Ranging from the early modern to the postcolonial, and dealing mainly with encounters in Europe, the Americas and the Middle East, Perspectives on Travel Writing is a collection of new essays by international scholars that examines some of the various contexts of travel writing, as well as its generic characteristics. Contributions examine the similarities between autobiography and memoir, fiction, and travel writing, and attempt to define travel writing as a genre. Utilising a variety of approaches, the essays display a shared concern with what travel writing does and how it does it. The effects of encounter and border-crossing on gender, 'race', and national identity are considered throughout. An essay collection with broad historical and geographical coverage, this volume should appeal to students and researchers of travel and travel-related literatures from across the Humanities.

Jan Borm teaches English at the University of Versailles Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines Helga Quadflieg has taught English Literature at the universities of Passau, Berlin, and Wurzburg, and is presently acting Professor at the Padagogische Hochschule Weingarten Betty Hagglund is a Lecturer at the University of Birmingham Glenn Hooper is a Lecturer in the Department of English, Mary Immaculate College, University of Limerick Jean-Yves Le Disez lectures (in Literature in English and Translation Studies) at the University of Western Brittany, Brest, France Peter Hulme is Professor in Literature at the University of Essex Erdmute Wenzel White is currently an Associate Professor of French and Comparative Literature at Purdue University Loredana Polezzi lectures in Italian Studies at the University of Warwick Patrick Holland teaches theory, nineteenth-century studies, and travel writing at the University of Guelph Graham Huggan has a Chair in Postcolonialism at the University of Leeds Padmini Mongia teaches literature in English at Franklin & Marshall College, USA Tim Youngs is Professor in English and Travel Studies at The Nottingham Trent University