Narratives of an Unsuspected Isle

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2019-07-10
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en
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This research examines tourism representations that are based on two popular narratives: the novel series The Corfu Trilogy by British author Gerald Durell and the screen adaptation The Durells. Landscaping as a process is the focus of this study; the two narratives engage in representations of both the natural and cultural landscape of Corfu, while British and Greek tourism discourses appropriate these representations to promote Durell tourism in the island. After an investigation of the dominant themes in the two narratives, British and Greek online tourism discourses are being analused on the basis of the identified themes. The research focuses on critical discourse analysis of both official and unofficial websites and webpages that promote Durell tourism and argues that there are significant variations in the process of landscaping between British and Greek tourism discourses. The historical, cultural and political tentions that are identified reveal the contestation of mutual heritage in Corfu and highlight the island’s cultural marginality. While the focus of this study is the dialogue between British and Greek tourism discourses, British discourse reveals the longing for a stoic approach to travel, while Gerald Durell seems to embody the ideal traveller who perfectly balances between hedonism and stoicism. Finally, the same framework used for the analysis could be applied to analyse more tourism representations inspired by popular narratives that involve cross-cultural participants.
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