Packing Lists Pt. 1: Dreams and Dirt
About this episode
The episode explores the motivations behind literary travel and the inadequacy of packing lists in preparing for the journey.
Did your horse throw ya, buddy? We investigate what we hope to achieve by literary travel . . . and why our packing cannot prepare us for it! While the global tourism industry spends billions to shape our eager expectations, what is it that we’re actually so anxious to see? And whatever it is, how likely are we to find it? In this first of two parts, we ask if what we pack in anticipation is to better guarantee our success or to ward us from disappointment. As an example, we read an excerpt from Isabella Bird’s 1879 travelogue, A Lady’s Life in the Rocky Mountains. And we hear from philosopher/critics Walter Benjamin and Martin Heidegger along the way. Will we find an answer? Maybe not, but we will be better prepared to understand the questions. Episode 7.03 – Packing Lists Pt. 1: Dreams and Dirt Readings & Resources: Bird, Isabella L. A Lady’s Life in the Rocky Mountains . 1879. Montgomery, L. M. The Alpine Path: The Story of My Career . 1917. Benjamin, Walter. The Arcades Project . 1999. MacLeod, Nicola E. Literary Fiction Tourism: Understanding the Practice of Fiction-Inspired Travel , 2024. Glossary: The Broken Tool (Zuhandenheit): Martin…
More episodes of Waywords Studio Full Slate
- Author Footprints Pt. 1 – Aura & Reliquary
- Packing Lists Pt. 2 – Stalwart Women
- Grand Tours Pt 2: Bat on the Narrow Road
- Grand Tours Pt 1: The Postcard Illusion
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