Abstract

If present-day globalization involves the dissolution of physical and mental boundaries, one may certainly ask what remains of travel, of which the setting and crossing of boundaries is an integral part? It has been argued that (post-)tourism as a spatial practice of the contemporary, globalized paradigm has undermined the cultural authority of travel and, by extension, travel writing. Nevertheless, this paper suggests that travel narratives, appealing to professional and amateur readers alike, challenge such judgements and, by revealing the textual constructedness of travel, actually afford cultural authority to travel practices. To explain that, this paper traces the evolution of the signifying practices of travel and writing and highlights that the frustrated drive for the real underlying these often-merged practices seems to have reached a peak in the contemporary age of global access.