Episode Details

Who carries the weight of our leisure?

Some readings from the past by thoughtful and resilient women! Take in some early writing of place and circumstance, journals and reflections which reflect the jarring collisions between our travel expectations and the realities we meet. More, we learn that an adaptable attitude and skeptical eye are essential tools.

Readings from:

• • Dorothy Wordsworth - “The Highland Hut” from Recollections of a Tour Made in Scotland, A.D. 1803 
  • Mary Seacole - Chapter III from Wonderful Adventures of Mrs. Seacole in Many Lands, 1857
  • Sei Shōnagon - “182. The House Had a Spacious Courtyard,” from The Pillow Book, c. 1002

Episode 7.04 –

Packing Lists Pt. 2 - Stalwart Women

Other Resources:

• MacLeod, Nicola E. Literary Fiction Tourism: Understanding the Practice of Fiction-Inspired Travel, 2024.

Glossary:

Compartmentalized World: A theoretical concept from Frantz Fanon which describes how the colonial world is divided into two distinct species: the wealthy, secure sector of the colonizer and the impoverished, exploited sector of the colonized. In the context of travel, we ask who is permitted to move safely through a space, and who is forced to serve as manual labor, landscape, or a prop for the comfort of others. 

Listener’s Guide Reflection Questions

1. When you examine your expectations which you pack for a highly anticipated trip, what do they suggest about the kind of difficulties or travel challenges you most dislike?
2. Consider the physical metaphor of a curtain: if your travel planning and packing keep the “raw” destination apart from you, what boundaries have you created between your leisure and local survival?
3. From Dorothy Wordsworth’s smoky chimney-corner to a modern climate-controlled resort lounge, how has our idea of safety changed and why?
4. Consider when a text presents you with an offensive historical slur or an ugly, uncomfortable truth: does that sudden friction cause you to see the history more clearly or does your mind want to censor and buffer that discomfort away?
5. If “roughing it” or traveling “close to the ground” is also a stylized, performative lifestyle choice, what signals do we project to those who observe us?

Skeptical Pilgrim Challenges: 

• The Grand Tour - PDF
• Packing Lists - PDF

Complete Resources: https://waywordsstudio.com/project/literary-tourism/

CHAPTERS

00:00     Where We’ve Been
01:20     Stalwart Women
03:02     Intro Theme
03:38     Dorothy Wordsworth: “The Highland Hut”
08:07     Mary Seacole: The Chaos of Cruces
22:02     Sei Shonagon: “The Exorcism”
28:39     Sovereign but Skeptical
29:45     Closing Credits