Long before the travel channel, medieval writers described exciting journeys through lands both real and imagined. This course covers authors ranging from scholar Ibn Battuta, whose pilgrimage to Mecca became the first step in a twenty-year journey across India, Southeast Asia, and China; to armchair traveller John Mandeville, who imagines distant lands filled with monsters and marvels. We will consider issues such as: how travel writing negotiates cultural difference; how it maps space and time; and how it represents wonders and marvels. Students will also have the opportunity to experiment with creative responses such as writing their own travelogues.

Pre-1900 course.