課程概述 Course Description
Designed for advanced undergraduate students, this course is concerned with various problems brought about by cultural encounters and their ethical implications or theoretical-philosophical imports, rather than with the sightseeing experience of tourist travel.
The study of early travel is critical to understanding the evolving conceptions of the self, the other and the world. Travel involves movement, transposition or displacement across time and space. Whether physical or mental, real or imaginary, voluntary or forced, the kinesis of travel, engendered by a lack or excess that leads to fascination or alienation, highlights the self’s encounter with the other and witnesses human desire and mobility in various forms such as curious adventure, religious mission, military conquest, political engagement, commercial venture, and geographical exploration.
This investigation of early travel writing revisits the West’s imagination of and encounter with the East that, thanks to the sensitizing otherness at work, offer perspectives on emotion, spectacle, historical sense of place, religious thought, stereotypes of race and gender, material culture, among many other issues. Though time only allows for limited text selection, we will still journey through a representative body of writing in a wide range of forms that sheds light on the complexity and diversity of travel, East and West. In conjunction with the texts under consideration, relevant background material and criticism will also be covered.
Students are encouraged to explore issues of travel writing studies, including conceptions of self and identity, the historical invention/imagination and cultural politics of the other, the gendering and othering of travel, problems of representation and rhetorical strategies, Orientalism, postcoloniality and globality. There will also be visual media to help students think through issues such as the exotic, the fantastic and the monstrous that permeate travel narratives.

進度 Syllabus
第1週 Introduction
第2週 Travel in the Bible
第3週 Greco-Roman/medieval world view
第4週 Gerald of Wales
第5週 Gerald of Wales
第6週 John of Plano Carpini
第7週 The Travels of Marco Polo
第8週 The Travels of John Mandeville
第9週 The Travels of John Mandeville
第10週 Mid-term exam
第11週 The Man of Law's Tale
第12週 George Psalmanazar
第13週 Taiwan and East Asia
第14週 Travel and theory
第15週 Individual conference
第16週 Presentations and discussion
第17週 Presentations and discussion
第18週 Review; term paper due