Where I Belong Is Who I Am. the Search for Identity in Elisabeth Eaves’ Wanderlust: A Love Affair with Five Continents

Seminar paper from the year 2014 in the subject English Language and Literature Studies - Literature, grade: 1,0, University of Mannheim (Lehrstuhl fur Anglistische Literatur- und Kulturwissenschaft), language: English, abstract: Travel writing helps travel writers to redefine their identity and to revise their concept of home as well as to determine its relative position in the world when using it as a frame of reference. In Wanderlust: A Love Affaire with Five Continents, Elisabeth Eaves, both author and protagonist, renegotiates these two concepts - home and identity - in her inner journey of self-exploration. Making use of a qualitative and explorative approach, this paper investigates the question of how the search for identity and belonging is fashioned in the book. First, the theoretical part of the paper relates the concepts of home and identity to infer how home can function as a source of identity. These theoretical frameworks are then applied in the subsequent section to assess the manner and success of Elisabeth’s strategies of identity construction providing an answer to the question whether her mobile lifestyle as a modern nomad leads to homelessness and lack of identity. Finally, the analysis section breaks down the narrative techniques Elisabeth uses to secure her public identity as travel writer and relates them to the construction of her personal identity.