Cultural encounters in the travel narratives of D. H. Lawrence, V. S. Naipaul, Bruce Chatwin and S. K. Pottekkatt

Abstract

Travel through sea, land and air are of growing significance not only for mere pleasure but also for literary appreciation in the present. As travel slowly started to gain greater significance, there is a marked shift towards the study of the documentation of the travel experiences. Travel narratives are non fictional prose forms that deal with the experiences of the traveller/writer. Travel narratives are looked upon as valuable sources of history as they contain representations of the social, economic, and political condition of a place that was visited by the traveller/writer. Travel narratives were gradually looked upon as a popular genre of literary study. Travel narratives as part of the academic inquiries focus more on the ways in which different cultures are perceived across different time periods by the traveller/writer. This forms the major area of study in this dissertation: through the study of cultural encounters in the travel narratives of D. H. Lawrence (1885- 1930), V. S. Naipaul (1932- ), Bruce Chatwin (1940-1989) and S. K. Pottekkatt newline(1913-1982), all well-known travellers who have left behind a legacy of travel documents. The vision of these writers, the motive behind their travels, their individual prejudices, their beliefs and their responses to the new people and places are given emphasis in this endeavour to understand their travel narratives. The major queries that are looked upon through this research include: how travel narratives and the study of culture are interrelated? How does cultural encounter occur? What is the role of the traveller/writer in cultural encounter? How does he position himself while travelling/narrating?