Travel Writing Of The 21st Century An Exploration Of...

Travel Writing in the 21st Century: An exploration of Relevance through William Dalrymple. The creation of Google Earth has made the foreign ever more familiar by making the foreign accessible to anyone with access to a computer or internet cafe. The growing popularity of the internet has contributed to a â€Å"sense of information omnipotence [which] has proved horribly illusory† (Dalrymple 4). Travel writing provides global context and depth that is difficult to access through the internet, lending first-person perspective to international experiences. In Introduction to the Best Travel Writing 2010 author William Dalrymple uses persuasive techniques such as personal anecdotes, repetition, and quotes to convince readers of the continued relevance of travel writing in the 21st century. According to Dalrymple, travel writing is key to a comprehensive understanding of globalization within a contemporary context. (Dalrymple Introduction to Travel Writing 2010) Without travel writing, Dalrymple argues, there would be no genre where an author could â€Å"really assess another culture in some depth, without using academic jargon or disappearing down a well of academic over-specialization† (Dalrymple 4). â€Å"Academic over-specialization,† as Dalrymple so aptly puts it, serves to alienate readers who are unwilling to read something reminiscent of a textbook. By picking up a book about travel writing, the reader has the unique opportunity to read a first-hand account of an experience that