Travel Writing and Tall Tales: An Historical Perspective

Travel Blog  •  Michael Yessis  •  04.30.08 | 4:51 PM ET

imageNilanjana S Roy reminds us that the story of Thomas Kohnstamm and the controversy he’s stirred up are nothing new. She writes, “The issues that Kohnstamm raises—poor pay, insufficient time, too much territory to cover—have plagued the travel writing industry ever since the Egyptians, Arabs and Chinese sent off emissaries to see what the rest of the world was like.”

She goes on to say, “Throughout history ... travel writing has been perhaps the most strongly fictional branch of non-fiction writing,” pointing to Herodotus and Sir John Mandeville, and Umberto Eco’s map dilemma.

Roy writes: 

In one of his beguiling essays, Eco asked how one might create an accurate map of the world. The only way would be to create a map that was of the same scale as the world, where every change was chronicled by an army of mapmakers as it happened. Of course, every change the mapmakers made would have to be recorded by another set of mapmakers, and so on. Even the most generous guidebook creator cannot hope to create a perfect, up-to-date guidebook; by the time the book comes out, the world it describes has changed.

Looks like you’re in good company, Thomas Kohnstamm.

Related on World Hum:
* Thomas Kohnstamm’s Lonely Planet: The Firestorm Around ‘Do Travel Writers Go to Hell?’
* ‘Strange Travel Suggestions’ and the Art of Telling a Good Tale

Pictured: Sir John Mandeville



4 Comments for Travel Writing and Tall Tales: An Historical Perspective

Vinod Ekbote 05.01.08 | 2:48 AM ET

Michael, Nilanjana is a ‘she’, not a ‘he’. That’s the only thing that doesn’t sound right in this piece.

Vinod

Michael Yessis 05.01.08 | 8:05 AM ET

Thanks, Vinod. Just corrected.

Ling 05.01.08 | 8:10 AM ET

Yeah, well…They should give it a name. Creative travel writing, or something like that. BTW, did Columbus perhaps depend on a lonely planet guide when he landed up in the Americas instead of finding his way to India?

Nate 11.12.08 | 4:03 AM ET

I enjoy reading your guys posts and constantly learning.

And looking at ling’s question, what would be the answer?

Nate

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