Travel writing extraordinarily, sensitively, wisely done. Posted excerpt on Notes too. You are your own brilliant example: Adore this post about Hanoi and you never ever condescend. And there's you as a reader: the best comments on https://marytabor.substack.com/s/remaking-love-a-memoir --often heartbreakingly so and your comments move me, encourage me, give me hope. You're a find and I want you to know how much I treasure you. xo ~Mary
Very sensitively written, Jeffrey, and many valid points - there's a sort of "journalistic" quality to some travel writing which hovers "above" the subject without immersing itself, which can be incredibly difficult to do - how to walk in their shoes without stepping out of the safety and privilege of our visitor status? I get why you aren't called to it, even though you have so many opportunities in your travels - I feel much the same with writing about writing, though my hesitation there has as much to do with the saturation on the subject as my inexperience.
Thank you Troy. It's a fraught area and I wouldn’t pretend even to know where where all traps are. I think all we can do is be as open as we can about the perspective we're writing from. And I know what you mean about writing about writing.
Jeffrey, thank you for this exquisitely and sensitively written piece. I appreciate your insight into the difficulty of writing about a place from the standpoint of someone who’s just passing through. The tendency to condescend or sneer is so strong, and yet many writers are so impressed with their own sentences that they don’t even realize that they’re guilty of such things. Self-questioning is an imperative for any writer, and you’ve done an admirable job, while writing a nuanced and compelling story. Kudos.
Thank you, Mary. I value your opinion very highly, and I am so pleased that this piece worked for you. I was in two minds about it, because, in a sense, it's about failure—my sense of utter inability to do justice to the city I was visiting.
I’m so humbled by your kindness. Many years ago, I did a writing workshop with a very well known author. She called me out in class in a profoundly humiliating way over sneering. But I was so desperate for her approval that a short time later, when one of my essays was published as the lead op ed in a major newspaper’s Sunday edition, I felt empowered and validated enough by my success to send her a copy. She wrote back, very dismissive of my writing, and again called me out for sneering. I was so devastated that I didn’t write, at all, for years. Writer, interrupted. A very tough lesson. Brutal.
But I realize now that there was some context. Her marriage, to an even more famous writer, had ended in a sudden and shocking way. She was drinking heavily, and I was low-hanging fruit. She was mean, resentful, and (I think) envious. Not trying to excuse her behavior.
And of course, she was right. Sneering, on any level, will strip a piece of writing of any value or truth. I go over my work carefully, looking for anything that demeans another person or the group they are a part of. I have a friend I trust to let me know if there’s anything snarky in a piece. And of course there frequently is. And of course it sneaks in.
I look to George Saunders - yes, he is famously kind and sincere - as a model of compassion. His characters are really out there, and a lesser writer could easily take a different approach and make them objects of condescension. He does not.
Sorry for the long-winded response. It’s just so nice to see someone question their own thought process and focus on the true value and worth of every single person. Seeing “the good in us” as Mary Trump does. Although she does have standing to criticize her uncle, and she’s actively working to stop him from getting another term, she doesn’t take cheap shots. Nor does Joyce Vance or Heather Cox Richardson.
Wow, Mary, that's quite a story. And a whole post's worth of content. How awful to have been subjected to that kind of treatment in a class. Definitely an abuse of the position of teacher (I used to teach English). I think we have to be forgiving of others and especially ourselves, about sneering, even as we try to edit it out. We all do it and most of us know we shouldn't. Gentle reminders to ourselves and others should be enough. Thank you again for your generous reading of this piece. You've certainly made my day.
Thank you, Jeffrey. I have told this story, in person to friends, in print, and in another person's Substack. I do feel that she gave me a good lesson, ultimately. But the truth is, she violated her own rules by sneering at me. I was shattered. I only tell this story because it is illustrative of the harm one can do by negating someone's humanity. It wasn't the only time something like this happened. Talk about stories! Will I tell them? Eventually. Retirement gives me time to think things through, process them, and share selectively.
I think this is what travel writing should be, honestly. An accounting of one's own experience, which is, of course, complicated by your own origins and social training, not to mention (potentially) your relative privilege in the wider scheme. And then an acknowledgement and interrogation of all of that within the context of the experience you are having. In other words, to narrate the understanding that yours isn't the only story, or perhaps even the primary one.
The trouble with travel writing, historically, is so often the inability to both feel, and narrate compellingly, that necessary humility. Thank you for this! It makes me yearn for my traveling days.
Thank you for this thoughtful comment, Asha. I think you've expressed it very well, certainly better than I have. Especially the point about ours not being the only or primary story. I really appreciate your comments.
I wouldn't say better. I would say you have shown it gorgeously, and I have explained what you showed. I've always been better at telling than showing. Showing is an art I aspire to. Thanks for providing such a good example of it.
Dear Jeffrey: I had a big craze for travel writing at one time. I read all Paul Theroux’s travel books, but looking back I feel that he was perhaps rather condescending in his approach. He was so sarcastic. I think I prefer the older travel writers like Bruce Chatwin and Patrick Leigh Fermor. They are there, but not quite there.
Jeffrey - I am an expert on traveling but not travel writing. In my humble opinion however, you got it right. Hanoi came to life for me in your words and your vivid description of the motorbikes reminded me of the Jeepneys I encountered in Manila. Not that they are the same but they are a cultural phenomenon of the city. Well done.
And, so, you deliver exemplary travel writing: not as facile commentary on cultural excursion but as thoughtful consideration of the nature of brief travel contact itself and its potential for falsification -- no place better exemplified than in that superb concluding sentence.
BTW, having been in Hanoi about four years more recently than your previous time there, it is -- reassuring? terrifying? to know that the scooter situation is unchanged. As someone who once drove New York City taxis, only two traffic conditions have ever given me pause. One was in approaching the Place de l'Étoile in Paris, not so much in fear of entering but in grave doubt I would ever be able to exit without damage to myself and others. The second was crossing the street in Hanoi. You describe the situation perfectly. Our guide advised us just to step into the street in faith that we would part the oncoming stream of scooters around us as a boulder does the flow of water. (But don't, he warned us, ever look a rider in the eye! You'll distract them and cause havoc.)
Thank you, Jay. Your words mean a lot to me. And I want to know more taxi driving in New York!
I should have added that there were pedestrian crossings in Hanoi that worked perfectly well. There just don't seem to be quite enough of them, so sooner or later you end up entering the flow. And I'm glad that the scooters still dominate. From the pedestrian's perspective, they must be safer than cars.
I look forward to reading more. I would love to see Vietnam. I worked in China in my twenties and have returned a few times. Fun to discover your Substack.
As an American expat who has been living in SE Asia for over 14 years, I enjoyed reading this. You captured the chaotic motorbikes perfectly, right down to the advice you were given to keep walking and they will move out of your way.
This reminds me of when I was traveling Stateside and the person next to me struck up a conversation while we were on the plane. When it came to Thailand he said it was like 'traveling back in time', my "fresh from college and studying anthropology" bristled at his observation, so I tried to suggest that we look at Thailand not through the lens of time. But he laughed when he realized I was a budding anthropologist ...
Nowadays, I don't mind. We try to be sensitive and use what language we have. Sometimes we're more successful than others. And when we're faced with a culture so so different than our own, it becomes even harder to explain and understand. But I get it, we don't want these impressions to be the final truth. But at the same time, we can't help that we have the perspective that we do! Oh, the challenges of travel writing!
Thank you, Lani. You capture the issues so well. I can tell you've been grappling with them for a while. I like the measured realism you bring to the topic!
Wow, this article threw me back in time to my flight attendant days in the mid-1990s, a time before internet, email and smartphones! I wonder sometimes if my love for writing would have ignighted, or come to fruition, earlier had I made daily notes of my travel adventures back then. Many times I'm asked about those days, yet I find I'm missing crucial details without notes to refer to in order to make it a potentially worthwhile essay to read nowadays... But would I wanted to be a travel writer? It's an interesting question worth pondering.
Thanks, Claudette. I'm sure you have some great memories from those days of travelling. In terms of my own essays of memoir, I don't always have notes to work from. But some memories seem to remain vivid, even after many years. And the essays I write are less about the place than my perceptions and feelings about being there
“The opera house looms like a heavy old cake, to which a thin layer of French colonial icing still clings.” Beautiful. The honest approach to travel writing is to focus on your mind making sense of the place, not the place itself. This takes both humility about the limits of your knowledge and great confidence in the value of your perceptions. Laurie’s piece is not “about” Vienna; it’s about being Laurie in Vienna. Laurie is interesting anywhere at all, as precious few writers are. She knows this. Good for her, and us. But of course many readers only want to know where to stay and eat, and how much time to allow for the attractions.
This reminds me of the first time our son went to Taiwan with us, five years ago. Standing at the corner of a traffic light intersection, he too, was mesmerized by the stop-and-start of the moped army. I was, however, turned off by the fume, the same feeling when I was a tourist in Santa Margherita.
When I left Shanghai, there was the bicycle army, and when I went back 10 years later, bicycles were replaced by cars, so I missed the moped generation. On my recent trip back, most vehicles were electric or at least hybrid.
I am with you on how subconsciously we carry our judgment with us everywhere we go. "No judgment" becomes a trendy phrase. Just look at how often we judge ourselves :).
Thank you for your comment and reflections, Yi Xue. It's interesting that Shanghai is moving so quickly through different generations of transport. Everything seems to move fast there! And the switch to RVs should improve the air quality.
I’ve never thought of visiting Hanoi! I do so now! Enjoyed this for leaving out bits I would expect in a travel oiece but instead giving my imagination room to create questions about this city. I love how you included senses in this.
Made me think of a young engineer who I think lost his life out there in a motorbike accident… his name is on the Battersea part of the riverbank in the new development. Motorbikes everywhere… traffic… it brought that sad story about again.
Beautifully written, as always. Travel writing is surprisingly stressful, isn't it? It's hard to curate what exactly you'd like to show, knowing full well you're never going to be able to paint a complete picture. And yet, there is value in all kinds of writing about travel, right? I agree 100% with what you said about travel writing sometimes saying more about the writer than the destination...but that's true of all kinds of writing, right?
Travel writing extraordinarily, sensitively, wisely done. Posted excerpt on Notes too. You are your own brilliant example: Adore this post about Hanoi and you never ever condescend. And there's you as a reader: the best comments on https://marytabor.substack.com/s/remaking-love-a-memoir --often heartbreakingly so and your comments move me, encourage me, give me hope. You're a find and I want you to know how much I treasure you. xo ~Mary
Thank you, Mary, you are too kind!
As a reader, I am so lucky to have the chance to follow your dazzling memoir!
My feelings exactly, Mary! Jeffrey’s comments on my essays are always generous and deeply thoughtful.
Thank you Mary. Your writing provokes thoughtfulness because the essays you write seem etched with your truth.
Very sensitively written, Jeffrey, and many valid points - there's a sort of "journalistic" quality to some travel writing which hovers "above" the subject without immersing itself, which can be incredibly difficult to do - how to walk in their shoes without stepping out of the safety and privilege of our visitor status? I get why you aren't called to it, even though you have so many opportunities in your travels - I feel much the same with writing about writing, though my hesitation there has as much to do with the saturation on the subject as my inexperience.
Thank you Troy. It's a fraught area and I wouldn’t pretend even to know where where all traps are. I think all we can do is be as open as we can about the perspective we're writing from. And I know what you mean about writing about writing.
Jeffrey, thank you for this exquisitely and sensitively written piece. I appreciate your insight into the difficulty of writing about a place from the standpoint of someone who’s just passing through. The tendency to condescend or sneer is so strong, and yet many writers are so impressed with their own sentences that they don’t even realize that they’re guilty of such things. Self-questioning is an imperative for any writer, and you’ve done an admirable job, while writing a nuanced and compelling story. Kudos.
Thank you, Mary. I value your opinion very highly, and I am so pleased that this piece worked for you. I was in two minds about it, because, in a sense, it's about failure—my sense of utter inability to do justice to the city I was visiting.
I’m so humbled by your kindness. Many years ago, I did a writing workshop with a very well known author. She called me out in class in a profoundly humiliating way over sneering. But I was so desperate for her approval that a short time later, when one of my essays was published as the lead op ed in a major newspaper’s Sunday edition, I felt empowered and validated enough by my success to send her a copy. She wrote back, very dismissive of my writing, and again called me out for sneering. I was so devastated that I didn’t write, at all, for years. Writer, interrupted. A very tough lesson. Brutal.
But I realize now that there was some context. Her marriage, to an even more famous writer, had ended in a sudden and shocking way. She was drinking heavily, and I was low-hanging fruit. She was mean, resentful, and (I think) envious. Not trying to excuse her behavior.
And of course, she was right. Sneering, on any level, will strip a piece of writing of any value or truth. I go over my work carefully, looking for anything that demeans another person or the group they are a part of. I have a friend I trust to let me know if there’s anything snarky in a piece. And of course there frequently is. And of course it sneaks in.
I look to George Saunders - yes, he is famously kind and sincere - as a model of compassion. His characters are really out there, and a lesser writer could easily take a different approach and make them objects of condescension. He does not.
Sorry for the long-winded response. It’s just so nice to see someone question their own thought process and focus on the true value and worth of every single person. Seeing “the good in us” as Mary Trump does. Although she does have standing to criticize her uncle, and she’s actively working to stop him from getting another term, she doesn’t take cheap shots. Nor does Joyce Vance or Heather Cox Richardson.
Rambling here. Have a nice weekend.
Wow, Mary, that's quite a story. And a whole post's worth of content. How awful to have been subjected to that kind of treatment in a class. Definitely an abuse of the position of teacher (I used to teach English). I think we have to be forgiving of others and especially ourselves, about sneering, even as we try to edit it out. We all do it and most of us know we shouldn't. Gentle reminders to ourselves and others should be enough. Thank you again for your generous reading of this piece. You've certainly made my day.
Thank you, Jeffrey. I have told this story, in person to friends, in print, and in another person's Substack. I do feel that she gave me a good lesson, ultimately. But the truth is, she violated her own rules by sneering at me. I was shattered. I only tell this story because it is illustrative of the harm one can do by negating someone's humanity. It wasn't the only time something like this happened. Talk about stories! Will I tell them? Eventually. Retirement gives me time to think things through, process them, and share selectively.
I'm looking forward to reading them!
Thanks so much as well for mentioning my piece.
He's so incredibly generous! Gotta love him!
I think this is what travel writing should be, honestly. An accounting of one's own experience, which is, of course, complicated by your own origins and social training, not to mention (potentially) your relative privilege in the wider scheme. And then an acknowledgement and interrogation of all of that within the context of the experience you are having. In other words, to narrate the understanding that yours isn't the only story, or perhaps even the primary one.
The trouble with travel writing, historically, is so often the inability to both feel, and narrate compellingly, that necessary humility. Thank you for this! It makes me yearn for my traveling days.
Thank you for this thoughtful comment, Asha. I think you've expressed it very well, certainly better than I have. Especially the point about ours not being the only or primary story. I really appreciate your comments.
I wouldn't say better. I would say you have shown it gorgeously, and I have explained what you showed. I've always been better at telling than showing. Showing is an art I aspire to. Thanks for providing such a good example of it.
Dear Jeffrey: I had a big craze for travel writing at one time. I read all Paul Theroux’s travel books, but looking back I feel that he was perhaps rather condescending in his approach. He was so sarcastic. I think I prefer the older travel writers like Bruce Chatwin and Patrick Leigh Fermor. They are there, but not quite there.
Thank you, Emma. I guess all of those writers had great talent, but for me, the results were a bit uneven.
Exactly. It's a tricky genre.
Jeffrey - I am an expert on traveling but not travel writing. In my humble opinion however, you got it right. Hanoi came to life for me in your words and your vivid description of the motorbikes reminded me of the Jeepneys I encountered in Manila. Not that they are the same but they are a cultural phenomenon of the city. Well done.
Thanks, Matthew! And it's fascinating how different cities in the region have their own different transport methods.
And, so, you deliver exemplary travel writing: not as facile commentary on cultural excursion but as thoughtful consideration of the nature of brief travel contact itself and its potential for falsification -- no place better exemplified than in that superb concluding sentence.
BTW, having been in Hanoi about four years more recently than your previous time there, it is -- reassuring? terrifying? to know that the scooter situation is unchanged. As someone who once drove New York City taxis, only two traffic conditions have ever given me pause. One was in approaching the Place de l'Étoile in Paris, not so much in fear of entering but in grave doubt I would ever be able to exit without damage to myself and others. The second was crossing the street in Hanoi. You describe the situation perfectly. Our guide advised us just to step into the street in faith that we would part the oncoming stream of scooters around us as a boulder does the flow of water. (But don't, he warned us, ever look a rider in the eye! You'll distract them and cause havoc.)
Thank you, Jay. Your words mean a lot to me. And I want to know more taxi driving in New York!
I should have added that there were pedestrian crossings in Hanoi that worked perfectly well. There just don't seem to be quite enough of them, so sooner or later you end up entering the flow. And I'm glad that the scooters still dominate. From the pedestrian's perspective, they must be safer than cars.
I look forward to reading more. I would love to see Vietnam. I worked in China in my twenties and have returned a few times. Fun to discover your Substack.
Thank you for reading and for commenting, Susan! I worked in Shanghai about twenty years ago, but I have been back a couple of times since.
I spent more time in Shanghai in 2018. Remarkable city. I worked in Nanchang at a medical college and loved those years.
As an American expat who has been living in SE Asia for over 14 years, I enjoyed reading this. You captured the chaotic motorbikes perfectly, right down to the advice you were given to keep walking and they will move out of your way.
This reminds me of when I was traveling Stateside and the person next to me struck up a conversation while we were on the plane. When it came to Thailand he said it was like 'traveling back in time', my "fresh from college and studying anthropology" bristled at his observation, so I tried to suggest that we look at Thailand not through the lens of time. But he laughed when he realized I was a budding anthropologist ...
Nowadays, I don't mind. We try to be sensitive and use what language we have. Sometimes we're more successful than others. And when we're faced with a culture so so different than our own, it becomes even harder to explain and understand. But I get it, we don't want these impressions to be the final truth. But at the same time, we can't help that we have the perspective that we do! Oh, the challenges of travel writing!
Thank you, Lani. You capture the issues so well. I can tell you've been grappling with them for a while. I like the measured realism you bring to the topic!
This is travel writing as I would write it, if I was indeed travelling! Thank you Jeffrey for the wonderful read.
Thank you, Tom for the kind words! For travel writing on Substack, I'd suggest checking out https://substack.com/@fiftybeautifulthings
Wow, this article threw me back in time to my flight attendant days in the mid-1990s, a time before internet, email and smartphones! I wonder sometimes if my love for writing would have ignighted, or come to fruition, earlier had I made daily notes of my travel adventures back then. Many times I'm asked about those days, yet I find I'm missing crucial details without notes to refer to in order to make it a potentially worthwhile essay to read nowadays... But would I wanted to be a travel writer? It's an interesting question worth pondering.
Thanks, Claudette. I'm sure you have some great memories from those days of travelling. In terms of my own essays of memoir, I don't always have notes to work from. But some memories seem to remain vivid, even after many years. And the essays I write are less about the place than my perceptions and feelings about being there
“The opera house looms like a heavy old cake, to which a thin layer of French colonial icing still clings.” Beautiful. The honest approach to travel writing is to focus on your mind making sense of the place, not the place itself. This takes both humility about the limits of your knowledge and great confidence in the value of your perceptions. Laurie’s piece is not “about” Vienna; it’s about being Laurie in Vienna. Laurie is interesting anywhere at all, as precious few writers are. She knows this. Good for her, and us. But of course many readers only want to know where to stay and eat, and how much time to allow for the attractions.
Thank you for your kind words, Rona. I'm glad you liked the line about the opera house. And you're right about Laurie! Always fascinating.
This reminds me of the first time our son went to Taiwan with us, five years ago. Standing at the corner of a traffic light intersection, he too, was mesmerized by the stop-and-start of the moped army. I was, however, turned off by the fume, the same feeling when I was a tourist in Santa Margherita.
When I left Shanghai, there was the bicycle army, and when I went back 10 years later, bicycles were replaced by cars, so I missed the moped generation. On my recent trip back, most vehicles were electric or at least hybrid.
I am with you on how subconsciously we carry our judgment with us everywhere we go. "No judgment" becomes a trendy phrase. Just look at how often we judge ourselves :).
Thank you for your comment and reflections, Yi Xue. It's interesting that Shanghai is moving so quickly through different generations of transport. Everything seems to move fast there! And the switch to RVs should improve the air quality.
I’ve never thought of visiting Hanoi! I do so now! Enjoyed this for leaving out bits I would expect in a travel oiece but instead giving my imagination room to create questions about this city. I love how you included senses in this.
Thank you for your kind comments! and I'm glad the piece gave you a positive impression of the city. It's full of life.
Made me think of a young engineer who I think lost his life out there in a motorbike accident… his name is on the Battersea part of the riverbank in the new development. Motorbikes everywhere… traffic… it brought that sad story about again.
That's a sad story
Beautifully written, as always. Travel writing is surprisingly stressful, isn't it? It's hard to curate what exactly you'd like to show, knowing full well you're never going to be able to paint a complete picture. And yet, there is value in all kinds of writing about travel, right? I agree 100% with what you said about travel writing sometimes saying more about the writer than the destination...but that's true of all kinds of writing, right?
Thank you jodie. Yes, it's hard to know what to show, what to leave out. But as your own beautiful essays show, it can work so brilliantly.