Jan Morris
Jan Morris was one of the most celebrated travel writers of the twentieth century. She was known particularly for the
Pax Britannica trilogy, a history of the British Empire, and for portraits of cities, including Oxford, Venice, Trieste,
Hong Kong, and New York City. Born James Humphry Morris, she published under her birth name until 1972, when she had
gender reassignment surgery after transitioning from male to female. Selections of her entire body of work were
collected into a magnum opus entitled The World: Life and Travel 1950-2000.
There's an interviewer of Jan Morris who spent years seeking a conversation with her. In 2006, they reached out for an
interview, but she politely declined, saying she never considered herself a travel writer and disliked the label.
Despite this, the interviewer admired her willingness to respond. Jan passed away in Wales last year at 94, yet she
remains an ultimate figure in 20th-century travel writing. The following Q&A blends insights from her 1997 Paris Review
interview and her 2005 essay collection, The World, capturing her distinct voice and views on travel.
How did you get started traveling?
- I was brought up in a world whose map was painted very largely red, and I went out into the world when I was young in a
spirit of imperial arrogance. I felt, like most British people my age, that I was born to a birthright of supremacy; out
I went to exert that supremacy. But gradually in the course of my later adolescence and youth my views about this
changed.
How did you get started writing?
- I began as a reporter, having been persuaded (chiefly by American examples) that journalism was a proper avenue into
literature. I joined The Times of London from Oxford, and almost immediately began my vagrant life, presently
gravitating to what was then the Manchester Guardian. These two characterful newspapers, then at the height of their
fame, prestige and varied idiosyncrasy, not only allowed me to treat the writing of news dispatches more or less as the
writing of essays, but also gave me a grandstand view of events, which disgracefully boosted my ego. In no time at all I
was pontificating about humanity’s problems, and advising states and nations how to solve them. As Max Beerbohm said of
himself and Oxford, it was The Times and the Guardian that made me insufferable, and I am grateful to them still.
What travel authors or books might you recommend and/or have influenced you?
- I think some of the great travel books have not prepared me for the place I’m going to. One of them is one of my
favorite books, Doughty’s Arabia Deserta; it’s a marvelous book and a great work of art, but the image it presents of
the desert and its life isn’t the image I felt. I’m not grumbling at all. He wasn’t trying to tell me what I was going
to see in the desert. He was just telling me what the desert was like to him. But that’s one book that doesn’t seem to
match up to my own conceptions of the desert. Sterne, for example, too. I can’t say that France seems very much like A
Sentimental Journey to me. There are some other people too, like Alexander Kinglake, who wrote deliberately in an
entertaining mode, consciously painting an arresting picture of life. It isn’t much like it when you get there.
Reference:
https://www.smithsonianmag.com/travel/the-allure-of-travel-writing-42681966/
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jan_Morris
JOENARD “JJO” POLLICAR, MANILA INSTAGRAM: @JJOPOLLICAR19
Joenard not only captures breathtaking aerial photography during his travels but also showcases architectural and street
photography of Manila. His work reminds us that you don’t need to travel far to gain a new perspective; sometimes, it’s
all about having the intention to look.
A Computer Engineer by profession and a hobbyist photographer, Joenard's love for travel photography began in childhood.
He recalls being in awe of stunning landscape photos, but it was only when he first held a friend's DSLR camera that he
realized he needed one for himself. After acquiring his camera, his journey into photography truly began.
He started as a volunteer photographer at events, weddings, and birthdays before falling in love with travel
photography. Recently, he invested in a drone to capture unique perspectives of landscapes and is planning to buy a
full-frame camera with complete accessories for enhanced output.
His tip for learning photographers: “Always be aware of your composition while taking photos. Be creative, explore, and
never stop learning as there is so much room to improve in this industry.”
Reference:
https://www.wheninmanila.com/13-filipino-travel-photographers-who-will-inspire-you-to-explore/
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