Dear all,
Read and research extracts of travel narrative, pick one and the reasons why you picked it and post here (link to extract or reference and comments, not the whole extract, just the link).
Thank you.
Mrs Gougeon
Read and research extracts of travel narrative, pick one and the reasons why you picked it and post here (link to extract or reference and comments, not the whole extract, just the link).
Thank you.
Mrs Gougeon
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/725071/A-taste-of-the-best-travel-writing.html
ReplyDeleteRed Dust
I really liked how he was very descriptive to the point where I could accurately imagine what his surroundings were and I could feel what he felt. Everything was so accurate that is sounded as he was writing as he was walking. Overall I thought that extract was really good and descriptive.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/725071/A-taste-of-the-best-travel-writing.html
ReplyDeleteA Cook's Tour
This travel narrative appealed to me most out of the some I read. It had exceptionally powerful imagery, and that - to show such a scene - was extremely effective. I like how the author was relating what he saw to his profession (he's a cook) "For a guy who'd spent 28 years serving dead animals and sneering at vegetarians, I was having an unseemly amount of trouble getting with the programme".
Also, it was catchy because there was so much action. And action makes the reader want to read on more. Which I did. (I had left the other texts because they were boring).
On the other hand, I feel as if what I feel about killing animals is also mentioned in this narrative, creating a type of personal connection between the reader and text.
Overall, it was a great piece of text.
http://www.besttravelwriting.com/btw-blog/great-stories/funny-travels-bronze-winner-lepiphanie/
ReplyDeleteI chose this piece because even though that is the first thing I have read it, it really draws you in because it is comedic. Because of its comedic factor it made it more interesting and if there were serious parts in the piece it would make them seem extra dramatic because the contrast is so distinct. I also noticed it won bronze for comedic travel writing and that’s pretty good! Even in the beginning there is a bit of social commentary in the first paragraph already, so I like that he got straight to the point.
http://www.zahraink.com/CreativeWriting-TravelNarrative.htm
ReplyDeleteI May Never Leave
I really liked the way the author of this travel narrative pointed out the good and the bad, but managed to make it all sound positive. Even though they mentioned quite a few bad things about Egypt, the way that they surrounded them with great descriptions of positive things made them blend in with the positive. It also re-enforces just how much the author is going to miss Egypt. They are going to miss absolutely everything about it, including the bad, which gives a clear idea, from just one entry, of how much they enjoyed being there.
Also, I really like the use of diction in this extract. The descriptions give a very clear image of what everything looked like and even how they made the author feel.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/725071/A-taste-of-the-best-travel-writing.html
ReplyDeleteRed Dust by Ma Jian
There is a sense of adventure and danger of death in this piece. It drew me into the text and made me want to read on to tell me how he managed to survive. It also helped that he was entirely descriptive, from his own body to the small details about the environment around him. When he had told me how he had survived, I wanted to read more to see if he had any more adventures. All in all, a great entry that will make some one interested in this kind of travel writing want to read more.
Ma Jian: Red Dust
ReplyDeleteAfter an hour's descent I reach the desert. Sweat pours from my body and evaporates in seconds. My water is half-finished, and the lake has sunk from view. I must rely on my compass from now on.
The sun is still overhead. As I breathe the hot air in and out, my mouth becomes as dry as dust. The compass in my hand burns like the gravel underfoot. The dry noodles have reached my stomach and seem to be sucking the moisture from my blood. I long to reach the shore of the lake and plunge my head in its cool water. For brief moments, refracted through the heat waves on the right, I see villages, moving trucks, or a sweep of marsh. If I didn't have a compass, I might be tempted to walk straight into the mirage.
Four or five hours go by. At last I see clumps of weed rise from the gravel. The land starts to dip. I check the compass. Sugan should be right in front of me now, but all I see is the wide stony plain.
Suddenly it dawns on me that distances can be deceptive in the transparent atmosphere of the desert. The lake that from the pass seemed so near could be a hundred kilometres away. After all, what looked like a tiny blue spot is in fact a huge lake. It is too late to turn back now though - my bottle is empty. I have no choice but to keep walking towards the water. Where there is water there are people, and where there are people there is life. There is no other path I can take.
As the sun sinks to the west, the lake reappears at last. It is not a lake exactly, just a line of grey slightly brighter than the desert stones, not wavering in the heat haze this time, but lying still at the edge of the sky. I am on course, but my legs can barely hold. There is camel-thorn underfoot now and the earth is covered with a thick saline crust. The sun sinks slowly below me, then reddens and disappears.
The way the writer perceives his environment really pulls in the reader with the diction he uses. The writer sets the mood with mystery which creates a huge effect on the travelogue
http://www.thetravelclub.org/travelogues/595-the-schengen-curtain
ReplyDeleteThe Schengen Curtain
One of the main reasons I chose this extract was because it was entertaining. The author hooked me into the entry when he started doing foolish things. An example of this is when he pretended he could not speak English when he was being questioned in immigration. Another reason is the extensive use of direct speech which I found more interesting and it helped the author develop the characters. It was also very action packed. The pace was fast moving, for example the narrator switched to different countries very quickly.
http://lonesometraveller.tripod.com/cambodia5.html
ReplyDeleteFear and Loathing in Cambodia
Part Five-The worst boat trip of your life
I picked this extract mainly because when we travel things tend to be happy, relaxing and things go wrong here and there but usually not to the degree that this writer has experienced. In the extract the writer was unfortunate enough to go into what seems to be a very old boat to challenge the sea. The writer included what people were saying to make it more real and more immersive he included this in the extract. 'Yun, who was travelling with us, kept his eyes on the situation outside the cabin window. "At least if I died, I would want to know how I died," he said.'. He focused more on the people on the boat rather than the environment around him or the boat itself. Saying how the passengers were vomiting. In this entry of his travelogue he focused more on the bad side of the trip instead of happy moments and that caught my attention.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/725071/A-taste-of-the-best-travel-writing.html
ReplyDeleteAnthony Bourdain-A Cook' Tour
I chose this travel writing extract because of it's tone. The piece read like a story. I noticed three different types of tone. The extract was descriptive when the author wrote about how the pig was killed in detail, "The screaming penetrated the fillings in my teeth, echoed through the valley. With an incredible shower of fresh blood flying in every direction". It was entertaining because, like most people, I enjoy reading about things going wrong for others. And the tone was commenting when the author made a social comment about how the farm kids didn't react in anyway to the pig's slaughter whereas he was in total shock, "They were farm kids who'd seen this before many times, they were used to the ebb and flow of life, its at-times-bloody passing." These were mixture of tones worker perfectly together. If the piece was written in only one tone I would have gotten bored with the same style over and over again, but in the extract the tones varied and that kept me interested and engaged.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/725071/A-taste-of-the-best-travel-writing.html
ReplyDeleteBlack Earth City
I picked this specific one was entirely on the atmosphere it gave out, at every single point, it gave me an image of a really grey place. Throughout the whole thing exactly just the words like, "The human overpopulation was equally intense. There were at least three and often closer to six people to each room, in which the occupants slept, worked, had parties, ate, drank, sulked, wrote letters, cooked, smoked and hung out their washing." gave it being a grey area of the map, more of the slums, it sounds as if it's like a filth-filled building well weathered too. Even using room numbers like the 179 seems grey, it had a feel that it's the time where it was incredibly dull to the point they have 3-digit numbers which always spell dull to me.The detail going into the expression on how crowded it was was showing, how they had a place, housing more than 20 nationalities. Which really comes through on how it is a grey area.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/725071/A-taste-of-the-best-travel-writing.html
ReplyDeleteMa Jian: Red Dust
The extract is about a man who is planning to go to a village but he has to cross a large desert in order to reach there. I picked this extract because I think the author did a very good job at using imagery as well as describing the surroundings. The use of imagery is very strong and gives me an image of a desert that seems like it will never end and is blazing hot.I liked a couple of sentences in particular. One of them are "As the sun sinks to the west, the lake reappears at last. It is not a lake exactly, just a line of grey slightly brighter than the desert stones" because he compares the lake to the desert saying how it is actually not that interesting but its quite dull like the stones in the desert. My other favourite sentence is "Four or five hours go by. At last I see clumps of weed rise from the gravel. The land starts to dip. I check the compass. Sugan should be right in front of me now, but all I see is the wide stony plain." because even though he didn't describe the "Stony pain" in a lot of detail you can still picture it in your mind because of the choice of words he decides to use. The extract is very engaging and interesting and the tone is very mysterious.
http://www.besttravelwriting.com/btw-blog/blog/silver-award-in-culture-and-ideas-cuba-libre/
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed this piece because of the very engaging beginning it had. How the writer used such descriptive diction, and a metaphor to describe cuba as a beautiful women.
It was so detailed in description, that you could fully vision the place in your head. The writing was actually able to bring me to cuba and experience it for myself.
Also i loved the contrast of the 2 characters. How they both had different opinions on the country, and it was a good contrast of voices
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/725071/A-taste-of-the-best-travel-writing.html
ReplyDeleteRichard Sterling
I liked this extract because of the descriptive words used to describe the curry and also how he expressed that he wondered how ghosts looked like. the writer used a lot of diction and it was wonderful.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/725071/A-taste-of-the-best-travel-writing.html
ReplyDeleteRichard Sterling: The Fearless Diner
I really liked how descriptive the writer was in where I could actually imagine how the food looks and tastes like. The explanation he gave made me feel like I was sitting right next to him, tasting the food and looking at the actions of the two ghosts he had mentioned about in this extract travel narrative.
So, after reading the great piece of text, I think it was really good, it makes me really want to eat the food ( as I am a food lover )......
http://www.theguardian.com/travel/2013/dec/13/borge-ousland-how-i-crossed-antarctica
ReplyDeleteI liked this article because it's very gripping. I recently read a book about a similar matter, Touching the Void, and this subject matter (mountaineering) Is really interesting in my opinion. Another thing that I enjoyed about this piece was that the writer also gave factual evidence, to portray really how risky this expedition was.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/725071/A-taste-of-the-best-travel-writing.html
ReplyDeleteMa Jian: Red Dust
I thought this extract was very good and descriptive. The author described his surroundings very well because it gave me a very strong image of what the desert looked like and how it felt like if I was walking across it. The author set a mysterious mood which drew me into the text and wanted to read more and more to find out what happened next and how the author survived.
Sylvia's
ReplyDeleteCuban tales of the Unexpected – Simon Hiller (2008)
Bouncing along the road towards Havana airport, the sultry beat of rumba crackling through the taxi speakers, it was time to pore over my pixilated frenzy of Cubana highlights.
There I was exploring the historic plazas and museums, sampling at the Cigar Factory, strolling the oceanfront Malacon, sipping daiquiris at Hemingway haunts and squashing toes at the Casa de Musica. Oh look, there’s me getting sloshed on Mojitos in the gardens of the Hotel National, and me posing beside a gigantic American Chevy, and another, and another. And that’s me doing an impression of a sow at The Bay Of Pigs – hysterical stuff! Can’t wait to show the folks back home.
Then a little voice inside rudely interrupted this smug thought, “Hang on a minute Mr. Wish You Were Here. These photos are just bragging rights. What about, you know, the other stuff?”
Damn my subconscious! It was right as usual. This was just the feature length holiday slideshow I’d impose upon friends and family for weeks to come. Deep down, Cuba had been far more than a happy snapfest of famous sights and sounds. It had been a rollercoaster of emotions - enchanting highs and challenging lows - moments we rarely capture on our digital cameras, and never find in the “must-do” section of our dog-eared guidebooks.
I chose this extract because the writer hints at both sides of the story which is engaging and sparks curiosity. He talks in first person and he also addresses himself and he is discovering how hard it is to fully describe your holiday to someone, you can show them photos but thy can never fully understand unless they were there with you. He also mentions the fact that nobody captures pictures of the bad emotions you feel on holidays and show them to other so they are not getting the full story. Whilst he enjoyed a majority of his trip to Cuba there were some things he did not enjoy although they were a part of the experience of Cuba. I also enjoyed this because he has a very human natural experience and his comments are relatable.
Alex's
ReplyDeletehttp://www.fordham.edu/halsall/india/1850monier.asp
I chose this because of the depth of description the he uses. You can literally see the trees in your mind because of how he described it. Also because I find the views of a 19th century European traveller on India are extremely interesting because it is so different from the life that he knows and lives everyday. Also because of the vocabulary that he uses. I find it funny how he uses such proper words and seeing how that has diminished so much today in modern times.