Course Timetable

Travel Writing Tips

2021

Semester Dates (Massey University)

• Beginning of Semester 1 (Wk 1): Monday 22nd February 2021
• Mid-semester Break: Friday 2nd April – Friday 16th April 2021
• End of Teaching (Wk 12): Friday 28th May 2021

•

Lecture 1:

Who? Where? How? What? Why?

Anthology texts to read:

• Bruce Chatwin. from In Patagonia (1977)
• Peter Wells. 'Grin like a Dog' (1998)

Workshop: Where have you been?

•

Lecture 2:

Who?
Ethnographer

Anthology texts to read:

• Charles Darwin. from Charles Darwin’s Beagle Diary (1831-36)
• Mary Louise Pratt. ‘Fieldwork in Common Places’ (1986)

Workshop: Reasons for travel

•

Lecture 3:

Who?
Unreliable Subject

Anthology texts to read:

• Kathy Acker. from Kathy Goes to Haiti (1978)
• Chris Else. ‘Fact or Fiction: the Curious Case of Biografi’ (1995)
• Lloyd Jones. from Biografi: An Albanian Quest (1993)

Workshop: In-class test

Due in end of week 3:
Asst 1: Close reading (15%)

•

Lecture 4:

Where?
Close to Home

Anthology texts to read:

• Steve Braunias. 'Father’s Day' (2006)
• Bill Bryson. from The Lost Continent: Travels in Small Town America (1989)

Workshop: Sticking to your own backyard

•

Lecture 5:

Where?
Further Afield

Anthology texts to read:

• James Hamilton-Paterson. 'The End of Travel' (2006)
• Robin Hyde. from Dragon Rampant (1939)

Workshop: Choosing the ideal destination

•

Lecture 6:

How?
Traditional Genres

Anthology texts to read:

• Matsuo Bashō. Narrow Road to the Deep North (1694)
• Theodora Kroeber. from Ishi in Two Worlds (1961)
• Douglas Mawson. from Antarctic Diaries (1911-14)

Workshop: In the footsteps of ...

•

[MID-SEMESTER BREAK]

•

Lecture 7:

How?
Hybrid Genres

Anthology texts to read:

• W. H. Auden. from Letters from Iceland (1937)
• Colin Hogg. from Angel Gear: On the Road with Sam Hunt (1989)

Workshop: Who might you be?

Due in end of week 7:
Asst 2: Local Travel Piece (30%)

•

Lecture 8:

What?
People

Anthology texts to read:

• Paul Theroux. from The Happy Isles of Oceania: Paddling the Pacific (1992)
• Catharina van Bohemen. 'Safari '(1998)

Workshop: Anatomy of a neighbour

•

Lecture 9:

What?
Places & Events

Anthology texts to read:

• Joe Sacco. from Safe Area Goražde (2000)
• Eric Schlosser. from Fast Food Nation (2001)

Workshop: Anatomy of an event

•

Lecture 10:

Why?
The Marketplace

Anthology texts to read:

• Martin Edmond. from Luca Antara: Passages in Search of Australia (2006)
• from Lonely Planet New Zealand (2006)

Workshop: Selling your wares

•

Lecture 11:

Why?
Anti-Travel

Anthology texts to read:

• Scott Hamilton. 'From Kalmykia to Huntly' (2006)
• Hunter S. Thompson. from Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas (1971)

Workshop: Sharing plans for final projects

•

Lecture 12:

When?

Anthology texts to read:

• Italo Calvino. from Invisible Cities (1972)
• Joseph Conrad. from Heart of Darkness (1899)
• Joseph Conrad. 'Congo Diary' (1890)
• Marco Polo. from The Travels (c.1300)

Workshop: Sharing final projects

•

Due in end of week 13:
Asst 3: Final project (55%)

•

Shoshannah White & Tonee Harbert:
The Romance of Travel