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The Oxford Book of Travel Stories
Travel--long associated with marvels and adventure, excitement and mystery--has always proved an irresistible literary subject. Now, in The Oxford Book of Travel Stories , Patricia Craig brings together thirty-two fascinating travel stories, with each one illustrating in its own way what
travel has to do with stimulus, enrichment, and a sense of achievement. Here is some of the best short fiction representing the most exhilarating subjects from writers as diverse as Ring Lardner, Anthony Trollope, Edith Wharton, Charles Dickens, Wilkie Collins, John Updike, David Malouf, Rebecca
West, Rachel Ingalls, Evelyn Waugh, F. Scott and Zelda Fitzgerald, Jack Kerouac, Alice Adams, Flannery O'Connor, John Cheever, and Raymond Carver.
Readers will revel in atmospheres as sundry as the Riviera in the 1920s, nineteenth-century Palestine, a journey by train from Brisbane to Sydney in 1944 (David Malouf's The Kyogle Line ), a tread through the English midlands (Elizabeth Bowen's Human Habitation ), a mid-Atlantic crossing between New
York and Naples (John Cheever's Brimmer ), and Ring Lardner's Travelogue , set on a train, mildly satirical in tone, concerning bragging about travel--in many ways the last word on travel. From Jack Kerouac's Big Trip to Europe , of 1960, which encapsulates the late 1950s fecklessness and the
soft-drug related styles of indolence abroad to F. Scott and Zelda Fitzgerald's Show Mr. and Mrs. F to Number , a mood-piece about exotic hotel life in the 1920s, to Flannery O'Connor's A Good Man is Hard to Find , a high-spirited, productively unsettling jaunt, The Oxford Book of Travel Stories
brilliantly encompasses the travel story genre.
The Oxford Book of Travel Stories is a superb collection that captures the freedoms and excitements of travel as it celebrates great literary style. It will delight both readers and travelers for which travel provides a means of escape.
travel has to do with stimulus, enrichment, and a sense of achievement. Here is some of the best short fiction representing the most exhilarating subjects from writers as diverse as Ring Lardner, Anthony Trollope, Edith Wharton, Charles Dickens, Wilkie Collins, John Updike, David Malouf, Rebecca
West, Rachel Ingalls, Evelyn Waugh, F. Scott and Zelda Fitzgerald, Jack Kerouac, Alice Adams, Flannery O'Connor, John Cheever, and Raymond Carver.
Readers will revel in atmospheres as sundry as the Riviera in the 1920s, nineteenth-century Palestine, a journey by train from Brisbane to Sydney in 1944 (David Malouf's The Kyogle Line ), a tread through the English midlands (Elizabeth Bowen's Human Habitation ), a mid-Atlantic crossing between New
York and Naples (John Cheever's Brimmer ), and Ring Lardner's Travelogue , set on a train, mildly satirical in tone, concerning bragging about travel--in many ways the last word on travel. From Jack Kerouac's Big Trip to Europe , of 1960, which encapsulates the late 1950s fecklessness and the
soft-drug related styles of indolence abroad to F. Scott and Zelda Fitzgerald's Show Mr. and Mrs. F to Number , a mood-piece about exotic hotel life in the 1920s, to Flannery O'Connor's A Good Man is Hard to Find , a high-spirited, productively unsettling jaunt, The Oxford Book of Travel Stories
brilliantly encompasses the travel story genre.
The Oxford Book of Travel Stories is a superb collection that captures the freedoms and excitements of travel as it celebrates great literary style. It will delight both readers and travelers for which travel provides a means of escape.
- GenresTravel
458 pages, Hardcover
First published June 20, 1996
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
November 14, 2020
Did not enjoy this book. I tried thinking maybe it would be only a couple of stories I didn't like. After reading half the book I decided it wasn't for me.
July 26, 2011
Great collection of excerpts from all the big names, from Dickens to Elizabeth Bishop, David Malouf to F. Scott and Zelda, Desai to "Big Trip to Europe" by Jack Kerouac, and JANE GARDAM. A must for any travel writing collection, if just for the posterity. over 400 pages, no maps or illustrations though. Have to use your mind.
February 2, 2010
There are some great short travel stories here, some funny and sad, most rich with thought provoking creative writing. There is something for everyone here, different styles of writing and mixed with clever creative stories. If you love travel stories you wont be disappointed…..
March 16, 2008
I didn't find a single story not worth reading. Get ready to journey to France, India, Prague, and the Scottish Isles.
February 21, 2016
A good collection. Paul Theroux's jungle murder story is the best. 6
April 30, 2025
Charles Dickens, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Anthony Trollope, Jack Kerouac, Anita Desai, Paul Theroux, Rebecca West, Edith Wharton, Evelyn Waugh... what a treat!
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews