Alain De Botton Essay

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By acknowledging the physiological and imagined experiences of travel there can be critical understanding into the relationship between landscapes and the lives of individuals and how they shape that individual. Alain de Botton a philosopher and author studied this idea in depth and wrote his non-fiction ‘travel guide’ The Art of Travel. De Botton deliberately represents ideas about the lives of individuals and their relationship with landscapes in his book. He conveys the concept that these experiences can influence the identity of these individuals. He does this by using intertextuality, exploring the ideas from artists and theorists throughout his book. These experiences can be seen through themes and concepts portrayed in each individual …show more content…

He uses the poet William Wordsworth to convey this relationship. Wordsworth’s remembered experience of the Lake District conveys a sense of natural beauty through the country with a binary comparison to the city. De Botton states that the city is full of “smoke congestion, poverty and ugliness” and that “City dwellers have no perspective”. He describes the country as having “sanity, purity and permanence” These two different landscapes are juxtaposed conveying the influence that it has on the individual. This demonstrates that there is a connection between people and landscapes. De Botton presents the idea that “City dwellers began to travel in great numbers through the countryside in an attempt to restore health to their bodies and more importantly harmony to their souls.” This effectively illustrates that there is a relationship between individuals and landscapes. In this case nature or natural landscapes create and promote healing or life-altering experiences. This idea of contrasting landscapes is further explored, as de Botton comments on Wordsworth’s view stating that “our identities are to a greater or lesser extent malleable” and that they “change according to whom – and sometimes what – we are with”. This is an important and central argument conveying the idea that the relationship between real landscapes and individuals can create an impression on our

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