Essay topics: The Self and the Other in Contemporary German Travel Narratives
Write an essay (3500 words) on one of the following topics. Please use 1.5 line
spacing. The essay must contain a bibliography, footnotes and page numbers.
Deadline: Tuesday 28 April, noon.
1. Debating Mary Louise Pratt’s notion of the “planetary consciousness”,
analyse how contemporary travel writing engages with this idea. You
must base your argument on ample evidence from two texts on the
course.
2. Discuss eco-criticism as a dominant theme of contemporary travel
writing. You must base your argument on ample evidence from two texts
on the course.
3. Debating Hans-Magnus Enzensberger’s Theorie des Tourismus, analyse
the representation of tourism in contemporary German travel writing.
You must base your argument on ample evidence from two texts on your
course.
4. Discuss the engagement with local history as a dominant theme in
contemporary German travel writing. You must base your argument on
ample evidence from two texts on your course.
5. Discuss the encounter with otherness and the notion of slow travel in two
texts on the course. You must base your argument on ample evidence
from the texts.