William H.H. Murray1）’s guidebook to the Adirondacks “kindled a thousand camp fires and taught a thousand pens how to write of nature，” inspiring droves of American city-dwellers to venture into the wild and starting a back-to-nature movement that endures to this day. Of course， Murray’s slender volume was part of a great literary tradition. For more than two millennia， travel books have had enormous influence on the way we have approached the world， transforming once-obscure areas into wildly popular destinations.

A detailed selection would fill a library. So what follows is a brazenly2） opinionated short-list of travel classics that have inspired armchair travelers3） to venture out of their comfort zone and hit the road.

Homer’s Odyssey is often referred to as the first travel narrative， creating the archetypal story of a lone wanderer， Odysseus， on a voyage filled with mythic perils. As may be. But the first real “travel writer，” as we would understand the term today， was the ancient Greek author Herodotus， who journeyed all over the eastern Mediterranean to research his monumental Histories. His vivid account of ancient Egypt， in particular， created an enduring image of that exotic land， as he “does the sights” from the pyramids to Luxor， even dealing with such classic travel tribulations5） as pushy guides and greedy souvenir vendors. His work inspired legions of other ancient travelers to explore this magical， haunted land， creating a fascination that reemerged during the Victorian age and remains with us today. In fact， Herodotus qualifies not just as the Father of History， but the Father of Cultural Travel itself， revealing to the ancient Greeks—who rarely deemed a foreign society worthy of interest—the rewards of exploring a distant， alien world.

When the 13th-century Venetian merchant Marco Polo returned home after two decades wandering China， Persia and Indonesia， the stories he and his two brothers told were dismissed as outright fiction—until （legend goes） the trio sliced open the hems of their garments， and hundreds of gems poured to the ground in a glittering cascade6）. Still， Polo’s adventure might have remained all but unknown to posterity if an accident had not allowed him to overcome his writer’s block： Imprisoned by the Genoans in 1298 after a naval battle， he used his enforced leisure time to dictate his memoirs to his cellmate， the romance writer Rustichello da Pisa. The resulting volume， filled with marvelous observations about Chinese cities and customs and encounters with the potentate7） Kublai Khan， has been a bestseller ever since， and indelibly defined the Western view of the Orient. The vision of fabulous Chinese wealth certainly inspired one eager and adventurous reader， fellow Italian Christopher Columbus， to seek a new ocean route to the Orient.

Writers of the Gilded Age8） produced thousands of earnest and tedious travel books， a tendency that Twain deftly deflated9） with The Innocents Abroad. Sent as a journalist on a group cruise tour to see the great sights of Europe and the Holy Land10）， Twain filed a series of hilarious columns to the Alta California newspaper that he later reworked into this classic work. With its timely， self-deprecating humor， it touched a deep chord， lampooning11） the naiveté of his fellow Americans （“The gentle reader will never， never know what a consummate ass he can become until he goes abroad.”） and the modest indignities of exploring the sophisticated Old World12） （“In Paris they just simply opened their eyes and stared when we spoke to them in French！ We never did succeed in making those idiots understand their own language.”） The result was to embolden many more of his fellow countrymen to fearlessly cross the pond and immerse themselves in Europe， and， hardly less importantly， to begin a new style of comic travel writing that echoes today through hugely popular modern authors.

The Victorian age produced a surprising number of adventurous women travel writers—Isabella Bird13）， for instance， wrote about exploring Hawaii， the Rocky Mountains and China—but the authors were regarded as rare and eccentric exceptions rather than role models by female readers. In the more liberated era of the 1930s， Freya Stark’s tome14） revealed just how far women could travel alone and live to write about it. Her breakthrough book， The Valley of the Assassins， was a thrilling account of her journey through the Middle East. Its highlight was her visit to the ruined stronghold of the Seven Lords of Alamut， a medieval cult of hashish15）-eating political killers16） in the Elburz Mountains17） of Iran whose exploits18） had been legendary in the West since the Crusades19）. The bestseller was followed by some two dozen works whose freshness and candor inspired women to venture， if not by donkey into war zones， at least into exotic climes. “To awaken quite alone in a strange town is one of the pleasantest sensations in the world，” she enthused in Baghdad Sketches. “You have no idea of what is in store for you， but you will， if you are wise and know the art of travel， let yourself go on the stream of the unknown and accept whatever comes to you.”

This thinly veiled autobiographical novel， about a group of young friends hitch-hiking and bumming their way across the United States， has inspired generations of restless readers to take a leap into the unknown. Although the publisher made Kerouac change the actual names （Kerouac became Sal Paradise， the wild driver Neal Cassady became Dean Moriarty and poet Allen Ginsberg became Carlo Marx）， its episodes were almost entirely drawn from life， qualifying it as a classic of travel writing. It was also a cultural phenomenon： Kerouac legendarily hammered out the whole lyrical work on a giant scroll of paper， and carried it about in his rucksack for years before it was published， becoming an instant icon of the rebellious “beat generation，” thumbing its nose at20） the leaden21） conformity of the cold war era. Today， it is still a dangerous book to read at an impressionable age （at least for younger males）. The delirious22） sense of freedom as Kerouac rides across the wheat fields of Nebraska in the back of a farm truck or speeds across the Wyoming Rockies toward Denver is infectious.

It was one of history’s great self-publishing success stories. When two young travelers roughed it in a minivan from London to Sydney， they decided to write a practical guide about their experiences. Working on a kitchen table， they typed out a list of their favorite budget hotels and cheap restaurants from Tehran to Djakarta， stapled the copied pages together into a 90-page booklet and sold it for $1.80 a pop. Their instincts were correct： There was a huge hunger for information on how to travel on a budget in the Third World， and the modest booklet sold 1，500 copies in a week. The hit became the basis for Lonely Planet， a vast guidebook empire with books on almost every country on earth. The young and financially challenged felt welcomed into the exotic corners of Nepal， Morocco and Thailand， far from the realm of five-star hotels and tour groups， often for a few dollars a day. The guidebooks’ power quickly became such that in many countries， a recommendation is still enough to make a hotelier’s fortune.

威廉·H·H·默里的阿迪朗達(dá)克旅行手冊(cè)“讓很多人點(diǎn)起了篝火，也教會(huì)了很多人怎樣去描寫大自然”。這本手冊(cè)鼓勵(lì)了大批的美國城里人到野外探索，引發(fā)了一場回歸自然的風(fēng)潮，這股風(fēng)潮直至今日還未衰退。當(dāng)然，默里這本薄薄的小冊(cè)子是偉大的文學(xué)傳統(tǒng)的一部分。兩千多年來，游記作品一直深刻影響著人們了解世界的方式，把那些一度不為人知的地方變成了極受追捧的旅游目的地。

如果要列一個(gè)詳細(xì)的游記清單，恐怕都?jí)蜓b滿一座圖書館了。所以，以下我就斗膽根據(jù)個(gè)人觀點(diǎn)列出一個(gè)經(jīng)典游記作品的短清單。它們?cè)?jīng)激勵(lì)那些足不出戶的“旅行者”勇敢地離開自己的安樂窩，踏上真正的旅途。

荷馬的《奧德賽》是以一位名叫奧德修斯的孤獨(dú)的流浪者為原型的故事，他的旅程充滿了神話般的危險(xiǎn)。《奧德賽》通常被認(rèn)為是第一部旅行敘事體著作。或許確實(shí)是那樣的。但按照我們今天對(duì)“旅行作家”這一術(shù)語的理解，第一位真正的旅行作家是古希臘作家希羅多德。希羅多德游歷了整個(gè)地中海東部，為完成他的巨著《歷史》進(jìn)行研究。特別值得一提的是，他對(duì)古埃及的生動(dòng)描寫為那個(gè)充滿異域風(fēng)情的國度創(chuàng)造了一個(gè)經(jīng)久不衰的形象。他描述了從金字塔到盧克索城沿途的景色，甚至描述了旅行經(jīng)歷的經(jīng)典磨難，如粗魯固執(zhí)的導(dǎo)游和見錢眼開的紀(jì)念品小販。這部作品鼓舞了古時(shí)的大批旅行者去探索這片充滿魔力的神秘土地。這份探索的狂熱在維多利亞時(shí)代卷土重來，直到今天還未衰退。實(shí)際上，希羅多德不僅稱得上“歷史之父”的榮譽(yù)，而且也擔(dān)得起“文化旅行之父”的名號(hào)。他讓古希臘人——他們通常認(rèn)為異域社會(huì)不值得關(guān)注——認(rèn)識(shí)到探索遙遠(yuǎn)的陌生世界所得的益處。

13世紀(jì)，當(dāng)威尼斯商人馬可·波羅在中國、波斯和印度尼西亞游歷了20年歸國后，人們覺得他和他的兩個(gè)兄弟所講述的經(jīng)歷純屬胡編亂造。（據(jù)傳）直到這三兄弟切開衣服褶邊，無數(shù)璀璨的寶石像瀑布一樣瀉落到地上時(shí)，人們才相信。不過，要不是一場意外讓他能克服寫作方面的障礙，也許他的冒險(xiǎn)經(jīng)歷便不會(huì)為后世所知。1298年，一場海戰(zhàn)之后，馬可·波羅被熱那亞人囚禁了起來，和他關(guān)在一起的是傳奇小說家魯斯蒂蓋羅·達(dá)畢薩。馬可·波羅用這被迫得來的閑暇時(shí)間向魯斯蒂蓋羅口述了自己的回憶。一部作品由此誕生，其中充滿了對(duì)中國的城市和風(fēng)俗的精彩描寫，還記述了馬可·波羅遇見中國皇帝忽必烈的情形。自那時(shí)起，這本書就一直暢銷不衰，并且深刻地影響了西方人對(duì)東方的看法。書中對(duì)富足豐饒的中國的描繪無疑感染了一個(gè)熱切而又富于冒險(xiǎn)精神的讀者——他的意大利同胞克里斯多弗·哥倫布，使他去探索一條前往東方的新的海上航線。

鍍金時(shí)代的作家們寫了一大堆熱忱但卻乏味的游記作品，而馬克·吐溫憑借《傻子出國記》巧妙地挫敗了這一風(fēng)氣。吐溫當(dāng)時(shí)作為記者被派去參加一個(gè)集體航游，飽覽歐洲和圣地巴勒斯坦的大好風(fēng)光，其間給《上加利福尼亞報(bào)》發(fā)送了一系列令人捧腹大笑的專欄文章。之后他將這些故事修訂成了這本經(jīng)典作品。該書以其應(yīng)時(shí)、自嘲的幽默引起了讀者的深刻共鳴，它譏諷了美國人的天真無知（“在走出國門之前，溫文爾雅的讀者將永遠(yuǎn)也不會(huì)知道自己是個(gè)多么徹底的蠢蛋。”），也譏諷了美國人探索成熟的舊世界時(shí)出現(xiàn)的有些丟臉的行為（“在巴黎，當(dāng)我們跟當(dāng)?shù)厝擞梅ㄕZ交談時(shí)，他們就只是睜大眼睛盯著我們看！我們從來沒有成功地讓這些笨蛋理解他們自己的語言?！保?。結(jié)果，這本書使更多的美國同胞壯起膽子，勇敢地橫渡大西洋，一頭扎進(jìn)歐洲。幾乎同等重要的是，這本書開創(chuàng)了一種新的喜劇性的游記寫作風(fēng)格，這種風(fēng)格直至今日還有非常受歡迎的現(xiàn)代作家在模仿使用。

維多利亞時(shí)代產(chǎn)生了數(shù)量驚人的一批富有冒險(xiǎn)精神的女性游記作家，如伊莎貝拉·伯德撰寫了探索夏威夷、落基山脈和中國的經(jīng)歷。但在女性讀者看來，這些作家并非榜樣，而是罕見、古怪的異類。在更為自由的20世紀(jì)30年代，芙瑞雅·史塔克的書向人們揭示了女性能到多遠(yuǎn)的地方獨(dú)自長途旅行，并能活著把經(jīng)歷寫下來。她那本具有突破意義的《刺客之谷》記錄了她扣人心弦的中東之旅。該書最為突出的部分是她探訪阿拉穆特七領(lǐng)主占據(jù)的古要塞遺址的記錄。七領(lǐng)主是中世紀(jì)伊朗厄爾布爾士山脈附近的一個(gè)派別，是具有政治意圖的刺客，喜食大麻。自十字軍東征起，他們的事跡在西方就成了一個(gè)傳奇。繼這本暢銷書之后，芙瑞雅又有二十多本書問世，這些書新穎獨(dú)特，坦率誠懇，激勵(lì)著女性出去探險(xiǎn)——就算不是騎著驢子到戰(zhàn)區(qū)去，也至少是去異域探索。芙瑞雅在《巴格達(dá)手稿》中充滿熱情地寫道：“在一個(gè)陌生的小鎮(zhèn)上孤零零地醒來，那是這個(gè)世界上最愉悅的感覺之一。你不知道未來有什么在等著你，但如果你夠聰明并懂得旅行的藝術(shù)，你就會(huì)讓自己繼續(xù)探索未知世界的旅程，接受你遇到的一切。”

這是一本幾乎不加掩飾的自傳體小說，寫了一伙青年朋友搭便車橫穿美國，一路上游蕩狂歡的故事。這本書激勵(lì)了好幾代不安分的讀者迫不及待地去闖蕩未知的世界。雖然出版商讓凱魯亞克換掉了作品中的真實(shí)姓名（凱魯亞克改成了薩爾·帕拉迪塞，狂野的車手尼爾·卡薩迪改成了狄安·莫里亞蒂，詩人艾倫·金斯堡改成了卡洛·馬克思），但書中的片斷幾乎全部出自真實(shí)生活，這使其稱得上是游記作品的一部經(jīng)典。這本書也是一個(gè)文化奇觀：凱魯亞克傳奇般地在一大卷紙上敲出了整部熱情奔放的作品，然后在背包里背了好幾年才發(fā)表。這本書一經(jīng)發(fā)表，立即成為叛逆的“垮掉的一代”的標(biāo)志，它對(duì)冷戰(zhàn)時(shí)期缺乏生氣的整齊劃一的文化表達(dá)出強(qiáng)烈的蔑視。今天，在易受影響的年紀(jì)讀這本書還是有點(diǎn)危險(xiǎn)（至少對(duì)年輕的男孩來說是這樣的）。當(dāng)凱魯亞克坐在農(nóng)用卡車后面穿過內(nèi)布拉斯加州的麥田，或者飛速穿越懷俄明州的落基山脈前往丹佛時(shí)，那股令人發(fā)狂的自由感覺是極具感染力的。

這本書是歷史上作者自行出版故事的成功典范之一。兩個(gè)年輕的旅行者在倫敦去悉尼的小貨車上草擬出梗概，之后決定將自己的旅行經(jīng)歷寫成一份實(shí)用指南。他們就在廚房的桌子上打出了一份清單，上面列出了從德黑蘭到雅加達(dá)一路上中意的廉價(jià)旅館和餐館，然后將其復(fù)印并訂成小冊(cè)子，共90頁，每份賣1.8美元。他們的直覺沒錯(cuò)：對(duì)于如何精打細(xì)算地去第三世界旅行方面的信息，人們有著巨大的渴求。這本普通的小冊(cè)子一周就賣出了1500份。它的成功為“孤獨(dú)星球”這一龐大的旅行指南書帝國奠定了基礎(chǔ)，該帝國出版了地球上幾乎所有國家的旅行指南。在尼泊爾、摩洛哥和泰國充滿異國情調(diào)的角落里，青春年少而又囊中羞澀的旅行者感到非常自在，他們遠(yuǎn)離五星級(jí)酒店和旅游團(tuán)，通常花幾美元就能過一天。這些旅行指南很快產(chǎn)生了巨大的影響，在很多國家，指南中的一則推薦便能讓某家旅館的老板發(fā)財(cái)了。

1.William H.H. Murray：威廉·H·H·默里（1840～1904），牧師，以撰寫游覽美國紐約州東北部的阿迪朗達(dá)克山脈方面的文章和圖書著稱，被稱為“戶外運(yùn)動(dòng)之父”。

2.brazenly [?bre?z（?）nli] adv. 無恥地，厚臉皮地

3.armchair traveler：足不出戶的“旅行者”，指通過閱讀來實(shí)現(xiàn)自己旅游愿望的人。

4.Herodotus：希羅多德，公元前5世紀(jì)希臘歷史學(xué)家，被稱為“歷史之父”，所著《歷史》（即《希臘波斯戰(zhàn)爭史》）系西方第一部歷史著作。

5.tribulation [?tr?bju?le??（?）n] n. 苦難，艱難，磨難

6.cascade [k??ske?d] n. 小瀑布

7.potentate [?p??t（?）nte?t] n. 君主；統(tǒng)治者

8.Gilded Age：鍍金時(shí)代，指美國南北戰(zhàn)爭后35年間的繁榮時(shí)期，源自馬克·吐溫與查爾斯·達(dá)德利·華爾納（Charrles Dudley Warner）合寫的同名長篇小說。

9.deflate [d??fle?t] vt. 縮小；降低

10.Holy Land：（基督教）圣地（指巴勒斯坦）

11.lampoon [l?m?pu?n] vt. 冷嘲熱諷；奚落

12.Old World：舊世界，指的是歐洲人在發(fā)現(xiàn)美洲之前所知道的世界，包括歐洲、亞洲和非洲。

13.Isabella Bird：伊莎貝拉·伯德（1831～1904），旅行家，曾于二十多歲時(shí)進(jìn)行了一次翻過落基山、穿越北美洲的旅行。在隨后的25年中，她的行跡遍布波斯、庫爾德斯坦、朝鮮、中國和日本。

14.tome [t??m] n. 書；大冊(cè)書；（有學(xué)術(shù)價(jià)值的）巨著

15.hashish [?h??i??] n. 大麻

16.political killer：有政治企圖的刺客

17.Elburz Mountains：厄爾布爾士山脈（伊朗北部）

18.exploit [?ekspl??t] n. 英勇的行為（或事跡）；業(yè)績，功績，功勛

19.Crusades：十字軍東征（指西方基督教徒組織的反對(duì)伊斯蘭國家的幾次軍事東侵）

20.thumb one’s nose at：對(duì)……嗤之以鼻，蔑視

21.leaden [?led（?）n] adj. 沉悶的，呆滯的，無精打采的

22.delirious [d??l?ri?s] adj. 極度興奮的，發(fā)狂的