Representation of People and Landscapes in The Art of Travel and Wild Anonymous 12th Grade

Representations of authors’ experiences of particular landscapes hold great significance for their audiences, as they portray the multifaceted relationships between people and landscapes, such as how interactions with landscape shape awareness of identity. This is potently represented in Alain De Botton’s postmodern collection of essays ‘The Art of Travel’ (Penguin, 2002) and Jean-Marc Vallée’s biographical film ‘Wild’ (River Road Entertainment, 2014). De Botton explores how real landscapes can offer relief from the monotonous nature of life and how they can enlighten individuals on the limitations of their humanity, whilst Vallée examines how real landscapes can allow individuals to heal from traumatic experiences and how imagined landscapes can provide hope for an individual in difficult circumstances.

De Botton clearly examines how transitional places can provide an escape from the mundane and provoke introspective reflection through his poignant representation of real landscapes in his essay ‘On Travelling Places’, didactically enlightening us on the complex nature of communal identity, specifically on how individuals can be paradoxically comforted by communal loneliness. De Botton parodies the typical travel guide by...