Hari Kunzru is yet another vibrant travel
writer with a love for all things adventurous! The son of a man from the
Kashmir province in India and a British woman, Hari Kunzru was honoured by 'The Observer,' in 1999 , with their Young
Travel Writer of the Year Award
Kunzru’s familial background inspired him
to write The Impressionist about an Indian-English young man, Pran Nath.
Kunzru told Richard Alleyne of the London Daily Telegraph, ‘‘At Oxford, I
noticed how much people play out a comedy of Englishness, which made me very interested
in identity role-playing in post-colonial Britain.’’ Kunzru’s The
Impressionist revolves around the efforts of a young man of mixed
heritage to make a place for himself in the world. Travel as a theme becomes
apparent as the protagonist sheds his identity and his belongings in each
country.
Part of what motivates The
Impressionist is the openmindedness Kunzru gained from his mixed
heritage. In one interview with the London Independent Sunday, he stated,
‘‘I’ve always been very scared of people who are certain. . . .Nothing
terrifies me more than a religious fundamentalist who really knows what right
is and is prepared to do violence to what they consider is wrong. . . . I
wanted to write in praise of the unformed and fluid.’’
The Road (2006),
is a novel by Cormac McCarthy. This book, one of the most violent novels ever
to win a Pulitzer Prize, is the postapocalyptic survival story of a father and his
son traveling across a wasteland populated by desperate marauders. McCarthy
foregrounds only the very basics of physical human survival and the intimate
evocation of a destroyed landscape drawn with such precision and beauty. He
makes us ache with nostalgia for restored normality. McCarthy uses these
vividly described, amoral villains as points of contrast with human instincts
for decency and civilization.
Alphonse de Lamartine’s The
Fall of an Angel (1838) reflect his travels in the Middle East and his
fascination with reincarnation and pantheism.
The Stand
(1978), is a famous a novel by Stephen King. In this epic tale of good versus
evil, survivors of a plague travel across an America that has been decimated by
disease and supernatural happenings. The story outlines the total breakdown of
society after the accidental release of a strain of influenza that had been
modified for biological warfare causes an apocalyptic pandemic which kills off
the majority of the world's human population.
Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban
(1999), is a novel by J. K. Rowling. In this third book of the famous series, the
title character and his magic friends travel back in time to save themselves
from imminent harm.
Naked Lunch
(1959), is a novel by William S. Burroughs. This story is about the world
travels of a junkie, told in a weirdly disjointed narrative; The book is
structured as a series of loosely connected vignettes. Burroughs claimed it
could be read in any order.
Interestingly, Burroughs states in his
introduction that Jack Kerouac suggested the title. "The title means
exactly what the words say: naked lunch, a frozen moment when everyone sees
what is on the end of every fork.”
The book begins with the adventures of
William Lee (also known as "Lee the Agent"), who is Burroughs' alter
ego in the novel. His journey starts in the U.S. where he is fleeing the police
in search of his next fix. There are short chapters describing the different
characters he travels with and meets along the way.
An aura of romanticism pervades Li Po’s life and poetry. With his
fondness for adventure and traveling, his search for alchemy and the elixir of
life, and his love of nature, he exemplifies these typical Taoist trends in his
poetry. In addition, his work often reflects the kind of melancholy that a man
feels when he finds his talents unused and his life wasted.
Candide
(1759), is a novel by Voltaire. Considered by many to be part of the Western
canon of great literature, this work explores the human condition and contains themes
of travel and quest. Voltaire's philosophical tale is also a miniaturised
picaresque novel. Candide is a naive lad living in Westphalia. Pangloss, a
disciple of Liebniz, teaches him that all things are part of God's beautiful
design.
Invisible Man
(1952) is a novel by Ralph Ellison. This story is about the travels of a
narrator, a nameless African American. In the novel, Ellison explores the
influences of various cultural and political forces, particularly with regard
to race, on identity formation.
Fungi from Yuggoth
(1930–1947), is a sonnet sequence by H. P. Lovecraft. This work contains
unusual themes for a sonnet sequence: it is a tale of science fiction and
horror. In it, the narrator discovers a book that allows him to travel to
distant planets, where he meets unusual races of creatures.
Mules and Men (1935),
is a travelogue by Zora Neale Hurston. This unique anthropological travelogue
documents the hoodoo practices of southern blacks, with many folktales thrown
in. The work has a significant legacy in African American literature and
anthropology. Mentor and writer of the preface, the father of American anthropology
Franz Boas wrote that “the great merit of Miss Hurston's work that she entered
into the homely life of the southern Negro” with a “charm of a loveable
personality and of a revealing style.”
Aurora Leigh
(1856), is an epic poem by Elizabeth Barrett Browning. She further styled the
poem as “a novel in verse,” and referred to it as the most mature of her works.
A nine-volume epic poem written in blank verse, this work chronicles the life
and travels of its strong and capable heroine.
Sources: Gale/Britannica/Guardian/Independent/Routledge/Good
Reads
Image: goodreads
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