Literary Discourses and Cultural Movements of Slowness in the 1980s and 1990s, Actualized in the Travel Form of Slow Tourism and Affirming the Political Component of Sustainability via the Triple Bottom Line’s Social and Environmental Dimensions

Abstract

This article analyzes and compares writings on literary, cultural, social and entrepreneurial movements that started in the 1980s and 1990s and keep growing in worldwide salience and significance, namely slowness, sustainability, global tourism, and the triple bottom line. Based on a transdisciplinary methodology in comparative literary tradition, the research contributes conceptually and empirically to these areas, adding to our perceptions and practices of slow tourism, sustainable lifestyles, as well as professional aspirations and mobilities in our ever more globalizing and transnational times. Hence it is of theoretical and practical use for teachers and students of literature and cultural studies, traveling tourists and lifestyle explorers, sustainability adherents and environmental activists, ecosystem protectors and economic leaders, but also for politicians, business leaders, philosophers or educators entrusted with social reflection and public guidance, as well as for devotees engaging in associated activities such as spiritual travelers, environmental journa-lists, or nature and artwork conservationists.