Abstract:
Literary tourism refers to any travel inspired by literature. This dissertation considers literary
tourism from the perspective of a contemporary literary tourism attraction. It investigates the
origins of literary tourism both in the historical context as well as in academic writing as
interdisciplinary research between geography and literature. The current state of literary
tourism research is also considered and the main research themes at present are identified,
that is, authenticity and who the literary tourists are. This study also considers what the future
might hold for literary tourism by looking at popular contemporary examples, including the
works of J.K. Rowling, G.R.R. Martin, J.R.R. Tolkien, Dan Brown, Stieg Larsson and L.J.
Smith. In this context, literary tourism’s reciprocal relationship with film tourism is unpacked.
This dissertation then moves on to discuss the main focus of this investigation. A mere
decade ago, the world was unaware of a book series called The Twilight Saga by Stephenie
Meyer. Yet in a few short years, the literary tourism associated with this series has turned a
small town in northwest Washington State into a tourism phenomenon. This study considers
the development, extent and impact of literary tourism on this town, called Forks. It also
considers other literary and film tourism sites associated with The Twilight Saga to show the
vast range of the impact literature can have on tourism.
