Wanderzwang - Wanderlust

The volume assembles papers presented at a conference held at the Centre for Interdisciplinary Research into the European Enlightenment. The aim of the meeting was to close a conspicuous research gap by looking at the status of journeys on foot in 18th and 19th century travel literature in German. The articles examine autobiographical and literary texts giving representative information on the phenomenon of the new social prestige accorded to journeys on foot (and reflection upon them) identifiable in the second half of the 18th century. Central to this reevaluation was an appreciation of the heightened experience of space and distance denied to coach travelers. The volume closes with a source bibliography of works pertaining to journeys on foot in the period in question.