Travel Literature The Dialectic of Self and Other in a Changing World

The Arabs’ passion and interest in travel literature never faded, even during the darkest periods of their cultural decline. They traveled north and south, reaching the most distant corners of the world. Others from other nations also traveled to Arab lands. This book explores the self and the other, from different perspectives and with eyes that were sometimes innocent and sometimes cunning. This book seeks to address these issues through diverse and comprehensive scholarly studies. These studies examine the most important major themes in travel literature, such as society, culture, customs, representations of self and other, the challenge of reform, renewal, and renaissance, and the presence of women as travelers and scholars of travel. They also examine the intersections that occurred between travel literature and other genres of writing, especially the Arabic novel and theater, as well as the arts of architecture, construction, and industry. Furthermore, they evaluate travel studies and suggest examples of modern travel to China and Canada, given that travel literature represents a bridge for the communication of human cultures across the world and the integration of arts, knowledge, and literature. Therefore, this book not only examines what is relevant to Arab societies, but also examines foreign travel. Travelers from Germany, Austria, France, Spain, China, and other countries around the world are undoubtedly aware that journeys were not one-way, but rather a shared human heritage, a global heritage replete with details of reality as observed and described by the traveler.