Spaces of Resonance and the Cultural Dialogue in Travelogues: A Case Study on Peter Hurley’s The Way of the Crosses
Spaces of Resonance and the Cultural Dialogue in Travelogues: A Case Study on Peter Hurley’s The Way of the Crosses

Summary/Abstract: This paper applies German sociologist Hartmut Rosa's resonance theory to explore its possible epistemological benefits for the fields of cultural and literary studies. Focusing on Peter Hurley's The Way of the Crosses, which recounts an Irishman's pilgrimage in Romania, the study examines the axes of resonance and the adaptive transformations they bring about. By analysing how spaces of resonance are narrated, we aim to a better understanding of cultural dialogue and of the travel writing genre. In this travelogue, resonance spaces appear both as fictionalized and explicitly cited spaces (Solbach). The sociological, resonant perspective on the narrated space reveals that the subjective resonant experience of the traveller is difficult to convey to readers unless the narrator employs specific fictional techniques. Ultimately, the narrative construction of spaces of resonance supports the hypothesis that travel writing is a resonant experience, that contributes to the mechanisms of defining identity equally as any encounter with alterity, and that fosters cultural dialogue, even though the narrated experience may emerge as a reification of the authentic life depicted in the text.

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