01 MW6 CAC 11081 BLANEY MU-003
01-Travel Writing, Travel Journalism
In this class, we’ll be steering a course between travel writing as literary non-fiction and travel writing as journalism. By looking at a range of texts, from Ancient Greece to last week’s Travel Section, the class will focus on the main elements of travel writing: the evocation of place (landscape and architecture), writing about people and food, and telling a story. Writers we’ll be studying include: Herodotus, Marco Polo, Bruce Chatwin, Gertrude Bell, Jan Morris, Laurie Lee, Italo Calvino, William Dalrymple, and Paul Theroux. As well as texts, film and music will be part of our material. The class will also choose one country and one city to use as case studies, examining the different ways they have been, and might be, portrayed. Through a variety of creative writing assignments, students will be introduced to the basics of travel journalism: writing for a particular market, pitching ideas, writing to a formula, writing for trade or consumer markets, and writing for the on-line reader. Final grades will be based on attendance, participation, and a portfolio of creative work.
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