Charting the Open Road. On Wandering and Wanderers

Although the survival of our species once relied heavily on succeeding to find our way, the action of travelling for travel’s sake, without a destination to reach or a fixed trajectory to follow, also reflects a fundamental human yearning to embrace the unknown and hit the road. In this volume dedicated to the various literary and cultural instances of wandering, David Brown Morris surveys a diverse array of sources to illustrate how these representations have evolved across different genres, cultures, and periods. The study highlights the many ways in which, despite accomplishing nothing in economic terms, wandering creates instead an essential set of values that privileges spontaneity, freedom from utility and purpose, and faith in what lies ahead.