Movement and Belonging: Lines, Places and Spaces of Travel

For Leon (English, University of Malaya, Kuala Lumpur) travel is both an action and a metaphor. Her study of the travel writing of four authors: Naipaul, Ondaatje, Patrick White and D.H. Lawrence. She sees all of these books as part of the postcolonial alterations in the world as cultural domination replaces political. The first two authors describe India and Sri Lanka from different starting points. The second two do the same for Australia. This is not a literary study, however. The books are anchors for an exploration of interiority, external influences, and confrontation with a confusing, sometimes frightening Other. Leon's book is in itself a journey, a quest for a sense of connection and of having a physical place where one is at home. Her philosophical search is worth reading for its own sake, and more engaging than that of the authors she studies. Annotation c2010 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)