The Art of Wandering is a history of that curious hybrid, the writer as walker. From the Ancient world to the modern day, the role of the walker continues to evolve, from philosopher and pilgrim, vagrant and visionary, to experimentalist and radical. From Rousseau and De Quincey to Virginia Woolf and Werner Herzog, this seemingly innocuous activity has inspired a literary tradition encompassing philosophy and poetry, the novel and the manifesto.
Today, this figure has returned to the forefront of the public imagination, as writers and walkers follow in the footsteps of earlier generations. For the walker is once again on the march, seeking out new territory and recording new impressions of the landscape.
Newly revised and updated, The Art of Wandering explores these adventures on foot. Every walk can be expressed as a story narrated by the walker; it is these stories and the lives of those who walked them which are examined here.
The Art of Wandering is a history of that curious hybrid, the writer as walker. From the peripatetic philosophers of Ancient Greece to the streets of twenty-first century London, Paris and New York, this figure has evolved through the centuries, the philosopher and the Romantic giving way to the experimentalist and radical. From pilgrim to pedestrian, flâneur to stalker, the names may change but the activity of walking remains constant, creating a literary tradition encompassing philosophy and poetry, the novel and the manifesto; a tradition which this book explores in detail. Today, as the figure of the wanderer returns to the forefront of the public imagination, writers and walkers from around the world are re-engaging with the ideas which animated earlier generations. For the walker is once again on the march, mapping new territory and recording new visions of the landscape.
