Travel and Enlightenment
Fall 2006

Though we travel the world over to find the beautiful, we must carry it with us, or we find it not.
Ralph Waldo Emerson [Esays: First Series, Essay XII, "Art"]

In the mid-Nineteenth century, during his travels to the Kingdom of Hawaii, Mark Twain wrote "Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrowmindedness." In more recent years, Larry McMurty suggested that "It may be that the availability of speedy travel has mainly worked to make the human animal—or at least the American animal—more impatient." The next issue of "divide #4: Travel and Enlightenment" will be devoted to an exploration of the tension and potential of these two statements. In other words, what is the potential of travel in our global culture? To consider:

Barry Lopez suggested that in order to become a good writer, one ought to "get away from the familiar". But he went on to say that travel to exotic destinations need not be the way to exit the familiar. So what, then, does travel mean?

Etymologically, travel is akin to travail. Is travail, in fact, an imperative element of enlightened travel?

What is the distinction between traveler and tourist? Is this distinction dissolving?

What dangers of cultural appropriation exist? How should a traveler treat a distinct (and foreign) culture? What value exists in preservation of/noninterference with existing cultures?

Is the notion of enlightenment through travel a pretentious intellectual construct? Must one launch into any journey, of any length and type (physical, emotional, etc.) with an existing seed of understanding for the beautiful, for the potential for enlightenment?

What constitutes enlightenment? Does it exist in a lyric moment, or arise in a murky haze? Must it be precise and tangible?

divide welcomes submissions clearly related to our issue themes. Our needs include: