Hindustan Times
A bit of untruth
Do all travel accounts have a fictional element to them? I started wondering about it after reading this piece, courtesy: Madhu. It raises an interesting point, one that’s not just true of travel books, but also of some travel writing that we see in magazines and newspapers. I realised this soon after the Rickshaw Run that I went on two years ago. One of the participants wrote a piece for a UK publication that conflated the events of the entire trip into a single day - making it sounds like one helluva 24 hours.
Now, you couldn’t exactly say that it is untrue. All the things the author claimed - rain, petrol shortage, Maoist strike, bus burning - did happen; just not on one rollicking, let-the-heavens-thrown-what-they-can-at-us kind of day that she created.
It made for better reading for sure. But did that justify what the writer did?
What is the travel writer’s job? To give a true account of a place or a trip, so that the reader knows just what they would be getting into if they revisited the writer’s journey? Or is the travel writer’s task to give an account of a journey that will make for an entertaining read? One that can summarise the writer’s experience, and attempt to recreate it, even if by introducing little fictions and untruths in the process?
What do you think?
(2 votes, average: 5 out of 5)
Loading ...Posted by Neha Dara on Saturday, September 26, 2009 at 9:09 pm
Filed under Travel · Tagged journey, magazines, Maoist strike, newspaper, Rickshaw Run, Travel, travel accounts, UK publication
I really love to read some articles that have great positive impacts on its reader and benefit by reading such article. I admire these writers in sharing their views and or opinions that can enlighten the mind of the readers. Great Job and continue inspiring readers.
[Reply]
I would say that it is the travel writer’s job to give a true account of the place…make it entertaining read minus the little fiction and untruths
[Reply]