Innocents Abroad: American Travel Writing, 1818-1918
In this course we will examine 100 years of travel writing of Americans abroad through selected published works and unpublished primary source materials. Selected readings from Mark Twain’s Innocents Abroad, the most popular travel book of the 19th century, will initiate our discussion of essential aspects of travel writing genres including tourist (the Grand Tour) vs. traveler, diplomatic envoys, exploration and scientific expeditions, missionary journals, maritime voyages and shipwrecks, and letters and journals of American soldiers in foreign combat. These works will serve to illuminate cultural constructs including colonialism, nationalism, racism, eroticism, and gender formation. (Approval required)