課程概述 Course Description
Travel involves movement, transposition or displacement across time and space. Whether physical or mental, real or imaginary, the kinesis, engendered by a lack or excess that leads to fascination or alienation, highlights self’s encounter with other and witnesses human desire and mobility in curious adventure, geographical exploration, religious practice, military conquest, political action, commercial venture and so on. The investigation of early travel writing, thanks to its sensitizing otherness, offers perspectives on emotion, spectacle, memory, historical sense of place, religious thought, race, 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 with a wide range of different forms that sheds light on the complexity and diversity of travel. In accordance with the texts under consideration, relevant background material and criticism will also be covered.
Students are encouraged to engage in issues of travel writing studies, including conceptions of self and other, the gendering and othering of travel, problems of representation and rhetorical strategies, leisure and privilege, identity, Orientalism, body and the gaze. There will also be visual media to help students think through issues such as the exotic, the fantastic and the monstrous that dominate travel narratives.

評量方式 Grading
Class participation & presentations 30%; mid-term exam 30%; term paper 40%
進度 Syllabus
第1週 Introduction
第2週 Travel in the Bible
第3週 Gerald of Wales
第4週 Gerald of Wales
第5週 The Travels of Marco Polo
第6週 The Travels of Marco Polo
第7週 The Travels of Marco Polo
第8週 The Travels of John Mandeville
第9週 Mid-term exam
第10週 The Travels of John Mandeville
第11週 The Travels of John Mandeville
第12週 The Book of Margery Kempe
第13週 The Book of Margery Kempe
第14週 The Book of Margery Kempe
第15週 Individual conference
第16週 Presentations and discussion
第17週 Presentations and discussion
第18週 Review; term paper due