Travel Writing as Political Revelation: Intercultural Negotiation and Borderland Politics in Peter Matthiessen, Vikram Seth, and Tiziano Terzani

Abstract

Travel writing has conventionally been associated with documenting landscapes, cultures, and personal experiences. However, travelogues often function as significant sites where cultural encounters intersect with political realities. This paper examines Peter Matthiessen’s The Snow Leopard, Vikram Seth’s From Heaven Lake: Travels Through Sinkiang and Tibet, and Tiziano Terzani’s A Fortune Teller Told Me to demonstrate how travel writing transcends geographical description and becomes a medium for political revelation. Drawing upon Edward Said’s concept of representation and Homi Bhabha’s notion of the interstitial space, the study argues that these travel narratives expose hidden structures of power operating within Asian borderlands and culturally contested regions. Through analyses of state surveillance, minority identities, bureaucratic control, nationalism, and transnational cultural encounters, the paper reveals how travel writers negotiate complex intersections of culture and politics. The study ultimately positions travel writing as a critical literary practice that uncovers the tensions between human mobility, political authority, and cultural belonging.