Literary Review

For this module, I had a question which was, ‘Why do we seek Escapism? And do we really?’ (I initially struggled to form this question at first as I have found this module very challenging). The book that I have placed first in my literature list, ‘A Dream of England: Landscape, Photography and the Tourists Imagination’, I found useful as it broke down the idea of tourism and defined them into various groups. It also explained the difference between these groups and how there method of escapism varies between them.

The second and third books in the list; ‘Escapism’ and ‘Escape Attempts: The Theory and Practice of Resistance to Everyday Life’ are on something of a level pegging. They both talk about Escapism, the first book talks about why people do it and the second talks about how people choose to do it. The conclusion that I have come to from both of these books are that this sense of escapism that we seek is not physical, but psychological (that’s partly my opinion as well).

The fourth and fifth books in the list are: ‘An Object Cannot Compete with an Experience’ and ‘Wanderlust: A History of Walking’ and they are again, both very similar in subject matter. They both talk about walking in the landscape and walking as an experience which counters the idea of tourism which is seeking escaping for the sake of it. Whereas these two books talk about walking as a physical and physiological experience and this is something which is to be enjoyed.

(I should also point out that a number of quotes from various people in the books that I have researched have also been useful. However, at this moment in time, I am a bit undecided as to which quotes which will work best with my presentation and I will look at narrowing down my choices at a later date).