What do we mean when we talk about ‘travel writing’? In this course we’ll look at a selection of authors who have left home, and gone ‘elsewhere’ with their eyes wide open. We will look at extracts from two of Gertrude Bell's most compelling works of travel writing, Persian Pictures and Syria: The Desert and the Sown, as well as some of her most fascinating letters, we will look at Bruce Chatwin’s exquisite account of his journey through Patagonia as well as his ‘commonplace book’ of quotes found inside his book Songlines, a selection from the Australian author Robyn Davidson, and finish with George Orwell’s impressions of Burma in his fiction. We will consider the travel writer’s penchant for escaping conventional modern life in the Western world, and finding a sense of connection with people and the natural world in small scale rural societies far from home.
10.30am-midday fortnightly in Girrawheen Library's Quiet Room.
11 September - Introductory lecture, housekeeping
25 September – George Orwell - Burmese Days
9 October – Bruce Chatwin – Extracts from In Patagonia and Songlines
23 October – Robyn Davidson – Travelling Light
6 November – Gertrude Bell – A selection
The course is presented by a City of Wanneroo Community Librarian and supported by the University of The Third Age (U3A).
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