Journey by the Book

<p><strong>Your compass is pointing at the magnetic field of travel.</strong></p><p><br></p><p><em>Journey by the Book </em>is a tool enabling the pathfinder-whether tenderfoot or veteran scout-to explore uncharted seas and territories in the kingdom of travel.</p><p><br></p><p>Author Van Tassel discusses a vast sampling of travel narratives. If the story uses a voyage pilgrimage or journey as pivotal for its meaning and structure it will figure prominently in the array of tales he tallies.</p><p><br></p><p>The book defines categories of travel literature and discusses the gamut of impulses prompting travel travel writing and travel reading.</p><p><br></p><p>The tales of travel summoned explored and scrutinized for the armchair traveler extend from imaginary journeys to very real ones including:</p><ul><li><em>The Odyssey</em></li><li><em>Gulliver's Travels</em></li><li><em>Rime of the Ancient Mariner</em></li><li>Road trips and tramps by Twain Steinbeck Kerouac Pirsig Bill Bryson and others</li><li>Exotic adventures recounted by Polo and Newby</li><li>Epic voyages logged by discoverers Captain Cook Conrad Dana and Heyerdahl</li><li>Marathon journeys by Theroux Naipaul Davidson Simon and Hoffman</li><li>And assorted other tales varying by mode and direction of travel</li></ul><p><br></p><p>Multifaceted travel accounts ranging from novels and guidebooks to travelogues and travel-oriented magazines and sketches are all testaments to what the travel story can do: stoke and satisfy a reader's wanderlust. It's your turn.</p>