Tourist Writing: Facing and Embracing the Otherness of Space and Narrative

NOTE: Due to a possible editorial conflict of interest the author did not participate in the editing/publishing process of this issue of the journal.This paper sets out to examine a specific body of fictional narratives featuring tourists as protagonists. It is the experience of tourists that determ...

Full description

Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Tijana Parezanović
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: University of Zadar 2020-04-01
Series:[sic]
Online Access:http://www.sic-journal.org/ArticleView.aspx?aid=594
_version_ 1797377979419983872
author Tijana Parezanović
author_facet Tijana Parezanović
author_sort Tijana Parezanović
collection DOAJ
description NOTE: Due to a possible editorial conflict of interest the author did not participate in the editing/publishing process of this issue of the journal.This paper sets out to examine a specific body of fictional narratives featuring tourists as protagonists. It is the experience of tourists that determines the plot development, dynamics and denouement of these narratives, and the present paper focuses in particular on Elizabeth Bowen's novel The Hotel (1927) and Tennessee Williams's The Roman Spring of Mrs. Stone (1950). The representation of tourists in fiction contradicts what most theories within tourism study posit, as these fictional tourists are placed outside their comfort zone and, additionally, perceived as individuals, not part of a homogeneous mass. Such placement outside a circumscribed world, as the analysis of the two novels shows, is achieved by heterotopian spatiality which the texts construct, whereby the concept of heterotopia relies on Michel Foucault's writing. The aspect of individuality is stressed through the narrative technique called free indirect discourse; spatiality and narrative combined thus set the scene for representing the experience of tourists. Protagonists in the two novels, Sydney Warren and Karen Stone, embody Dean MacCannell's and Zygmunt Bauman's views of tourists as modern pilgrims, in search of self-discovery through interaction with otherness. Using extracts from both novels, the paper shows how this otherness is constructed spatially, the role narration plays in the process, and the effect it has on tourist protagonists. The analysis results can, finally, be used to advance the academic study of the interconnection between space and narrative in literary fiction and deepen the understanding of tourists’ behavior in relation to the particular place in which they find themselves.
first_indexed 2024-03-08T20:00:01Z
format Article
id doaj.art-609bd5af7cf8416eb5712577a204276f
institution Directory Open Access Journal
issn 1847-7755
language English
last_indexed 2024-03-08T20:00:01Z
publishDate 2020-04-01
publisher University of Zadar
record_format Article
series [sic]
spelling doaj.art-609bd5af7cf8416eb5712577a204276f2023-12-23T21:42:25ZengUniversity of Zadar[sic]1847-77552020-04-0110210.15291/sic/2.10.lc.1594Tourist Writing: Facing and Embracing the Otherness of Space and NarrativeTijana ParezanovićNOTE: Due to a possible editorial conflict of interest the author did not participate in the editing/publishing process of this issue of the journal.This paper sets out to examine a specific body of fictional narratives featuring tourists as protagonists. It is the experience of tourists that determines the plot development, dynamics and denouement of these narratives, and the present paper focuses in particular on Elizabeth Bowen's novel The Hotel (1927) and Tennessee Williams's The Roman Spring of Mrs. Stone (1950). The representation of tourists in fiction contradicts what most theories within tourism study posit, as these fictional tourists are placed outside their comfort zone and, additionally, perceived as individuals, not part of a homogeneous mass. Such placement outside a circumscribed world, as the analysis of the two novels shows, is achieved by heterotopian spatiality which the texts construct, whereby the concept of heterotopia relies on Michel Foucault's writing. The aspect of individuality is stressed through the narrative technique called free indirect discourse; spatiality and narrative combined thus set the scene for representing the experience of tourists. Protagonists in the two novels, Sydney Warren and Karen Stone, embody Dean MacCannell's and Zygmunt Bauman's views of tourists as modern pilgrims, in search of self-discovery through interaction with otherness. Using extracts from both novels, the paper shows how this otherness is constructed spatially, the role narration plays in the process, and the effect it has on tourist protagonists. The analysis results can, finally, be used to advance the academic study of the interconnection between space and narrative in literary fiction and deepen the understanding of tourists’ behavior in relation to the particular place in which they find themselves.http://www.sic-journal.org/ArticleView.aspx?aid=594
spellingShingle Tijana Parezanović
Tourist Writing: Facing and Embracing the Otherness of Space and Narrative
[sic]
title Tourist Writing: Facing and Embracing the Otherness of Space and Narrative
title_full Tourist Writing: Facing and Embracing the Otherness of Space and Narrative
title_fullStr Tourist Writing: Facing and Embracing the Otherness of Space and Narrative
title_full_unstemmed Tourist Writing: Facing and Embracing the Otherness of Space and Narrative
title_short Tourist Writing: Facing and Embracing the Otherness of Space and Narrative
title_sort tourist writing facing and embracing the otherness of space and narrative
url http://www.sic-journal.org/ArticleView.aspx?aid=594
work_keys_str_mv AT tijanaparezanovic touristwritingfacingandembracingtheothernessofspaceandnarrative