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RE-EXPLORINGTRAVEL LITERATURE: A DISCOURSECENTRED APPROACH TO THE TEXT TYPE Matthew Wispinski B.A. University of Alberta 1993 A THESIS SUBMITTED IN PARTML FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUEREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF MASTER OF ARTS in the Department of English Copyright Matthew Wispinski 1997 SIMON FRASER UNIVERSITY August 1997 AU rights reserved. This work may not be reproduced in whole or in part, by photocopy or other means, without the permission of the author. Acquisitions and Bibliographie SeMces 395 Wellington Street Ottawa ON K1A ON4 Canada Acquisitions et services bibliographiques 395, nie Wellington Ottawa ON K1A O N 4 Canada The author has granted a nonexclusive licence allowing the National Libmy of Canada to reproduce, loan, distriibute or seU copies of this thesis in microform, paper or electronic formats. L'auteur a accordé une licence non exclusive permettant a la Bibliothèque nationale du Canada de reproduire, prêter, distriiuer ou vendre des copies de cette thèse sous la forme de microfiche/nlm, de reproduction sur papier ou sur format électronique. The author retains ownership of the copyright in this thesis. Neither the thesis nor substantial extracts fkom it may be printed or otherwise reproduced without the author's permission. L'auteur conserve la propriété du droit d'auteur qui protège cette thèse. Ni la thèse ni des extraits substantiels de celle-ci ne doivent être imprimés ou autrement reproduits sans son autorisation. Abstract The study of travel writing often has been undertaken in a haphazard or decontexwalized manner, sometimes as a way of supporting biographical research or of supplementing a general theoretical project. Such studies have contributed to a partial and sornetimes inaccurate impression of travel literature within the acaderny. This thesis is an atternpt to engage with the literature of travel at the level of genre, an atternpt to suggest its unique configuration of properties and stylistic conventions. Examining travel literature "on its own terms" wdi contribute to the clarification of it as a distinct text type and rnay help reduce the instances of misapprehension of it. In this thesis, 1 coiiect linguistic data found in travel texts and interpret them within a h e w o r k of genre theory and travd criticism. 1 engage with a variety of travel narratives fiom various historical periods, but 1 have focussed ptimady on two texts fiom the twentieth century: Vita Sackville-West's Passenger to Teherm (1926) and Roben Byron's De Roudto Oxiana (1937). My choice of texts was d e t h n e c i by the stytistic differences between the two works, it being my belief that similarities found in the midst of variety d l enhance the validity of my suggestions about the genre. This thesis is broken d o m into four chapters. In chapter 1 , I review reIevant iiterature pertaining to this study and outline my theoretical perspective. Chapters 2 and 3, respectively, examine Sachaille-West's and Byron's works. Both body chapters focus on three aspects central to understanding travel literature: the writeis strategies for 1) constructing his or her spatiotemporal context; 2) establishing and maintainhg his or her particular reiationship with the reader; and 3) depicting (the experience of) chaos and order in the travel context. Chapter 4 suggests how rny thesis might be appkd in fLture studies of the genre. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS 1 would like to thank my thesis supervisor, Janet Giitrow, for her advice and encouragement. 1 would also iike to thank my &ends and family for their support. TABLE OF CONTENTS Chapterl . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 Chapter2 . . . . . . . .