Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons^™

Back To The Future Or Forward To The Past: Ocean Voyaging And Slow Travel, Christina Gerhardt

Studies in 20th & 21st Century Literature

Going back to previous modes of travel, such as walking or sailing, to ensure a future, is currently being engaged by everyone from ambling environmentalists to scientists and technologists. In Germany and in Sweden, scientists are working to develop large cargo sailing ships. These ships of the future hearken back to the past of ocean voyaging. They dovetail with contemporary literary reflections on ocean voyaging and slow travels, such as Judith Schalansky’s Atlas of Remote Islands: Fifty Islands I Have Never Set Foot On and Never Will (2009). Weaving together an analysis of Schalansky’s atlas with environmental humanities discourses on …