanish husband, whom she calls José…
Listen to your heart.
In the early 2010s, American actor Andrew McCarthy decides to get married a second time. The problem is that besides being an actor, he’s also a travel writer and a bit restless…
A heart in Africa.
During the mid-1800s, Scottish missionary David Livingstone sets out to explore East Africa…
The real Baudolino.
In the 14th century, English knight Jean de Mandeville claims to have traveled around much of the known (and unknown) world…
A wagging finger.
In 1325, young Moroccan scholar Abu Abdullah Muhammad Ibn Battuta embarks on his hajj, the pilgrimage to Mecca. But he doesn’t stop there…
The humorous scientist.
In the early 1980s, British ethnologist Nigel Barley decides to do some long-term field research in a small village in the north of Cameroon.
A (medieval) average Joe.
In 1394, Johann Schiltberger is still a teenager when he embarks on what historians have later dubbed the “Last Crusade”. He gets captured in the Battle of Nicopolis and serves as a slave to the Ottomans for six years…
A surprisingly likeable dreamer.
In August 1492, forty-something Christopher Columbus from Genua sets sail in Spain, aiming at the Canary Islands and then West from there on…
Clogged up freshness.
In 1537, shortly after the European discoveries in the Americas, young Fernão Mendes Pinto from Portugal gets on a ship to the East…