"Travel is So Broadening"?

Question

I've read several answers here (and essays elsewhere) that use the phrase "Travel is broadening" or some variation thereof. My question is this: how many people recognize the source of the quote as being from Sinclair Lewis' story by the same name? If you recognize it, do you find it ironic the way people often use the phrase?

If you haven't read the text, please refrain from insulting me. Maybe you should read it?

Answer 1

I do find it terrible ironic, and in some ways a tad sad. One of the ways that Shakespeare believed man found immortality was to find infamy in ones works so that his memory lived on, yet how many people recognize a line from Iago when they hear it? I think the same is true of any writer, they want their work to be respected.

It is a phenomenon I have noticed that happens quite frequently where a single sentence, or in this case even a mere fraction of a sentence or a title, is taken woefully out of context and somehow thrives in its bubble of incorrect understanding.

"A Good Man is Hard to Find" by Flannery O'Connor is an example of that. I once listened to a woman drone on about how true that title is, and as she went on, it became terribly obvious she had never read the short story involving a family meeting a very brutal end.

Those that haven't read the story, I encourage you to do so. It is something that anyone who has traveled will recognize, and no it isn't the idyllic view of losing ones cultural centricism by having an open mind to new experiences. Remember, never judge a book by it's cover or a short story by its title.

Answer 2

actually I've never heard that phrase b4