Books Editor: ‘Travel Writing Is Among the Trivial Genres’

Travel Blog  •  Jim Benning  •  01.17.06 | 6:48 AM ET

Last week on World Hum, Thomas Swick blogged about the Key West Literary Seminar, which took place earlier this month and featured Pico Iyer, Tim Cahill, Barry Lopez, Kate Wheeler and other writers talking about travel writing. We thought that would be the last we heard of it. But on Sunday, his colleague at the South Florida Sun-Sentinel, Books Editor Chauncey Mabe, wrote a column about the event. Mabe was, to put it mildly, unimpressed. Iyer and Cahill “offered opposing examples of the way writers can make fools of themselves in talking extemporaneously.” Lopez spoke “in tones not heard since Moses descended the mount.”

Mabe doesn’t seem to care much for travel writing, either. He writes:

Indeed, the writers even hinted at what became obvious to any attentive listener, which is that travel writing is among the trivial genres. Apart from self-discovery and a cool lifestyle for the writer, what do these journeys and the resulting verbiage mean? More than one writer implied that only by crossing the frontier to journalism does travel writing gain heft. “There is a nobility about making the effort to be a witness” to a troubled world, Wheeler said. “All good writing is reporting,” added Eddy Harris.

Mabe drops the subject of travel writing there and wonders (via a question he posed to Iyer) about the morality of travel these days, “in an age of global warming, social unrest and terror.”

Note to self: If you ever finish that travel book you’re working on, don’t send it for review to the Sun-Sentinel.

Tags: Life of a Travel Writer


6 Comments for Books Editor: ‘Travel Writing Is Among the Trivial Genres’

Tim 01.17.06 | 12:05 PM ET

Well, being a book reviewer isn’t exactly the pinnacle of journalism, so I don’t think we should be too offended. You know what they say about that those who can, write. Those who can’t, become critics. As Amazon has shown us, anyone can be the latter.

Besides, which are we more likely to be reading 20 years from now: The Snow Leopard, a Walk in the Woods, The Great Railway Bazaar, or whatever latest literary tome that Mabe raves about in his column?

Jim 01.17.06 | 2:56 PM ET

I suspect the books you mention will be around for some time to come.

I think criticism is a perfectly noble literary pursuit. But I obviously see more value in travel writing than Mabe does.

He wonders whether travel is moral in an age of terror. As I see it, travel is more important than ever in an age of terrorism. I subscribe to Pico Iyer’s theory that you have to get out and meet the neighbors.

Wendy 01.19.06 | 10:10 AM ET

While I think the benefits of travel—to readers and writer alike—are substantial, I do think Mabe raises an interesting point about traveling in an increasingly dangerous world. In places like Afghanistan, Sudan and the Congo, the travel writer becomes war correspondent, tourist becomes witness, and adventurousness can become recklessness. As writers, what do we hope to accomplish traveling to these places if we are not war correspondents? What obligations do we have to our readers? Sources? Questions to continually ask ourselves, I think.

Jim 01.20.06 | 4:52 PM ET

All good questions, Wendy. I’m anti-recklessness.

But I’m not sure how a trip to Cancun is going to fan the flames of global terrorism. So much depends on the traveler and place in question.

David Bear 02.03.06 | 6:53 PM ET

Jim,
Here’s a link to the newspaper article I wrote after attending the seminar.
http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/06022/640899.stm

Jim 02.06.06 | 4:48 PM ET

Thanks for the link, David. Nice piece!

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