To me humor is not a necessity in travel writing, or any writing in general. I think it is exceptionally hard to portray humor while writing because a writer can never truly know their audience. In Cahill’s Pecked to death by Ducks he uses sarcasm to show a sense of self-deprication and humor. For example on pg. 316 his character asks “‘Is it fun, yet.’” Ironically, this a line I would typically use if I was in a situation where I was supposed to have fun but instead I was bored out of my mind. While minor sarcastic remarks were used throughout Cahill’s piece, I do not feel any value was added to the overall story. I think the overall message of the story would have been the same even if there was no humor used.
Then there are Twain who uses hardly any humor in his piece Roughing It. Throughout this piece there is a large attention to detail that allows a reader to transport themselves into the work and experience what Twain experienced. By substituting detail for humor Twain is able to explain what his journey was like without adding any fluff to make a more enjoyable piece of work to read. Another piece that complicates the humor puzzle would be that not all travels are exciting and humorous. As Russell demonstrated throughout Mirror Images sometimes people travel to places that are not necessarily safe or a typical tourist” destination such as a post-war Bosnia. With this being said Russell is very serious and straight to the point with her experiences and the various things she encountered while traveling place to place in Bosnia.
Ultimately I believe Pico Iyer says it best by saying “We travel, initially, to lose ourselves; and we travel, next, to find ourselves” (p.1). The journey of finding yourself and ultimately who you are is not always pleasant, but sometimes the best way to describe how you got to where you are is through straight details and experiences. Since it is often difficult to convey humor in writing, I don’t feel it is a crucial aspect of travel writing. Since a travel writing piece can use intense details to explain how a character or person is feeling during a specific moment, the use of humor would only make the subject lighter and sometimes easier to read and possibly digest. Everyone will have a different take on using humor but to me its easier to be sarcastic in person than in writing.
Katie, I like your point about never knowing your true audience. I feel that if you get good at travel writing more of the same people would be reading. So, if that ever happens maybe humor could be a part of your travel writing, but there really is not a good chance that I would ever get good at travel writing. It is very hard to use humor through text and it takes a specific person to master it.
ReplyDeleteKatie,
ReplyDeleteInitially I did not agree with you about eliminating humor from writing. But then I am someone who thinks that humor is an appropriate tool for every occasion. The more I read about your examples the more I began to agree with you that some pieces just have no place for a humorous tone. Also, as you said, it is far easier to convey sarcasm in person and what may sound harmless in spoken word could be interpreted differently through text. Although I know there is a time and place for humor, a little comic relief in any writing does help to lighten the mood and keep things interesting.
Katie,
ReplyDeleteI thought it was interesting to see your viewpoint on humor and travel writing because it was different from the rest of people's views on humor. I think humor makes a piece ten times better, but I see why you see humor as a con. I think it is definitely not necessary, but it could really make a piece. For me when I read Twain's piece the only parts that stood out was the humor he used. For example, when he was traveling with that girl who would not stop talking and he made it seem so awful and because it was funny to me, I remembered it the best.