Throughout history, the desire to travel has always been an integral part of the human experience. According to Svante Paabo, director of the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Leipzig, Germany, “No other mammal moves around like we do.” As humans, we have forever been obsessed with discovering the unknown. Our insatiable curiosity to discover lands beyond our own has fascinated writers and become an integral part of our literature.
Writers such as Jules Verne, Lewis Carroll and C.S. Lewis are among the various authors who have ‘picked-up the travel bug’. Jules Verne’s famous science-fiction novel ‘Journey to the Centre of the Earth’ delves into the exciting world of scientific exploration. The story centres around the geologist Professor Otto Liedenbrock and his nephew Axel, along with an Icelandic guide Hans. The group embark on an adventure to reach the centre of the earth. Once they arrive, Verne thrills the reader with his vivid descriptions of the world that lies deep below our planets crust. However, this is not the Verne story that has enthralled readers since the 19th century. Jules Verne’s most renowned story of travel is his novel ‘Around the World in Eighty Days’.
‘Around the World in Eighty Days’ is one of the most well-recognised stories of travel and adventure. Staid Phileas Fogg, urged by a bet daring him to travel the world in eighty days, decided to do just that. He travels from England to distant lands; fights Native Americans and saves damsels in danger of ritual sacrifice. It is clear why this adventurous tale has enthralled Vernians for over a hundred years.
Lewis Carroll and C.S. Lewis took different paths in their exploration of the fascination with travel. Whilst Verne focused on worlds we know, Carroll and Lewis wrote about fascinating journeys to fantastical worlds. In Lewis Carroll’s children’s novel ‘Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland’, young Alice falls down a rabbit hole, travelling to the world of Wonderland where rabbits can read the time and caterpillars can predict the future. Although this children’s story was published in 1865, it remains a well-known and well-regarded tale.
C.S. Lewis wrote the celebrated ‘Chronicles of Narnia’. These tales follow the journeys and adventures of characters in the magical country of Narnia and its surrounding states. In the first story of this series, ‘The Magician’s Nephew’, Lewis concocts a world in which travel is as easy as stepping into a pond. In ‘The Horse and His Boy’ (the third novel), the reader gets a glimpse into the countries around Narnia as characters Shasta and Aravis run from indentured servitude and forced marriage. ‘The Voyage of the Dawn Treader’, C.S. Lewis’ fourth novel in the ‘Chronicles of Narnia’ series, is a sea-faring journey that leaves all readers on the edge of their seats. All seven novels of the ‘Chronicles of Narnia’ encompass a harrowing journey, conveying once again the emphasis of travel in literature.
Although all the aforementioned authors took slightly different routes, they all explored the idea of thrilling journeys to new lands and worlds. And, as long as humanity continues to be astounded and awed by the unknown, authors will continue to write about one of the most thrilling aspects of life – travel and the adventures it brings.
Grace Lundell
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