Literary Journeys, Quest Narratives, and Travel Writing

Vocabulary flashcards defining key terms, theoretical concepts, figures, and literary works from the lecture on literary journey narratives and travel writing.

Erich Auerbach

A Jewish-German exile living in Istanbul during World War II who wrote the work of literary criticism Mimesis: The Representation of Reality in Western Literature (1946).

Mimesis: The Representation of Reality in Western Literature (1946)

A work of literary criticism by Erich Auerbach that traces the origins of mimetic storytelling from antiquity starting with Homer's The Odyssey.

Mimetic Storytelling

Literary representations of the external social world.

Quest Narrative

Any story in which a journey is undertaken to complete a goal, during which the protagonist experiences a significant change.

Archetype

A story element, such as a character type or a plot structure, that recurs across multiple generations and cultures.

Geographical Transformation

A narrative shift involving journeys into places radically different from a character's home, unexplored areas, different time periods, or other planets and dimensions.

Ethical Transformation

A change in the values and beliefs of characters, focusing on how their ideas of right and wrong alter as a result of a quest.

Existential Transformation

A transformation focused on the hero's changed understanding of themselves and their self-definition.

Bildungsroman

A coming-of-age story about growth and maturation, usually centered on a young character.

The Wonder of England

A guidebook featured in The Remains of the Day, written by fictional author Jane Symons, filled with descriptions and illustrations of the English landscape.

Orientalism

A term coined by Edward Said in 1978 describing the process by which European countries created a persistent, false image of the "Orient" through narratives and travel writing.

Contact Zones

A term conceptualized by Mary Louise Pratt referring to social spaces where disparate cultures meet, clash, and grapple with each other, often in highly asymmetrical relations of domination and subordination.