Crossing Boundaries
Postmodern Travel Literature
Published on 13. February 2001
Book
Hardback
240 pages
978-0-312-23388-4 (ISBN)
Description
Crossing Boundaries examines experimental novels about travel by William Gaddis and Thomas Pynchon as precursors of innovative contemporary travel narratives, represented by the work of authors such as Bruce Chatwin, William Least Heat-Moon, and William T. Vollmann, among others. While these texts may be read as cultural criticism-functioning as a collective portrait of the world at a time when global space seems exhausted, dominated by multinational corporations and threatened with ecological devastation-they also serve as new Waldens .
Reviews / Votes
"...these works demonstrate the relevance and range of the culture of travel." - American LiteratureMore details
Person
ALISON RUSSELL is Assistant Professor of English at Xavier University in Cincinnati, Ohio.
Content
Surveying the Territory Baedeker's Babel: William Gaddis's The Recognitions Travels in Baedeker Land: Thomas Pynchon's V The Nomadic Text: Bruce Chatwin's The Songlines A Focused Wandering: Kenneth Lincoln and Al Logan Slagle's The Good Red Road Deep Travel: William Least Hear-Moon's PrairyErth A New Cartography: William T. Vollmann's The Atlas Wither the Women?