12 research outputs found
Leisure, refuge and solidarity:messages in visitorsā books as microforms of travel writing
Visitorsā books not only trace developments in modern tourism, but they also reveal changes in the socio-cultural and language attitudes of travellers from all walks of life over prolonged periods of time. This article investigates messages in visitorsā books from Wales from the mid-nineteenth century up to the present and argues for their recognition as microforms of travel writing. Despite their brevity, entries in visitorsā books are a highly complex form of travel writing particularly in the inscribersā self-fashioning of identity for future readers. The article examines how writerly choices are not only directly rooted in the discourse of travel, but also in socio-political circumstances in the individual travellersā countries of origin and their travel destinations