Discourse of Travel Writing

Abstract

Travel writing is in existence from time immemorial and has always been useful in the study of literature, history, geography, culture, politics, anthropology and science and so on. But it was never studied with the seriousness that it deserved. It had been considered more like a popular literature and placed in the status of romance, detective fiction, children classics, adventure stories and fantasy and so on. Only in the twentieth century when it was analysed as a separate genre then the focus shifted to travel as its important metaphor. The real nature of the discourse of travel writing became an object of study.   As such twentieth century also focused on discourse analysis and the techniques associated with it. The present article aims to analyse the discourse of travel writing in the light of recent approaches to the study of discourse. The article also aims to explore the different dimensions of the discourse in travel writing and how it places itself in the world of discourses.