Travel Narratives - Self And The Other

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Travel Narratives: The Self and the 'Other' Within this paper, different types of travel narratives are being examined, beginning with the “Four Voyages to the New World” by Christopher Columbus, the “Voyage of the Beagle” by Charles Darwin, as well as several other travel accounts we have read in class. To determine what makes them travel narratives, the differences as well as the shared features between these examples have to be displayed. While doing so, I suggest that the cultural and individual backgrounds of travel writers are revealed and reflected by facilitating and perpetuating domination of their own culture through “othering” the observed foreign culture. At first, it seemed easy to find a definition for 'travel narratives' looking at it as a summarized term for any kind of literal utterances connected to the subject of travels. The difficulty within using this definition is that a detailed analysis of this genre would be hindering because travel narratives can be referred to the most different origins, backgrounds and forms of writings. By choosing accounts from different time periods it will become even more definite. Travel not only influences literature. Travel, literature and culture stand in a very close interrelationship to each other. Travel, so to speak, the discovery of the world, can be compared to school education: the first time leaving the home culture is like the first day in school. One experiences a new environment with new impressions, which scare but also attract. An avid student will try hard to gain more insights to learn from his environment. Within this process, previous knowledge is being revised and expanded until a broad store of knowledge is acquired. This wants to be shared with others, so likewise from a teacher in school the reader of travel narratives will learn more about the world through a secondhand account. As
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