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Articles

Volume 04, Number 2 (1979)

Literature of Exploration: Canadian Travel Books of the 1870s

  • Elizabeth Waterston
Submitted
May 22, 2008
Published
1979-06-06

Abstract

A great Canadian travel-book period occurred in 1870-1879, when new regions were opened, and new literary methods for commuting experience were tried. Travel books in this period had to describe spaces and forms never before given literary expression , and had also to suggest the continuity and relationship of these scenes. Landscape description, the drama of strange encounters, the antagonism of space, technology and climate, the persona of the traveller, and the male-dominated environments are all prevalent elements in travel books of the 1870s. Writers discussed include William Francis Butler, George Grant, and Charles Horetzky.