A Month in Siena 10/16/2023
Two Shelves, One Book
Not literary theory
Image does not capture what this establishment is like. ARTISANworks in Rochester, NY. September 2018
Reading time: 2 minutes
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July 21st, 2020 at 9:22am
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I promise you, I understand.
People would rather eat lead paint chips than talk about literary theory, but I need to discuss something theoretical. I will not be serving up colorful flecks of poison today. We will sashay past theory, give it a peck on the cheek, and be done. I swear.
Two types, simplified
Travel literature usually sits on the smallest shelf of a bookstore. Furthermore, that shelf is divided among two kinds of writing: service and memoir.
I have always thought that a good memoir can be, for lack of a better word (and I'm sure there's a better word), service-y.
Service pieces (guidebooks, feature articles) inform and educate. They sell destinations. Directly or indirectly, they help millions of people make a living. They are necessary and important. (Example: last month's Travel + Leisure cover story)
A memoir is about travelers and their observations, experiences, and growth. (Example: Eat Pray Love )
Usually, guidebooks take up more of the limited shelf space than memoirs. Which is a bit disappointing. I love a good guidebook (I'm partial to Frommer's and Moon), but if I'm going to read travel literature, 98% of the time I want a story.
And yet...I have always thought that a good memoir can be, for lack of a better word (and I'm sure there's a better word), service-y. Travel writers can indulge in the wonder that is the Sistine Chapel or a meal at an intimate restaurant on the Ile Saint-Louis, and their memoir can be that much richer for it.
Theory, briefly
The Russian literary critic Mikhail Bakhtin said that a novel can include and absorb other genres and remain a novel.
In Moby Dick, for example, Melville pens entire chapters devoted to natural history and zoology. History, poetry, songs, and folklore grace The Lord of the Rings. Some of Kurt Vonnegut's novels contain drawings.
All those works are still novels.
In the same way, a travel memoir can contain service bits (and almost anything else, for that matter) and remain a memoir.
A travel memoir can contain service bits and stay a memoir.
It doesn't work in the other direction. A service piece can't contain memoir—it feels weird. A guidebook's reviews of hotels, restaurants, and attractions, of cities and countries, of parks and experiences, almost never delve into the personal.
Again—this is neither criticism nor a detraction; on the contrary, it's a good thing—service literature is largely sales and marketing. Commerce. Its goal is to pique the reader's interest for economic reasons.
Bringing it back to...me
My project Backseat Cities is a travel memoir. More accurately, a travelogue. The first volume is the story of my travels through six mid-tier American cities:
- Rochester, New York
- Lafayette, Louisiana
- Boise, Idaho
- Cleveland, Ohio
- Des Moines, Iowa
- Tulsa, Oklahoma
While the content is a memoir, the premise is service-oriented: the exploration of cities semi-ignored relative to the large destinations like New York, or small towns like Carmel.
I also wrestle with my expectations as a traveler. I acknowledge as honestly as possible what I look at when I visit a place. And I consider what it is to visit these cities as a middle-aged white man traveling by himself. The results occasionally surprised me.
Backseat Cities
A reader once challenged me on the chapters I sent her. They contained several discussions of specific restaurants, and she said I was "between genres." I understand and, to a certain extent, I agree with her.
Having said that:
- As I mentioned above, a travel memoir is similar to the novel in that it can include other genres and remain a memoir
- Food is such an important part of travel; is it inappropriate to write a one- or two-page review of a restaurant in a memoir?
Maybe my particular reviews in Backseat Cities dangle like third limbs (note: in hindsight, most of them did), but the travel memoir, both in theory and in practice, can contain reviews, attractions' schedules, excerpts from brochures and other service writing, and remain a memoir.
Done! It was a short read, there were some fun pictures, and I only mentioned one literary critic.
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