Representation of an absent space: construction of the United States and New York in 1950s and 1960s Czech travel writing

Solic, M. (2015) Representation of an absent space: construction of the United States and New York in 1950s and 1960s Czech travel writing. Journeys: The International Journal of Travel and Travel Writing, 16(2), pp. 60-78. (doi: 10.3167/jys.2015.160204)

Abstract

Early postwar Czech travel writing was mainly concerned with representations of countries from the newly emerging Soviet Bloc and former European colonies in the developing world. In this way, travel writing played a role in nation-building and the creation of new cultural identity. However, following the slow process of political liberalization, the United States became an increasingly visible feature of travel narratives, concomitant with interest and reception of American literature in the second part of the 1950s and throughout the 1960s. While focusing on the analysis of space and articulation of the identities of travelers/narrators, the article tracks the re-emergence of the image of America in various types of travel narratives in order to depict a trajectory from the representation of a strictly bipolar world in political reportage from the early 1950s, to its subversion in the travel writing of the 1960s.

• Item Type: Articles
• Additional Information: The article as a whole is a part of the project CZ 1.07/2.3.00/30.0004. Research undertaken for this article at the University of Toronto was generously supported by a research grant awarded by The Carnegie Trust for the Universities of Scotland.
• Status: Published
• Refereed: Yes
• Glasgow Author(s) Enlighten ID: Solic, Dr Mirna
• Authors: Solic, M.
• Subjects: P Language and Literature > PG Slavic, Baltic, Albanian languages and literature
• College/School: College of Arts & Humanities > School of Modern Languages and Cultures
• Journal Name: Journeys: The International Journal of Travel and Travel Writing
• Publisher: Berghan Journals
• ISSN: 1465-2609
• ISSN (Online): 1752-2358
• Copyright Holders: Copyright © 2015 Berghan Journals
• First Published: First published in Journeys: The International Journal of Travel and Travel Writing 16(2):60-78
• Publisher Policy: Reproduced in accordance with the copyright policy of the publisher