…The truth
is I have always been suspicious of travel writing, of attempts to establish
that elusive element that might or might not be national character, to say in
sweeping and general terms, this place is like this, that place is like
that. One always thinks: But I’ve met
French people who weren’t at all droll.
Or, But I’ve been there and didn’t find it at all
romantic/squalid/interesting. Or worse
still: How long has this author been there, anyway? Two months, three? How can he possibly know
anything deep about the place? How can he tell us about anything more than the
casual phenomena any traveler would notice, conversations in bars and things
only half understood on the street. At
which point it all becomes no more than an exercise in eloquent reportage…
~ Tim Parks, An Italian Education: The Further
Adventures of an Expatriate in Verona, 1995
2 comments:
Wow, I love this Angeli. It's such a subjective reality, really. I guess people see what they see and they experience what they experience and it is what it is to them. I live in Florida and have friends who hate Florida and do not understand how I can live here. What they see is not what I see though. I like it here. I like it everywhere actually.
I agree with Agnes's reply completely. And how can we say whether a place is good or bad when we have only been there for a couple of months??
Have a fabulous week ahead Angeli:)
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