原文: Top 10 Great Travel Novels

It’s hard to find great travel writing, but it’s out there. Part of the reason for this is that so much travel writing is also considered nature writing or narrative non-fiction. Part of the reason is that the field is so competitive because of a lot of good authors competing for a relatively small market space. But there is a wide array of great travel fiction out there, and here is my list of the best ten travel novels I’ve read over the past couple years.

10

Through Painted Deserts

Donald Miller

This is one I actually found in the “Christian” Non-Fiction section, which can be unfair. There’s no question Miller is a Christian, but he’s a writer first and foremost, he’s not preachy, and his questioning of his own faith, of reasons for existence, of who and what he is or is becoming is reminiscent of the fantastic soul searching that came from the travel writing of the Beat generation. Miller’s account of his trip is great, going through the moments of beauty, the necessity of good road trip music, and admitting his moments of embarrassment and fear as freely as any other part of his journey.

The early reading of this book can be hard, because after the first few chapters there’s a lot of the Western perspective, the whining of living conditions and poverty, the type of scorn you don’t care to read from travel writing. I’m glad I read the rest, because like “Through Painted Deserts,” “Holy Cow” is about the author’s journey. Sarah evolves and changes chapter to chapter in front of you as she sheds the scornful nature of an atheist “too smart” to fall for superstition, and she opens up, traveling through India and sampling all the different religious beliefs and practices as she becomes a humble Theist who learns happiness, learns to grow, and learns that alien cultures can have a lot to offer the open traveler.

I first caught sight of this book at a Barnes and Noble on one of the feature tables. I was on winter break from Alaska and visiting family in Iowa. I picked up the book, sat down, and read the entire work in one sitting. Travel book, journalistic book, nature book, adventure book—whatever you call it, this is one heck of a read, and the debate this book causes is deep and passionate. As a wanderlust traveler, I understand the drive the main character feels, as an Alaskan, I understand the native perspective of irritation, of the lack of understanding that nature is brutal and especially Alaska needs to be respected as such.

The full title of this novel is Dark Star Safari: Overland from Cairo to Capetown. Paul Theroux is at his best in “Dark Star Safari,” where his skills of observation and his dry wit are on full display. Paul takes readers the length of Africa via overcrowded rattletrap bus, dugout canoe, cattle truck, armed convoy, ferry, and train in a journey that is hard to forget. There are moments of beauty, but there are also many moments of misery and danger. This is a narration of Africa that goes beyond the skin deep to dare to look at the deeper core of what is often referred to as “The Dark Continent.”

This is an auto-biographical travel journey taken by Heat-Moon in 1978. After separating from his wife and losing his job, Heat-Moon decided to take an extended road trip around the United States, sticking to “Blue Highways,” a term to refer to small out of the way roads connecting rural America (which were drawn in blue in the old Rand McNally atlases). So Heat-Moon outfits his van, named “Ghost Dancing” and takes off on a 3-month soul-searching tour of the United States. The book chronicles the 13,000 mile journey and the people he meets along the way, as he steers clear of cities and interstates, avoiding fast food and exploring local American culture on a journey that is just as amazing today as when he first took the journey.

There are tons of fantastic Bill Bryson books out there, and any one of them could hold this spot here. “The Lost Continent” is Bryson’s trip across America, visiting some common places (the Grand Canyon), but also exploring the back roads and looking for that familiarity that helps him remember home.

Probably one of the best travel writing collections released in recent memory, this collection is under the name Pico Iyer, who helped to edit this collection. These stories come from the “Wanderlust” section of Salon.com and create a varied tapestry of travel writing that will keep the reader flipping from one writer to another.

This is one of the all time modern classics in travel literature, as Peter Jenkins recalls the story of his 1973-1975 walk from New York to New Orleans. For many readers, this remains a rare travel book that grips you and keeps you. Known as a travel writer who will walk anywhere, including Alaska and China, Peter Jenkins says, “I started out searching for myself and my country and found both.” That sums up what travel writing should be all about.

This was a novel that helped John Steinbeck win a Nobel Prize in Literature. “Travels with Charlie” is a fantastic travel narrative that gets to the heart of travel, the point of the trip, and the strange confrontation and realization that the places and people you remember are gone once you are. As he revisits the places of his youth that many of his books are based on, he realizes on seeing old friends that they’re as uncomfortable with him being back as he is with being there. A great story about travel, about home, about mourning lost history, about aging, and about America—this should be required reading for every high school student.

The beat generation was full of great travel narratives, and Jack Kerouac was the master of powerful, moving, passionate language that unfolded stories like few people have ever managed. While “On the Road” is the most often pointed to travel narrative by Kerouac, “The Dharma Bums” is a better book. Full of passion, interesting characters and stories, and the kind of passionate language and powerful prose that made the beat generation writers popular, this Kerouac book is extraordinary and deserving of its number one spot.

Contributor: Shane Dayton

译文: TOP排行榜上的十大最棒游记

      好的游记固然存在，但是要找到它却很难。会出现这种情况，一部分原因是因为很多的游记被认为是自然类作品或是叙述性的非小说类作品。另一部分原因是写作领域内竞争激烈，有很多好的作者在这相对很小的市场空间里竞争。但是仍然有一个系统的游记系列，这里是我列举的十大最好的游记。

第十名
《穿越多色沙漠》

多纳德·米勒

      这本游记是我在基督教类非小说板块中找到的。毫无疑问，米勒是一个基督教徒，但是更重要的是，他首先是一个作家，他不是基督教的传教士。他对于自己宗教信仰和生存的理由提出过质疑，对于他自己是谁是干什么的，是否是一个满脑子奇思妙想充满探险精神，出身于美国二战后的游记作家提出过质疑。米勒写的这部游记是很棒的，里面贯穿了他欣赏到美好的景色的时刻，记录了他认为必不可少的旅游音乐，同时也写到了他在旅游过程中窘迫和害怕的时候。

第九名
《圣牛：一次印度探险》
撒拉·麦可东娜尔德

      刚开始读这本书的时候觉得很难，因为从第一章开始往后的几个章节中，有很多部分是用西方视角来写的，而且有很多对于生活状况以及贫困的抱怨，这种轻蔑的写法是你不喜欢从游记中看到的。我很庆幸我看完了剩下的部分，因为就像《穿越多色沙漠》一样，《圣牛》也是一本记载作者自己的旅行的游记。读者可以明显的看到，撒拉一个一个章节中的蜕变，从开始时对于迷信者流露出无神论者自以为是的轻蔑，到后来的打开心胸，游遍整个印度，抽样记录了所有不同的宗教信仰和做法，就好像她自己就是一个虔诚的有神论者。她学着开心学着成长，明白了心胸开阔的游者可以从外国的文化中学到很多。

第八名
《进入荒野》
约翰·克莱克

      第一次看到这本书是在Barnes and Noble书店。我从阿拉斯加放寒假回爱荷华州拜访亲戚。我拿起这本书，坐下一口气把它读完了。旅游书籍，新闻类书籍，自然类书籍，探险书，无论你给这本书下什么定论，这都是一本不可思议的书。对于这本书的争辩是深层次的并且充满了激情的。作为一个酷爱旅游的旅行者，我能理解书中主角的感受，作为一个阿拉斯加人，我能理解阿拉斯加人对于刺激的向往，但是不能理解阿拉斯加人被认为本性野蛮的，阿拉斯加人需要被尊重。

第七名
《黑暗之星猎游》
保罗·索鲁

      这本小说的整个标题就是《黑暗之星猎游》：描写了作者从埃及的开罗经陆路一路旅行到南非开普敦的历险。保罗。索鲁在《黑暗之星猎游》中处于最好的状态，他的观察能力和冷嘲热讽的能力都发挥的淋漓尽致。保罗通过描写旅行中过度拥挤的破旧公车，独木舟，牛车，武装押运队，渡船和火车这些令人难忘的过程，让读者了解非洲的长度。书中有描写美好的时刻，但是同时也描写了不幸和危险的时刻。这种对非洲的叙述超越了种族界限，敢于挑战，敢于观察非洲的更深处的核心。

第六名
《蓝色公路：一次美国旅行》
William Least Heat-Moon

      这是一本由Heat-Moon在1978年写的自传型游记。在他与太太分开并且丢了工作后，他决定绕着美国游一圈。“蓝色公路”是连接美国乡村的小公路，在老版的Rand 麦奈利地图集中是用蓝色来标注的。Heat-Moon 装备好他的小货车“鬼舞”，开始了他去美国3个月的心灵之旅。这本书记载了他13000公里的旅程，以及旅途中遇到的人。书中还记载了他驾车到洲际时，避免吃垃圾食品，探索当地美国文化。这对于他来说真是次疯狂的旅行。

第五名
《消失的大陆》
比尔·布莱森

      外面有许多比尔。布莱森的书，任何一本都很棒。《消失的大陆》是描写布莱森去美洲的一次旅行的，他在此次旅行中参观了一些去美洲必去的地方，像大峡谷，与此同时他探索了回去的路并且通过寻找相似处帮助他记住回家的路。

第四名
《旅游热：真实的探险故事集》
Pico Iyer

      这可能是最近出版的最好的游记系列了，这一系列署名的是Pico Iyer，他是这一系列的编辑者。这些故事来自于沙龙.COM网站中旅游热这一板块，并且再造了各种各样的游记保证读者可以从这一篇点击到另一篇。

第三名
《徒步穿越美国》
皮特·詹金斯

      这是旅游著作中空前的现代经典之一，皮特。詹金斯回忆了他在1973年到1975年从纽约徒步走到新奥尔良的经历。对于许多读者来说，这是为数不多的吸引你、令你无法忘怀的旅游著作。作为一个游记作家，皮特。詹金斯愿意走到任何地方，包括阿拉斯加和中国。他说：“我开始只是为了找寻自我和探索自己的国家，最后我

      两者都实现了。”他的话精辟的指出了旅游传记的精髓所在。

第二名
《和查利一起旅游》
约翰·斯坦贝克

      这本小说为约翰。斯坦贝克赢得了诺贝尔文学奖。《和查利一起旅游》描述的是一次奇妙的旅行，叙述了旅游的核心以及矛盾的发现先前还在的人和地方很可能你再次去的时候就不见了。当他再次参观他年轻时到过的地方时，他实现了想要再见老朋友的愿望，但是他觉得那些老朋友跟他再聚时已经没有了以前的自在。这是一个很棒的关于旅游、家乡、感伤遗失的过去、变老和美国的故事。这本书应该被所有高校的学生阅读。

第一名
《德哈马的旅游者》
杰克·凯鲁亚克

      美国二战后出生的这一代充满了好的游记，杰克。凯鲁亚克是拥有强有力热情语言的人，他能够写出别人写不出的故事。虽然《在旅途中》这部由凯鲁亚克所写的游记被人指责，但是这部《德哈马旅游者》确实写的很好。充满了激情、有趣的人物和故事，这种充满激情的语言和强而有力的散文使得美国二战后出生的这一代作家都很有名，这本凯鲁亚克写的书是超乎寻常的，配得上它的点击率。

      提供者：谢恩·带顿