Introduction

This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book highlights the recent developments in artists, writers and researchers work to point out new directions in walking studies. It focuses on the expertise and backgrounds of mainly British and American literature and art scholars as a method of approaching questions about landscape and environment. It addresses both the conviviality and experimentalism of contemporary psychogeographic practice. The book shows that walking with people, places and politics is the most difficult questions addressing the neglect of cultural walking practices by particular groups, and walking practices are problematic within broader and environmental movements. It deals with a poem that considers the felt tensions between beauty and risk in judging conditions on the mountain before assessing a series of five recent works of mountaineering literature within the context of the amplified risks of the Anthropocene.