Author Footprints Pt. 1 – Aura & Reliquary
About this episode
The episode explores the motivations behind literary tourism and the significance of physical spaces associated with authors.
Why do we drive thousands of miles just to touch the wooden beams of an author’s birthplace? From Poe’s Baltimore to PEI and Waywords’s own Waterford, MI, we consider what it takes to build a literary destination and how this works to undermine the very real need for we travelers to cross the threshold from the literary into the physical. Is there a way to thwart the hucksters of simulations? Perhaps! Resources: Bachelard, Gaston. The Poetics of Space , 1969. Benjamin, Walter. “The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction,” 1969. MacLeod, Nicola E. Literary Fiction Tourism: Understanding the Practice of Fiction-Inspired Travel , 2024. Montgomery, Lucy Maud. The Alpine Path: The Story of My Career , 1917. Tuan, Yi-Fu. T opophilia: A Study of Environmental Perception, Attitudes, and Values , 1990 Episode 7.05 – Author Footprints Pt. 1 – Aura & Reliquary Glossary: Topophilia: The real and physical human desire to meet authentic space and map our emotions onto the physical earth. Heterotopia: A specially-created “other space” or place of difference that exists wholly outside of ordinary daily life. In the context of literary…
More episodes of Waywords Studio Full Slate
- Packing Lists Pt. 2 – Stalwart Women
- Packing Lists Pt. 1: Dreams and Dirt
- Grand Tours Pt 2: Bat on the Narrow Road
- Grand Tours Pt 1: The Postcard Illusion
Explore listener stats, chart rankings, contacts and more on the Waywords Studio Full Slate podcast page.