The author analyzes three books on escapism and the various ways in which it is represented in
them. He focuses on Alex Garland's backpacker cult novel 'The Beach' and William Sutcliffe's
satire of the gap-year traveler 'Are You Experienced?' as well as Jon Krakauer's non-fiction
book 'Into the Wild'.The first part of the analysis deals with the influence of literary genres
like the Bildungsroman and travel literature. Unreliable narration as a narrative strategy is
taken into consideration as well as the colonial subtext of 'The Beach' and 'Are You
Experienced?'. In 'Into the Wild' nature writing and road narratives are an integral part of
the narrative.The second part deals with cultural aspects such as questions of authenticity
that are raised during the narratives the role of drugs as a means of escape and also the
problematic relationship between travelers and tourists. Finally the author compares two film
adaptations Danny Boyle's 'The Beach' (2000) and Sean Penn's 'Into the Wild' (2007) with
their corresponding literary source texts.
