ABSTRACT
Recently in the West there has been much lamenting of the demise of cultural difference, a public dismay over the closure of the Age of Exploration and the initiation of an age of homogenization. Despite this fear, the phenomenon of travel writing-a literary form apparently dependent upon difference and therefore doomed by its disappearance-is as popular as ever. Indeed, there appears to be something of a ‘boom’ in travel writing, especially in contemporary English society. Rarely have there been so many television programmes dedicated to all aspects of travel and tourism, from the cheapest package tour to the most adventurous ‘rough guides’ and expensive tailor-made affairs. Print culture also exhibits the English love of travel, with glossy colour supplements in the Sunday papers offering images of exoticism and romance.
