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Anonymous
Politically Incorrect Travelogues
2016-01-27 19:20:23 Post No. 7631065
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Politically Incorrect Travelogues
Anonymous
2016-01-27 19:20:23
Post No. 7631065
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I just finished Aldous Huxley's short travelogue In a Tunisian Oasis.
>It is a curious and characteristic fact that, whenever in Tunisia one sees a particularly oriental piece of architecture, it is sure to have been built by the French, since 1881. The cathedral of Carthage, the law courts and schools of Tunis — these are more Moorish than the Alhambra, Moorish as only oriental tearooms in Paris or London can be Moorish. In thirty years the French have produced buildings more typically and intensely Arabian than the Arabs themselves contrived to do in the course of thirteen centuries."
I find this haughty 19th/early 20th century imperial attitude to make for quite an interesting read, because while often exaggerated and fanciful, these novelists' observations were politically correct truisms based on their own worldly experience which many people today do not have. It's very informative into the worldview of this era, especially in that of the Anglo (or French) world.
Another example of this would be Evelyn Waugh's Black Mischief, which is fictional but is based on his travels to Ethiopia. He described what he observed as dysfunctional black nature (not owing to Western meddling in affairs).
Lovecraft also had some interesting travelogues. Does /lit/ have any other suggestions on famous novelists' travelogues? Extra points if non-Anglo.
