Transcultural Identity in Vikram Seth's from Heaven Lake, Travels Through Sinkiang and Tibet

Bushra Jafri Bushra Jafri, TJPRC
2019 International Journal of English and Literature  
T S Eliot in his poem the Dry Salvages figuring in the Four Quartet says, "Fare forward, travellers! ...You are not the same people who left that station". This statement defines a very major aspect of travelling which involves coming back to one's home place. Foreign lands generally seem to hold a magical temptation for most people. A person goes to foreign land and returns to his native soil with the stories of faraway and exotic lands. Travelling allows a man to discover the 'infinite
more » ... of the foreign lands. The true traveller looks forward to the future prospects of enriching his future with his past and present experiences. Travel is an age-old process and with the advent of the printing press in the 15 th century, people became sharply aware of voyages, adventures and discoveries of new places, people and continent. Travel writing is instrumental in one's understanding of the history and geography of the world. Debbie Lisle in her book The Global Politics of Contemporary Travel Writings mexplicated the early travel writers and their influential writings. Commenting on the role of travelling in human perceptions of the world, she says: Travel writing shapes and influences the way we understand the world. Historically, our knowledge of the world has come to us, in part, through the famous travel stories of figures like Marco Polo, Magellan and Lawrence of Arabia. In short, we know there are faraway lands on the other side of the world because certain travellers have made journeys there and recorded them in travelogues
doi:10.24247/ijelfeb20192 fatcat:nzepvk37ufbqhfnegfosmmixwu