Tourist as a flâneur

The authoress presents a figure of a tourist as a flâneur, who traditionally is a stroller observing the world around him (or her as a flâneuse), but is not a participant in it. In this way he or she assumes an 'out-of-place' status. The paper takes into consideration various perspectives connected with the practice of walking, as a form of movement through the city with aesthetic and critical potential (a flâneur as a 'subversive reader'). The aim is to show a flâneur as a model of an 'observer' for sociological research connected with the issues such as traveling and tourism, with particular emphasis on consumerist approach. A tourist as a flâneur is a popular concept in postmodern tourism discussions. In current sociological analyses of tourist experience the questions of 'gaze' is also incorporated as one of the main issues. More attention then is paid to those particular theories that focus on features of the tourist gaze and 'subversive' aspects of tourist activity. A more detailed account is then given of John Urry's concept of 'tourist gaze' and of Eric Cohen's 'drifter'. The article outlines the concept of a tourist as a flâneur in comparison with Henry Miller's and Edmund White's description of Paris. The main literary example of the discussed problems is 'The Autonauts of the Cosmoroute' by Carol Dunlop and Julio Cortázar. The book, based on facts, is a good example of tourism as a 'subversive' activity similar to flânerie.