The Art of Wandering: The Writer as Walker

A philosophical history of that strange but prolific hybrid—the writer as walker

From the peripatetic philosophers of Ancient Greece to the streets of 20th-century London, Paris, and New York, the figure of writer as walker has continued to evolve through the centuries, the philosopher and the Romantic giving way to the experimentalist and radical. From pilgrim to pedestrian, flâneur to stalker, the names may change, but the activity of walking remains constant, creating a literary tradition encompassing philosophy and poetry, the novel and the manifesto; a tradition which this book explores in detail. Today, as the figure of the wanderer returns to the forefront of the public imagination, writers and walkers around the world are reengaging with the ideas which animated earlier generations—for the walker is once again on the march, mapping new territory and recording new visions of the landscape.