1) Definition (CUET-ready)
A travelogue is a non-fiction prose genre that narrates and describes experiences of travel—places visited, routes, encounters, and reflections. It often combines:
- description (landscape, culture),
- narrative (journey structure),
- and commentary (social, political, personal observation).
A CUET-ready line:
- Travelogue = narrative + description + interpretation shaped by the traveller’s perspective.
2) Core features of the travelogue (high-yield)
A) Journey structure
Travelogues are often organised by:
- movement through space,
- itinerary, stages, destinations.
B) Observer’s perspective (positionality)
The traveller’s:
- class, nation, language, gender, politics, shapes what is seen and how it is described.
This is crucial: travel writing is never neutral observation.
C) Ethnographic description and “othering”
Travelogues may:
- represent cultures,
- compare “home” and “abroad,”
- risk stereotyping or exoticising the “other.”
Interlink: Postcolonialism (orientalism-style critique), translation studies (travel narratives cross languages), current trends (global mobility).