Representation of Oriental Travelees and Locus in Jurgen Wasim Frembgen’s Travelogue: The Closed Valley: With Fierce Friends in Pakistani Himalays

Ahmad Gholi

Abstract


The oft despised and ignored genre of travel writing was recognized as worthy of scholarly investigation in 1970s thanks to Edward Said’s Orientalism, the wave of deconstructionism, and postcolonialism (Calzati, 2015). For these scholars, travel writers do not present a transparent window to an alien space and its residents even though they normally claim it. For them the representation of the traveled terrain and travelees is an ideological construction which is tainted with the travel writer’s ‘habitus’ and ‘field’ and crafted through fictional devices. In this regard, by drawing on postcolonial methodology, the current study seeks to evince how Frembgen in his travelogue, The Closed Valley: With Fierce Friends in Pakistani Himalayas which narrates his voyage to Harban, a far-flung mountainous region in Pakistan Himalaya, reproduces the pitfalls of previous Western travel writers when he depicts his destination and travelees in negative terms. From his perspective, his timeless traveled locus is rife with violence, yet a space to escape from dehumanizing ambience of the West. Additionally, for him the women in this tribal region are tyrannized by husbands and victimized by Muslim extremists. Last but not least, he portrays this remote oriental space as an object of curiosity which needs to be salvaged textually.

 


Keywords


Travel Writing, Timeless, Escape, Women, Violence, Curiosity

Full Text:

PDF

References


Abrams, M. (2009). A Glossary of Literary Terms. Boston: Wadsworth Cengage Learning.

Ashcroft, B., Griffiths, G., & Tiffin, H. (2007). Post-Colonial Studies: Key Concepts. London & New York: Routledge.

Bale, A. (2016). European Travel Writing in Middle Ages. In C. Thompson (Ed.), The Routledge Companion to Travel Writing (pp. 152-160). New York & London: Routledge.

Bassnett, S. (2003). The Empire, Travel Writing, and British Studies. In S. Monthy (Ed.), Travel Writing and Empire (pp. 1-21). New Delhi: Katha.

Behdad, A. (1999). Belated Travelers: Orientalism in the Age of Colonial Dissolution. Durham & London: Duke University Press.

Behdad, A. (2009). The Politics of Adventure:Theories of Travel, Discourse of Power. In J. Kuehn, & P. Smethurst (Eds.), Travel Writing, Form, and Empire: The Poetics and Politics of Mobility (pp. 80-94). New York & Oxon: Routledge.

Behdad, A., & Gartlan, L. (Eds.). (2013). Photography's Orientalism: New Essays on Colonial Representation. Los Angeles: The Getty Research Institute.

Bendixen, A. (2009). American Travel Book about Europe Before Civil War. In The Cambridge Companion Guide to Travel Writing (pp. 103-126). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Bhattacharji. (2016). Indian Travel Writing. In Thompson (Ed.), The Routledge Companion to Travel Writing (pp. 125-138). New York& London: Routledge.

Blanton, C. (1997). Travel Writing: Self and the World . New York: Twayne.

Bohls, J., & Duncan, I. (Eds.). (2005). Travel Writing 1700-1830: An Anthology. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Borm, J. (2004). 'Defining Travel: On the Travel Book, Travel Writing and Terminology'. In G. Hooper, & T. Youngs (Eds.), Perspectives on Travel Writing (pp. 13-26). Aldershot: Ashgate.

Brisson, U. (2013). Discovering Scheherazade: Representations of Oriental Women in the Travel Writng of Nineteenth Century German Women. Women in German Yearbook, 29, 99-117.

Bruegel, Jan, The Elder. (2010). Encyclopædia Britannica. Encyclopaedia Britannica Ultimate Reference Suite. Chicago: Encyclopædia Britannica. (n.d.).

Calzati, S. (2015). Traveling and Writing the Form of Travel Writing: Reconsodering Bill Bryson's (Supposed) Postcolonial Legacy. Journal of Postcolonial Writing, 51(4), 422-453.

Capps, D., & Carlin, N. (2013). Human Chances for Happiness: A Review of Freud's Civilization and Its Discontents. Pastoral Pyschol, 62, 271-289.

Chard, C. (1999). Pleasure and Guilt on the Grand Tour: Travel writing and Imaginative Geography 1600-1830. Manchester: Manchester University Press.

Clifford, J. (1986). On Ethnographic Allegory. In J. Clifford, & G. Marcus (Eds.), Writing Cultur: The Poetics and Politics of Ethnography (pp. 98-121). Berkeley: University of California Press.

Conquergood, D. (1991). Rethinking Ethnography: Towards a Critical Cultural Politics. Communication Monographs, 58, 179-194.

Cooke, S. (2016). Inner Journeys: Travel Writing as Life Writing. In C. Thompson (Ed.), The Routledge Companion to Travel Writing (pp. 15-24). New York, Abingdon.

Cultural Anthropolgy (2010). Encyclopædia Britannica. Encyclopaedia Britannica Ultimate Reference Suite. Chicago: Encyclopædia Britannica. (n.d.).

Day, M. (2016). Western Travel Writing, 1450-1750. In The Routledge Companion to Travel Writing (pp. 161-172). New York-London: Routledge.

Farley, D. (2016). Modernist Travel Writing. In C. Thompson (Ed.), The Routledge Companion to Travel Writing (pp. 278-287). New York & London: Routledge.

Fay, M. (2001). Ottoman Women Through the Eyes of Mary Wortley Montagu. In P. Stakey, & J. Starkey (Eds.), Unfolding the Orient: Travelers in Egypt and the East (pp. 157-178). Lebnan: Ithaca Press.

Fazeli. (2006). Politics of Culture in Iran: Anthropology, Politics and Society in Iran. New York & Abingdon: Routledge.

Fleming, K. (2014). The Muslim Bonaparte: Diplomacy and Orientalism in Ali Pasha'a Greece. Princeton, N. J.: Princeton University Press.

Frembegen, J. (2014). The Closed Valley: With Fierce Friends in the Pakistani Himalaya . Karachi: Oxford University Press.

Frembgen, J. W. (2006, May 6). Interview: Prof Dr. Wasim Frembgen. (S. Akhtar, Interviewer)

Gholi, A. (2016 a). Representation of Central Asia and Traveling Self in Vambery's Travels in Central Asia. International Journal of English Language and Translation Studies, 4(1), 85-101.

Gholi, A. (2016 b). Dissection of Sympathy in Jurgen Frembgen's Travelogue: The Closed Valley: With Fierce Friends in Pakistani Himalaya. International Journal of English Language and Tranlstion Studies, 4(2), 83-95.

Gilory, J. (2010). Romantic Literatre. London : York Press.

Grgurinvie, I. (2012). Anthropology and Travel: Practice and Text. Stud, Ethnol, Croat, 24, 45-60.

Hargett, J. (2016). Chinese Travel Writing. In C. Thompson (Ed.), The Routledge Companion to Travel Writing (pp. 112-124). New York-London: Routledge.

Hawthrone, S. (1989). The Politics of the Exotic: The Paradox of Culture Voyeurism. NWSA Journal, 1(4), 617-629.

Herbsmeier, M. (2010). Sponteneous Ethnographies: Towards a Social History of Travelers'Tales. Studies in Travel Writing, 1(1), 216-238.

Holland, P., & Huggan, G. (1998). Tourist With Typewriters: Critical Reflections on Contemprary Travel Writing. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press.

Huggan, G. (2009). Extreme Pursuits: Travel Writing in the Age of Globalization . The United States of America: Michigan University Press.

Huggan, G. (2015). Anthropolgy/Travel/Writing/: Strange Encounters with James Clifford and Nicolos Rothwell. In J. Kueh, & P. Smethurst (Eds.), New Directions in Travel Writing Studies (pp. 228-245). New York & Hampshire: Palgrave Maxmillan.

Hussain, S. (2006). Small Players in the Great Game: Marginality and Representation on the Northen Frontiers of Nineteenth Century Colonial India. South Asia:Journal of South Asian Studies, 24(2), 235-253.

Hutton, W. (2016). Travel Writing in the Ancient Mediterranean. In C. Thompson (Ed.), The Roultledge Companion to Travel Writing (pp. 101-1011). New York & London: Routledge.

Islam, S. (1996). The Ethics of Travel: From Marco Polo to Kafca. Manchester: Manchester Universtiy Press.

Kahf, M. (1999). Western Representations of Muslim Women: From Termagant to Odalisque. Austin: University of Texas Press.

Kapuscinski, R. (2008). The Other. (A. Lioyd-Jones, Trans.) New York& London: Verso.

Kassis, D. (2015). Representation of the North in Victorian Travel Literature. Newcastle: Cambridge Scholars Publishing.

Keirstead, C. (2013). Convoluted Paths: Mapping Genre in Contemporary Footsteps Travel Writing. Genre, 46(13), 285-315.

Khair, T. (2016). India/South Asia. In C. Thompson (Ed.), The Routledge Companion to Travel Writing (pp. 384-393). New York and Abingdon: Routledge.

Koivunen, L. (2009). Visualizing Africa in Nineteenth-Century British Travel Account. New York & Oxon: Taylor Francis.

Korte, B. (2000). English Travel Writing from Pilgrimmages to Postcolonial Explorations. (C. Matthias, Trans.) New York: Macmillan Press.

Korte, B. (2016). Western Travel Writng 1750-1950. In C. Thompson (Ed.), The Routledge Companion to Travel Writing (pp. 173-183). New York & London: Routledge.

Lewis, H. (2007). The influence of Eward Said and Orientalism on Anthropology, or: Can anthropogist Speak. Isreal Affairs, 13(4), 774-785.

Lisle, D. (2006). The Global Politics of Contemporary Travel Writing. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Manser, M. (2007). The Facts on File Dictionary of Proverbs. New York: Infobase Publishing.

Marndi, S., & Tari, Z. G. (2012). Oreintalist Feminism; Representation of Muslim Women in Two American Novels: Terrorist and Falling Man. International Journal of Women's Research, 1(2), 5-20.

Matar, N. (2016). Arabic Travel Writing, to 1916. In C. Thompson (Ed.), The Routledge Companion to Travel Writing (pp. 139-151). New York & London: Routledge.

Marar, N. (2003). Nasiri Khusro (1003-1088) Persian Traveler. In J. Speake (Ed.), Literature of Travel and Exploration: An Encyclopedia (PP.673-675). New York & London: Routledge.

Matar, N. (1996). The Representation of Muslim Women in Renaissance England. The Muslim World, 86(1), 50-61.

Melman, B. (2002). The Middle East/Arabia: 'the Cradle of Islam'. In P. Hulme, & T. Youngs (Eds.), Cambridge Companion to Travel Writing (pp. 105-119). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Menon, S. (2003). Constitutive Contradictions: Travel Writing and Construction of Native Women in Clonial India. In S. Mohanty (Ed.), Travel Writing and Empire (pp. 100-111). New Delhi: Katha.

Metcalf, P. (2005). Anthropology: The Basics. New York & Oxon: Routledge.

Michelucci, S. (2004). L'Espace Perdu: D.H. Lawrence's Travel Writings. Studies in Travel Writing, 8(1), 35-48.

Mikkelsen, J. (2015). Cultural Encounters between Europeans and Arabs: Carsten Niebuhr's Reflections on Cities of the Islamic World (1761-67). In M. Gharipour, & N. Ozlu (Eds.), The City in the Muslims World: Depictions by Western Travel Writiers (pp. 121-142). New York & Oxon: Routledge.

Mills, S. (1991). Discourses of Difference: An Analysis of Women's Travel Writing and Colonialism. New York & London: Rourledge.

Moran, M. (2006). Victorian Literature and Culture. London & New York: Bloomsbury Academic.

Musgrove, B. (1999). Travel and Unsettlement: Freud on Vacation. In S. Clark (Ed.), Travel Writing and Empire: Postcolonial Theory in Transit (pp. 31-44). London: Zed Books.

Phillips, K. (2014). Before Orientalism: Asian Peoples and Cultures in European Travel Writing, 1245-1510. Pennsylvania: University of Pennsylvania Press.

Porter, D. (1991). Haunted Journeys: Desire and Transgression in European Travel Writing. New Jersey: Princeton University Press.

Said, E. (1979). Orientalism. New York: Vintage Books.

Satapathy, A. (2012). The Idea of England in Eighteenth-Century Indian Travel Writing. CLCWeb: Comparative Literature and Culture, 14(2) ).

Schwarta, J. (1996). The Geography Lesson: Photographs and the Construction of Imaginative Geographies. Journal of Historical Geography, 22(1), 16-45.

Stagl, J., & Pinney, C. (2010). Introduction: From Travel Writing to Ethnography. Histroy and Anthropology, 9(2-3), 121-124.

Starkey, P., & Starkey, J. (2001). Introduction. In P. Starkey, & J. Starkey (Eds.), Unfolding the Orient: Travelers in Egypt and the Near East (pp. 1-6). Lebnan: Ithaca Press.

Stevenson, A. (2010). Cultural Issues in Psychology: Student's Handbook . New York & London: Routledge.

Thompson, C. (2011). Travel Writing. London: Routledge.

Thompson, C.W. (2012). French Romantic Travel Writing: Chateaubriand to Nerval. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Thompson, C.W. (2016). The Romantic Travel Book. In C. Thompson (Ed.), The Routledge Companion Guide to Travel Writing (pp. 269-277). New York-London: Routledge.

Thompson, C. (2016). Travel Writing Now, 1950 to the Present Day. In C. Thompson (Ed.), The Routledge Companion to Travel Writing (pp. 196-213). New York & London: Routledge.

Thurschwell, P. (2000). Sigmund Freud. New York & London: Routledge.

Topping, M. (2016). Travel Writing and Visual Culture. In T. Carl (Ed.), The Routledge Companion to Travel Writing (pp. 78-88). New York& London: Routledge.

Wazzan, A. (1993). The Arabian Nights in Western Literature: A Discourse Analysis. Islamic Studies, 32(1), 61-71.

Whitfield, P. (2011). Travel Writing: A Literary History. Oxford: Bodleian Library University of Oxford.

Xiaolun, W. (2006). Travel and Culture Understanding: Comparing Victorian and Chinese Literati Travel Writing. Tourism Geographies, 8(3), 213-232.

Yahya, W., Ghaderi, , F., & Jusoff, K. (2012). The Exotic Portryal of Women In Isabella Bird Bishop's Journeys in Persia and Kurdistan. Iranian Studies, 6(6), 779-793.

Zarrinjooee, B. (2014). Revisiting Persian Architectureal Myth through Byronic Gaze in Robert Byron's The Road to Oxiana. Journal of Foreign Languages, Cultures, and Civilizations, 2(1), 159-175.




DOI: https://doi.org/10.7575/aiac.ijalel.v.6n.1p.84

Refbacks

  • There are currently no refbacks.


Bookmark and Share


Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

2012-2023 (CC-BY) Australian International Academic Centre PTY.LTD. 

International Journal of Applied Linguistics and English Literature

To make sure that you can receive messages from us, please add the journal emails into your e-mail 'safe list'. If you do not receive e-mail in your 'inbox', check your 'bulk mail' or 'junk mail' folders.