Steel Safari: Cairo to Cape Town by Train (Where Possible)

This Creative Writing PhD is presented in two parts: a Creative Work and a Critical Study. The Creative Work consists of a substantial portion of a work of travel writing, submitted as proof of concept. Written at a time when much published travel writing is focussed on the relatively introspective world of nature writing and walking, this work deliberately moves to investigate Africa’s industrial and colonial heritage. In following the author’s personal journey by rail from Cairo to Cape Town, it utilises the complex interdisciplinary structure of post-millennial travel writing in order to examine the impact of the railways’ arrival on the political, social, economic and military life of Africa over more than two hundred years. Although excellent books have been written on individual lines, no one has previously attempted to discuss the many effects of railway travel, from state building to the spread of cholera, the technical education of thousands and the creation of railway missions, over the whole route. The Critical Study offers a detailed exploration of the paratext surrounding the main travel text, using the theories of literary philosophers such as Gerard Genette and Roland Barthes, along with the writings of a wide variety of authors and journalists. It is the first time that a study of this magnitude has been undertaken within the travel genre, involving a comparison with the work of many twentieth and twenty-first century travel writers alongside a discussion of the author’s own decision-making processes with regard to topics that range from the use of chapter titles to mapping and illustration in both print and digital texts.