Short description:

1290), ?A Korean Official?s Account of China? (1488), ?The Poetry of Basho?s Road? (1689), ?Malabari: A Love-Hate Affair with the British? (1890).

Long description:

". . . brings new insights into the colonial relationship while challenging the unspoken temptation that this was a distinctly European period." ?Simon Gikandi

Other Routes collects important primary work by travel writers from Asia and Africa in English translation. An introduction by Tabish Khair discusses travel literature as a genre, the perception of travel and writing about travel as a European privilege, and the emergence of new writings that show that travel has been a human occupation that crosses time and culture. This original and significant book will interest armchair travelers and others in views of people and places away from the European traveler's gaze.

Selections include "The Travels of a Japanese Monk" (c. 838), "Al-Abdari, the Disgruntled Traveller" (c. 1290), "A Korean Official's Account of China" (1488), "The Poetry of Basho's Road" (1689), "Malabari: A Love-Hate Affair with the British" (1890).

The editors offer 33 carefully excerpted travel accounts that range chronologically from the 5th century CE . . . to the late 19th century . . . . The volume includes a literary foreword by Amitav Ghosh and a lucid and scholarly introduction by Khair. Each of these highly readable travel accounts is preceded by an informative editorial overview that looks at the traveler, the land through which the traveler journeys, and the purpose of travel (commerce, enlightenment, conversion, etc.). . . . Highly recommended.