From Homer’s Odyssey, Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales, and Cervantes’s Don Quixote to Melville’s Moby-Dick, Kerouac’s On the Road, and Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s Americanah, some of the most powerful works of fiction center on a journey. Extending to the ends of the earth and spanning from ancient Greece to today, Literary Journeys is an enthralling book that takes you on a voyage of discovery through some of the most important journeys in literature. In original essays, an international team of literary critics, scholars, and other writers explore exciting, dangerous, tragic, and uplifting journeys in more than seventy-five classic and popular works of fiction from around the world. Chronologically arranged and gorgeously illustrated throughout with paintings, engravings, photographs, and maps in full color, this captivating book will appeal to readers who have travelled widely, who are planning a trip, or who love armchair travel.
- Contributors include Robert McCrum, Susan Shillinglaw, Maya Jaggi, Robert Holden, Suzanne Conklin Akbari, Alan Taylor, Michael Bourne, Sarah Mesle—and dozens more.
John McMurtrie is an editor at McSweeney’s Publishing and former books editor at the San Francisco Chronicle. His writing has appeared in the New York Times, the Los Angeles Times, and Literary Hub.
"A lot of fun . . . the range of titles is superb. . . . In Literary Journeys there is enough geographic and thematic variety to gratify the well-read, who will have the pleasure of revisiting books they remember. There is plenty to stimulate the desire to pick up volumes yet untried. And throughout there is such an abundance of imagery—maps, portraits, paintings, postcards, film stills—that the readerly eye is likely to jump with eagerness from one page to the next."—Meghan Cox Gurdon, Wall Street Journal
"Punchy takes on celebrated literature . . . accompanied by plentiful photos of artwork inspired by the books or the locales discussed in them. The result is a trip well worth taking."—Publishers Weekly
"A pleasingly instructive survey for fans of literary travel."—Kirkus Reviews
"Beautifully curated and exquisitely illustrated. . . . I highly recommend John McMurtrie’s Literary Journeys. The author has created a marvelous tribute to Western literature that not only maps the journeys of celebrated literary characters but also encourages us to trace and retrace their footprints."—Leonora Cravotta, American Spectator
"This handsomely illustrated compilation of essays and illustrations about travel-related novels will inform and inspire armchair travelers who like to explore beyond bestseller lists and must-see sites."—Afar Magazine
"For readers looking for a longer trek, the new illustrated book Literary Journeys assembles 75 fictional trips across continents and through history."—Hope Corrigan, Washington Post
"This is a perfect gift for those who travel a lot or simply love armchair travel."—William Tomicki, travelbyentree.com
"This book is an UTTER joy, complete page turner, and a lifelong reading guide to journeys that will enrich our lives. . . . Literary Journeys is SUCH a treasure."—Jessie Voigts, Wandering Educators
"Impressive. . . . [The] ability to cast a new light on specific texts, whilst showing the wider journey of literature, is what Literary Journeys excels at."—Ed Bedford, The Indiependent
"Fabulous. . . . A book that will give lots of pleasure."—Terry Potter, The Letterpress Project
