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This seminar explores an era when travel for leisure was an extraordinary concept – a strenuous, dangerous, downright ridiculous enterprise. Examining the early modern history of travel (c. 1550-1750), we are going to delve deep into its various manifestations and respective literary modes: from the home tour to the grand tour and from exploration travelogues to the wager journey. We will encounter familiar figures like Samuel Johnson, but also rediscover strange and eccentric characters whose fame has long since faded. Among them are Celia Fiennes, the first woman to visit all English counties, Will Kemp, who danced from London to Norwich, and the inimitable Thomas Coryate, who walked through Western Europe – and then to India, for good measure.
A reader will be made available at the beginning of the semester. |
