isabelle eberhardt

unit four: autobiography

return to art&auto

Film:

Hideous Kinky (1999)
Review

Online readings:

Autobiography and the Slave Narratives
harper's magazine (online)

Travel Narratives
     Moorea & Tahiti  -- online travel diary
     Siberian Notebook
     Salon Magazine Travel Archives:  Vagabonding
     Turkey
     Colin Thubron

Spiritual Quest Narratives
     Isabelle Eberhardt:  The Oblivion Seekers
     An article on Eberhardt
     Alexandra David-Neel: Magic and Mystery in Tibet

Writing your memoirs

Recommended book:
bell hooks:  Remembered Rapture -- The Writer at Work

Required Work:

Questions for Reflection

  • Do you think that self-destructiveness is ever romanticized in "adventure travel" or "true travel"? How?  When?  What does it reflect about society's treatment of women or a non-conforming individual?  Does it suggest that they are trying to escape a society they find intolerable &/or intolerant?
  • Have you ever considered what it would be like to join a different culture? 
  • Do you ever feel as though you are living "in disguise" and that you have to mask your true identity for fear of rejection?  What does "passing" as a member of the other culture do to you emotionally?
  • How is your life different than that of your grandparents' lives when they were your age?
  • How would you start your memoirs?  Would you begin with a remembered event?  Would you start with a statement about your philosophy of life?

your instructor:
susan smith nash, ph.d.