In this, my fourth course offered on travel writing so far, 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 George Orwell’s impressions of Burma in his fiction (as well as, very briefly, Paul Theroux’s 2024 pseudo-biographical novel about Orwell in Burma, Burma Sahib). 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 The Songlines
23 October – Robyn Davidson – Travelling Light
6 November – Gertrude Bell – A selection
The course is presented by myself in conjunction with the City of Wanneroo and the University of The Third Age (U3A) – Perth.
Please register your interest here.