Extreme Pursuits

Travel/Writing in an Age of Globalization

Nonfiction, Travel, Adventure & Literary Travel, Fiction & Literature, Literary Theory & Criticism
Cover of the book Extreme Pursuits by Graham Huggan, University of Michigan Press
View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart
Author: Graham Huggan ISBN: 9780472026661
Publisher: University of Michigan Press Publication: May 18, 2010
Imprint: University of Michigan Press Language: English
Author: Graham Huggan
ISBN: 9780472026661
Publisher: University of Michigan Press
Publication: May 18, 2010
Imprint: University of Michigan Press
Language: English

Recent figures suggest that there will be 1.6 billion arrivals at world airports by the year 2020. Extreme Pursuits looks at the new conditions of global travel and the unease, even paranoia, that underlies them---at the opportunities they offer for alternative identities and their oscillation between remembered and anticipated states. Graham Huggan offers a provocative account of what is happening to travel at a time characterized by extremes of social and political instability in which adrenaline-filled travelers appear correspondingly determined to take risks. It includes discussions of the links between tourism and terrorism, of contemporary modes of disaster tourism, and of the writing that derives from these; but it also confirms the existence of more responsible forms of travel/writing that demonstrate awareness of a chronically endangered world.

Extreme Pursuits is the first study of its kind to link travel writing explicitly with structural changes in the global tourist industry. The book makes clear that travel writing can no longer take refuge in the classic distinctions (traveler versus tourist, foreigner versus native) on which it previously depended. Such distinctions---which were dubious in the first place---no longer make sense in an increasingly globalized world. Huggan argues accordingly that the category "travel writing" must include experimental ethnography and prose fiction; that it should concern itself with other kinds of travel practices, such as those related to Holocaust deportation and migrant labor; and that it should encompass representations of travelers and "traveling cultures" that appear in popular media, especially TV and film.

Graham Huggan is Professor of Commonwealth and Postcolonial Literatures at the University of Leeds. He is the coauthor, with Patrick Holland, of Tourists with Typewriters: Critical Reflections on Contemporary Travel Writing (University of Michigan Press) and coauthor, with Helen Tiffin, of Postcolonial Ecocriticism (Routledge).

Illustration: "Shadow Wall," 2006 © Shaun Tan.

View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart

Recent figures suggest that there will be 1.6 billion arrivals at world airports by the year 2020. Extreme Pursuits looks at the new conditions of global travel and the unease, even paranoia, that underlies them---at the opportunities they offer for alternative identities and their oscillation between remembered and anticipated states. Graham Huggan offers a provocative account of what is happening to travel at a time characterized by extremes of social and political instability in which adrenaline-filled travelers appear correspondingly determined to take risks. It includes discussions of the links between tourism and terrorism, of contemporary modes of disaster tourism, and of the writing that derives from these; but it also confirms the existence of more responsible forms of travel/writing that demonstrate awareness of a chronically endangered world.

Extreme Pursuits is the first study of its kind to link travel writing explicitly with structural changes in the global tourist industry. The book makes clear that travel writing can no longer take refuge in the classic distinctions (traveler versus tourist, foreigner versus native) on which it previously depended. Such distinctions---which were dubious in the first place---no longer make sense in an increasingly globalized world. Huggan argues accordingly that the category "travel writing" must include experimental ethnography and prose fiction; that it should concern itself with other kinds of travel practices, such as those related to Holocaust deportation and migrant labor; and that it should encompass representations of travelers and "traveling cultures" that appear in popular media, especially TV and film.

Graham Huggan is Professor of Commonwealth and Postcolonial Literatures at the University of Leeds. He is the coauthor, with Patrick Holland, of Tourists with Typewriters: Critical Reflections on Contemporary Travel Writing (University of Michigan Press) and coauthor, with Helen Tiffin, of Postcolonial Ecocriticism (Routledge).

Illustration: "Shadow Wall," 2006 © Shaun Tan.

More books from University of Michigan Press

Cover of the book Historical Metaphors and Mythical Realities by Graham Huggan
Cover of the book The Latin American Voter by Graham Huggan
Cover of the book American Socialist Triptych by Graham Huggan
Cover of the book The Boy Governor by Graham Huggan
Cover of the book The Great Justices, 1941-54 by Graham Huggan
Cover of the book Financing Medicaid by Graham Huggan
Cover of the book The Fanfiction Reader by Graham Huggan
Cover of the book Leadership in Committee by Graham Huggan
Cover of the book Incidents in an Educational Life by Graham Huggan
Cover of the book In Permanent Crisis by Graham Huggan
Cover of the book The Windward Shore by Graham Huggan
Cover of the book Anne Carson by Graham Huggan
Cover of the book The Changing Face of Representation by Graham Huggan
Cover of the book Performing Unification by Graham Huggan
Cover of the book Mongrel Nation by Graham Huggan
We use our own "cookies" and third party cookies to improve services and to see statistical information. By using this website, you agree to our Privacy Policy