Travel writing

Abstract

American travellers regularly visited Europe, and England in particular. Encouraged by a deep appreciation of English literature and beguiled by the pull of history, even after independence Americans sought a sojourn in the old ‘Mother Country.’ Travellers’ tales record these physical journeys, but more importantly, reveal the way in which Americans negotiated the emotional and intellectual space of the Old World in a transatlantic context. Of all transatlantic writing, it is travel literature that explores the relationship between the Old World as both a physical place and a metaphysical space, and thereby it has a unique role in American identity formation and expression. This chapter concentrates on the Early National Period as the years when transatlantic travel writing first exposed independent Americans struggling to come to terms with their new status. In particular the chapter looks at Washington Irving’s Sketch-Book of Geoffrey Crayon, Gent., as the quintessential text that set the framework for transatlantic travel writing.