JTLS, Vol. 1, No. 2, 2026, pp.1-18.
Print ISSN: 3135-6788; Online ISSN: 3135-6796
Journal homepage: https://www.tlsjournal.com
DOI：https://doi.org/10.64058/jtls26010201cpijt
The Cartography of Prose: Inaugurating the Journal of Travel Literature Studies
Junwu Tian
Abstract: This essay chronicles the founding of the Journal of Travel Literature Studies, situating the event within the grand arc of travel writing from antiquity to the present. Traversing both Eastern and Western traditions—from the riverine chronicles of Sima Qian and the arduous pilgrimages of Xu Xiake to the Mediterranean wanderings of Herodotus, the Silk Road marvels of Marco Polo, the vast Islamic odysseys of Ibn Battuta, and the scientific reckonings of Humboldt, the essay contends that travel is never mere locomotion. It is, rather, a profound cultural praxis: a cartography of the self, a negotiation of identity, and an uneasy yet indispensable encounter with the Other. Born of a field that has burgeoned in significance yet languishes in institutional neglect, this inaugural statement articulates the pressing need for a dedicated scholarly forum—one capable of bridging Chinese and global intellectual currents across literature, anthropology, and cultural studies. The Journal of Travel Literature Studies aspires not only to accommodate methodological diversity but to orchestrate it, fostering cross-epistemic dialogue and charting a new territory where the itinerant and the textual converge. In so doing, it seeks to establish itself as a compass for cutting-edge scholarship, orienting the field toward its next horizons.
Keywords: Travel Literature; Anthropology of Travel; Cross-Cultural Encounter; Journal Founding
Author Biography: Junwu Tian (tjw1966@163.com), editor-in-chief of Journal of Travel Literature Studes, is the Sino-US Fulbright scholar and professor at the School of Foreign Languages, Beihang University. His research area focuses on American literature and comparative literature. His latest publications include “Criticism and Evaluation of Nie Zhenzhao’s Studies of Ethical Literary Criticism” in Style (2021); “Life Criticism and De Quincey’s Ethical Concern over the Aestheticiability of Murder” in Orbis Litterarum (2024); and “Cosmopolitan Travel and Identity Construction in Kazuo Ishiguro’s International Novels” in Critique: Studies in Contemporary Fiction (2025)
Received: 25 May 2026 / Revised: 01 Aug 2026 / Accepted: 01 Sep 2026 / Published online: 15 Sep 2025 / Print published: 15 Dec 2026.
