Arabian Desert in English Travel Writing Since 1950

Jenny Walker is Consultant to the CEO of Oman’s national accreditation agency. Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society and Member of the British Guild of Travel Writers, she has written for Lonely Planet for 20 years in 40 guidebooks, curated a book of Silk Road drawings, and coauthored, with husband Sam Owen, an off-road guide to Oman.

"An astute, wide-ranging analysis of the directions British travel writing on Arabia have taken since Thesiger and the 1950s. Jenny Walker combines practical knowledge of the Arabian desert with sensitive readings of how writing about it has been formed by postmodern trends and twenty-first century contexts. This book is more than an update it is an invaluable aid to our understanding of the desert writing genre."Geoffrey Nash, author of, From Empire to Orient, Travellers to the Middle East

• Acknowledgements Preface Introduction: Arabia, the Land of Legend The margins of Western desert travel in Arabia Locating Arabia Arabia as a country of the mind The Lawrence and Thesiger legacy Mapping the chaptersChapter 1. In Literary Footsteps: The Prevalence of "Second Journeys" A tradition of intertextuality Learning from the past – Blackmore in the footsteps of Lawrence Writing about the present – Kirkby and Hayes in the footsteps of Thesiger Opportunities for the future – Evans in the footsteps of ThomasChapter 2. Desert and Sown: The Narration of Progress and Modernity Desert but not deserted – Asher’s modern Bedu The desert mechanised – Toy’s travels by Land Rover The desert politicised – Morris and a Sultan’s pageant The desert urbanised – Raban and a camel-free account The desert historicised – Mackintosh-Smith’s inverse archaeologyChapter 3: Gendering the Desert: Women and Desert Narratives Where are the women? Western women’s travels in Arabia "Pay, pack and follow" – women as desert writers The siren trope The "veiled best-seller" Desert as an inconstant space Chapter 4. Wonderment and Wilderness: Desert Science Writing Delighting in sand grouse George and the neo-sublime Walker and Pittaway in amateur pursuits Winser in search of solutions Staging the desert for Western audiencesChapter 5: Desert as Shared Space Post-tourism and the accelerated sublime The modern secular pilgrimage Democratisation of the desert experienceConclusion: Barren Legacy? Bibliography Index