[...] In today‘s fleeting, globalized world, people more than ever seem to feel at odds with
themselves. They escape wherever and whenever they can – from the workplace, from the
mundane duties of everyday existence, from social pressure and expectations, from each
other. Escape from reality is not a new concept, for mankind’s „innate dissatisfaction with
existence“, as Evans calls it, is probably almost as old as existence itself. In the 21st century
however, the possibilities of retreat are endless and pervade every aspect of life. Digital
entertainment has become abundant and, ironically, almost inescapable, while mass media
carries the viewer off to exotic places without him even having to leave the house. Amidst this
virtual word, the modern wanderlust has found its place. Entire legions of travelers move on
to remote places, in search of relaxation, diversion and the solution to their unfulfilled
yearnings for utopian landscapes.
In his essay The Rationality of Escapism and Self-Deception, Longeway defines escapism as
“the attempt to avoid awareness of aversive beliefs.” He goes on to say that
’Escapist’ entertainment’s essential purpose is to draw us away from our everyday troubles,
and, sometimes, to help us to fantasize ourselves as better, more important, and better off than
we really are. Indulgence in such entertainment helps us avoid, temporarily, unpleasant truths
that we must live with, and it is this escape from unpleasant reality that gives us the terms
‘escapist’ and ‘escapism’.
The notion of escapism evokes a whole chain of terms and concepts directly connected to it;
repression, distraction, travel, leisure, self-discovery and, of course, places, imagined or real, to whom the individual wishes to escape to.
In this paper, I want to analyze three books on escapism and the various ways in which it
presents itself in them. My focus will be on Alex Garland’s backpacker cult novel The Beach and William Sutcliffe’s debunking of the gap-year traveler in Are You Experienced?, as well
as Jon Krakauer’s non-fiction book Into The Wild. The first two belong to backpacker fiction,
a genre that emerged particularly forcefully at the turn of the 21st century. The authors of
these narratives employ satire in order to debunk the escapism and self-fashioning of a
demographic of young, urban, Anglophone travelers who exert traveling mostly as a staged
interest for other cultures, while in truth they seek self-fulfillment and self-gratification. [...]
Table of Contents
Introduction
1. Literary aspects
1.1 Influences of the Bildungsroman
1.1.1 definition
1.1.2 Into the Wild (1996)
1.1.3 The Beach (1997) and Are You Experienced? (1997)
1.2 influences of travel literature
1.2.1 Are You Experienced? - India
1.2.2 The Beach - South-East Asia as Africa
1.2.3 Into The Wild - North America
1.2.3.1 Emerson and Thoreau
1.2.3.2 Jack Kerouac
1.2.3.3 Jack London
1.3 Unreliable Narration
1.3.1 definition
1.3.2 Richard in The Beach
1.3.3 Dave in Are You Experienced?
2. Cultural aspects
2.1 Escape through travel
2.1.1 the construction of authenticity in The Beach and Are You Experienced?
2.1.2 the hyper-real of The Beach
2.1.3 Terra incognita in Into The Wild and Lonely Planet in The Beach and Are You Experienced?
2.2 Escape into Drugs
2.2.1 cannabis as familiar patterns of consumption in The Beach
2.2.2 cannabis as a sign of civilization in Are You Experienced?
2.3 Danny Boyle’s The Beach (2000)
2.3.1 adaptation – book vs. movie
2.3.2 the visualization of paradise
2.3.3 the ending
2.4 Sean Penn’s Into The Wild (2007)
2.4.1 politics and the aesthetics of ‘indie’ cinema
2.4.2 structure, voice and literary influence
2.4.3 moral ambiguity
Conclusion
Research Objectives and Key Topics
This work investigates the motif of escapism in selected contemporary literature and film, specifically analyzing how Alex Garland, William Sutcliffe, and Jon Krakauer portray the desire to flee from modern consumerist society. The study explores the intersection between the literary traditions of the Bildungsroman, travel writing, and the psychological concept of the unreliable narrator to demonstrate how these narratives reflect modern cultural malaise and the search for authentic selfhood.
- Analysis of the 'Bildungsroman' genre in the context of 21st-century backpacker literature.
- Examination of the psychological and cultural triggers behind escapist behavior.
- Critique of the tourist-traveler dichotomy and the role of guidebooks in shaping 'authentic' experiences.
- Comparison of literary source material with their respective film adaptations by Danny Boyle and Sean Penn.
- Investigation into the role of drugs and nature as catalysts for both self-discovery and delusion.
Excerpt from the Book
1.1.2 Into The Wild (1996)
In Into The Wild, author and journalist Jon Krakauer tells the story of Christopher McCandless, a 24-year old young man from an affluent American middle-class family who, after graduating from college, abandoned all his possessions, donated his college-fund savings to Oxfam and left home to embark on a two year odyssey across North America. McCandless had his mind firmly set on hiking to Alaska, where he intended to live off the land and escape the excesses of modern consumer society. There, in a derelict bus in the midst of the wilderness, he was found death four months later. The case became widely known across the US when Krakauer first covered it in the January 1993 issue of Outside magazine. He later decided to expand the story and began to gather detailed information on McCandless’ background. He questioned his family as well as numerous people across America who met him and had, in one way or another, grown attached to the boy.
Krakauer furthermore enriched the story with other known cases of social dropouts who got lost in the great outdoors of the American landscape and even added a chapter on his own experiences as a young mountaineer. The result is a piece of investigative journalism that falls under the category of ‘creative non-fiction’ where factual information is mixed with speculation and augmented with narrative embellishments to make it read like a novel. In the author’s note, Krakauer admits to this creative freedom, stating that “I won’t claim to be an impartial biographer” and that “McCandless’s strange tale struck a personal note that made a dispassionate rendering of the tragedy impossible” (ITW, x).
Summary of Chapters
1. Literary aspects: This chapter establishes the theoretical background by examining the influence of the Bildungsroman genre and travel literature traditions on the selected works.
2. Cultural aspects: This section investigates broader themes such as the pursuit of authenticity, the role of substance abuse as a coping mechanism, and a comparative analysis of the film adaptations.
Keywords
Escapism, Bildungsroman, Backpacker Fiction, Into The Wild, The Beach, Are You Experienced, Travel Writing, Authenticity, Unreliable Narration, Cultural Critique, Hyper-reality, Wilderness, Jon Krakauer, Alex Garland, William Sutcliffe
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the central focus of this academic work?
The work examines the motif of escapism in modern backpacker literature and film, focusing on how individuals attempt to flee from modern society and the consequences of these journeys.
Which specific authors and works are analyzed?
The study centers on Alex Garland’s novel The Beach, William Sutcliffe’s Are You Experienced?, and Jon Krakauer’s Into The Wild, alongside their film adaptations.
What is the primary research goal?
The goal is to analyze how these narratives address the desire for self-fulfillment and the inherent conflicts between individual ideals and societal demands.
What scientific methods are utilized?
The work employs literary analysis, comparing texts to established genres like the Bildungsroman, and utilizes narratological tools such as the study of unreliable narration.
What key aspects does the main section cover?
It covers literary foundations, the role of drugs, the construction of authenticity, and a comparative analysis of the film adaptations by Danny Boyle and Sean Penn.
How would you describe the work's core themes?
Key themes include the clash between the 'traveler' and 'tourist', the construction of reality, the impact of colonialism, and the psychological implications of escapism.
How does the author interpret McCandless's journey?
The author views McCandless's journey as a moral quest that resembles a Bildungsroman, where the protagonist attempts to achieve spiritual education, though his ultimate return is tragically prevented.
Why is the concept of the 'unreliable narrator' important for this study?
It is crucial because the protagonists in the analyzed novels often provide distorted accounts of their experiences, which reveals their internal struggles and self-deception.
- Quote paper
- Hannes Krehan (Author), 2013, 'Places Of Longing': The Escapist motif in the works of Garland, Sutcliffe and Krakauer, Munich, GRIN Verlag, https://www.grin.com/document/262597
