Big Trips: More Good Gay Travel Writing

There are weekend vacations, quick getaways, and overnight jaunts. But in this border-hopping anthology of travel memoir and fiction, every trip is a big one, as an advance guard of adventurous writers--both seasoned names and fresh voices--scatter across the globe, face the pure euphoria and sheer anxiety of travel, and survive a lot of very fast living. Reviving a time before the travel narrative devolved into puny 10-best lists, these writers don't...

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0299228606
• ISBN13: 9780299228606
• Release Date: September 2008
• Publisher: University of Wisconsin Press
• Length: 308 Pages
• Weight: 1.34 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.0" x 6.0" x 9.0"

Customer Reviews

A Transporting Book

Big Trips is one of the best anthologies of the year, and a must for anyone who loves good writing, and especially great travel writing. Kadushin starts things off perfectly with a very smart, funny introduction and the mix of well-known writers and fresh talents follow with a series of stories that jump all over the world (Cairo, Paris, San Francisco, Sicily, Greece, Prague). There isn't a weak piece in the bunch so you can dip in anywhere. Dale Peck's romance about a young man in London is sexy and sad; Michael Klein's piece about a perfect Provincetown summer is a moving romance; Trebor Healey's story about a man traveling cross country with his lover's ashes is poignant, and Kadushin's piece about a boy following his mentor through Yorkshire is a gorgeous story. Andrew Holleran's trip through a Florida wasteland is a great satire and Duncan Fallowell's flirtation with a Sicilian waiter, like all the pieces here, defies expectations. A real showcase of talents.

Travel memoirs by established gay writers - a nice escape

Among the more apt stereotypes of gay men is that we are globetrotting leisure travelers. As such, we'd be a good source of suggestions for unique travel locales and experiences, although many of us rarely venture too far from home. This is a collection of travel memoirs from a variety of published gay authors, ranging from recollections of travels experiences decades ago (and not likely to be accurate today), to more modern itineraries, from out-of-the-way places to popular tourist destinations. The writing style is mostly narratives, and some are parts of a larger work by the author, with one actually a scene (complete with stage directions) from a play. Like any short story collection, there are some you will love, others that may not be so enjoyable (A couple of them bored me to tears, but that could be a result of my having no real interest in the destination being written about.) The authors' list reads almost like a who's who of gay authors, including Bruce Benderson (a former San Francisco hippie, who takes us on his trip revisiting the Haight twenty years later), Aaron Hamburger, Trebor Healy (my favorite story in the book, on an emotional stopover in a small California town), Andrew Holleran (journey to a tacky retirement village in Florida), Dale Peck (checking out the club scene in London) and Edmund White (travels to Morocco and Paris). Those who are familiar with their regular works will recognize some of their style, although these stories generally go beyond the scope of their usual writings. I found the book to be an interesting "escape" from everyday life, and recommended as such. Four stars out of five.

Getting Away

Kadushin, Raphael, editor. "Big Trips: More Good Gay Travel Writing", University of Wisconsin Press, 2008. Getting Away Amos Lassen I first read Raphael Kadushin's writing in "Wonderlands: Good Gay Travel Writing" and was amazed at the collection. Now he follows that book up with "Big Trips: More Good Gay Travel Writing" and it is just as amazing as the first book. Kadushin brings together some of the A-list gay authors including Edmund White, Trebor Healey, Dale Peck and Brian Bouldrey. The book rests somewhere between memoir and travel fiction and each selection is a gem. The selections are straight forward and fascinating to read and are very different from each other. There is a great deal of literary talent in this volume and the places written about range from Corfu to Italy to Britain to America. Yet they all have one thing in common--a new kind of travel writing and a sense of love. We see traveling as a collection of impressions that endure and when the thoughts are recorded, it is possible to revisit places when we want to---and if we can't go we can read someone else's impressions.

Sequel to "Wonderlands" Great Short Stories

A beautiful collection of travel writing that is the perfect read for anyone who likes to travel, who likes to vicariously travel, or who just enjoys good writing. Variously moving, funny, and romantic (there are a lot of love stories tucked in here), almost all the pieces offer a pay-off. Especially strong: Edmund White's harrowing story of Morocco; Duncan Fallowell's quietly erotic story of a flirtation in Sicily; Raphael Kadushin's very funny and very sad coming of age story, set in a rainy England; Andrew Holleran's vision of a dessicated Florida; and Martin Sherman's portrait of two castaways on a Greek island.