Journal of Travel Literature Studies
JTLS, Vol. 1, No. 1, 2026, pp.1-16.
Print ISSN: 3135-6788; Online ISSN: 3135-6796
Journal homepage: https://www.tlsjournal.com
DOI： https://doi.org/10.64058/JTLS.26.1.01
From “Travel Writing” to “Travel Literature”: Disciplinary Evolution and Structural Decentring—Serving as an Inaugural Editorial[1]
Mingyi Wang and Juanjuan Wu
Abstract: This inaugural editorial introduces the Journal of Travel Literature Studies as a dynamic academic forum dedicated to the exploration of travel narratives. By addressing the field’s definitional ambiguities, it champions the term “travel literature” over “travel writing” to foreground the artistic, mediated, and constructed nature of such texts. Tracing the disciplinary evolution of the past half-century, the editorial critiques persistent problems—most notably a deeply entrenched Eurocentric bias—and urgently advocates for a structural decentring of the field. By amplifying perspectives from the Global South and engaging with emerging ecological, spatial, and decolonial frameworks, the journal endeavors to foster a genuinely global and inclusive scholarly dialogue, a vision thoughtfully embodied in the issue’s inaugural essays.
Keywords: Journal of Travel Literature Studies; inaugural editorial; travel writing; travel literature; definition; decentring
Author Biographies: Mingyi Wang (first author) holds a master’s degree from the School of Foreign Languages, Beihang University, and serves as the Editorial Director of the Journal of Travel Literature Studies. His research focuses on travel literature and Shakespearean drama, with research findings published in peer-reviewed journals such as Drama (The Journal of the Central Academy of Drama), English Studies, and Critical Survey. Email: polyglotkeats@126.com.
Juanjuan Wu (corresponding author) is an assistant professor at the Department of Foreign Languages and Literatures at Tsinghua University. She obtained her PhD from The University of Melbourne. Her research focuses on Anglophone women’s travel writing and life writing, literary and cultural relations between China and the West, global modernism, and digital humanities. She has published in peer-reviewed journals and book collections such as Women’s Studies, Women’s Writing, Studies in Travel Writing, English Studies, Concentric: Literary and Cultural Studies, Comparative Literature in China, and Foreign Literatures. She is currently a guest editor for the special issue “Affective Encounters, Alternative Modernities and Travel Narratives between China and the World” to be published by Critical Arts. Email: Jwuau1103@gmail.com.
Received: 15 Mar 2026 / Revised: 25 Apr 2026 / Accepted: 20 May 2026 / Published online: 30 May 2026 / Print published: 30 Sep 2026.
