Tourist Literature and the Architecture of Travel in Olga Tokarczuk and Patti Smith

This chapter analyses two travel narratives within the scope of literature and tourism studies, aiming to explore the motivations to undertake journeying and the experience of (literary) pilgrims. The first is the novel Flights, by Olga Tokarczuk (2007), and the second is “How the Mind Works,” by Patti Smith (2017). This chapter defines the umbrella concept of “tourist literature” and takes a cross-disciplinary perspective combining the hermeneutics process with findings from the literature review on tourism studies. The analysis of Flights reveals the touring identity and experience of a pilgrim and reflections about airports, travel guides, tourists, and their syndromes. The analysis of Patti Smith’s short story uncovers the touring identity and experience of a literary pilgrim who is strongly motivated to undertake literary-inspired trips towards the authors’ places.