「旅行文學」在1990年代突然出現在台灣，經過作家、評論家、學者密集的討論與創作示範，旅行文學被定義為透過辛苦體驗、深刻觀想而來的表達，並且被界定為專屬於當代的「新興文類」。本文主張這個旅行文學，並不是中國源遠流長的遊記文學系譜之餘緒，而是一個具有社會意義的文學現象，因此必須置回台灣1990年代享樂觀光盛行的社會氣氛來討論。文學並不是社會的單純反映，旅行文學當然也不是觀光社會的單純反映。當代創造的「旅行文學」文類，是一種文學界面對觀光社會而生出「觀光客的不安」、而以「旅行文學」對抗「旅行平庸化」危機的文學鬥爭。這種當代的旅行文學，要求「內在」的獨特凝視，並要求「外在」的寫實描述，亦即，要求旅行者必須承擔「發現風景」的責任，進而在風景之中形塑具有孤絕感的個人性「主體／客體」關係。生於享樂觀光時代的旅行文學，因而具有深切的「艱苦旅行」之意含。

In the 1990's, Taiwan saw the sudden appearance of ＂Travel literature＂. After intensive discussion among writers, critics, and scholars drawing from textual examples, travel literature is defined as a text which aims to express a profound concept by way of narrating a challenging personal experience, and is defined exclusively as a ＂contemporary emerging genre.＂ This article argues that this form of travel literature did not stem from the travel memoir genre that had already possessed a long history in China, but rather was a literary phenomenon of social significance, and thus the growing trend of pleasure tourism in Taiwan during the 1990s makes for a more suitable context within which to discuss the prevailing social atmosphere. Just as literature is not a simple reflection of society, travel literature, likewise, cannot be deemed as a mere depiction of the tourist community. This paper argues that because literary circles tried to incite ＂tourist angst＂ in the tourist community, contemporary ＂travel literature＂ works were used as literary tools of resistance to struggle against the crisis of ＂travel mediocrity＂. Contemporary travel literature, which requires a unique ＂internal＂ gaze, also requires a certain kind of ＂external＂ description (realistic description); that is, travelers are responsible for ＂discovering the present＂, and then amidst the scenery constructing a ＂subject/object＂ relationship which is not devoid of an individualistic sense of solitude. Although born out of the pleasure tourism era of travel literature, this genre thus contains a deeper meaning: that of the ＂difficult journey＂.