Writing the Nation, Writing the Self

Writing the Nation, Writing the Self is based on the thesis that travel writing is a fundamental medium in the process of the political and social changes in Europe from the late 18th to the middle of the 19th century. In particular, the processes of the formation of collective national identities and cultures as well as the process of the formation of the middle class with its emphasis on the individuals identity are implicitly depicted, performed and negotiated in travel writing of the period. It is the travelogues setting between cultures that furthers the performance both of national and of individual identity. The growing popularity of travel writing from the second half of the 18 th century onwards underlines its increased social and political importance. Furthermore, the socio-political functions of the genre are displayed in its changed form and content: from the second half of the 18th century, travel writing increasingly changes from scientific reports to more entertaining literary forms. What is more, one of the genres main characteristics, namely its hybrid nature with regard to content and form, corresponds to the multiple functions of the genre. This hybrid aspect is created by features such as the texts oscillation between fact and fiction, and between autobiography and literary text, but also by reference to other texts (intertextuality), by passages in other languages or the use of translations and by the use of meta-textuality: often, the texts in question are very conscious of the genre tradition they become a part of and therefore refer to it either explicitly or implicitly. It is the main objective of the project to analyse the performative character of travel writing with regard to its social and political importance during the transition period from the late 18th to the middle of the 19th century. In order to do so and for the first time in research on travel writing, the study proposes a comparative analysis of travelogues by European writers between 1760 and 1850. It aims at identifying the particular structures and characteristics of the texts that make them a fundamental medium of the social, cultural and political developments during the proposed period. The project will give a much more detailed understanding of the complex functions and characteristics of the hugely popular genre of travel writing at the time and will furthermore tell us more about the mentality of the period.