When Travel Writing Goes Wrong: 'Edgy' Berlin Edition

"Wait, no. That’s not my city."

I can’t be the only person who thinks this when they happen across a travel article about their hometown. Whether it’s being recommended a "hip" restaurant 10 years too late, or reading ludicrously false advice on how to blend in, there's something about travel writing that takes us into a parallel Narnia version of our own city, similar to what we know but somehow terribly, horribly wrong.

I’ve particularly noticed this with Berlin, where I’ve spent much of my adult life. The city’s been getting a fresh slew of European press coverage this month, in the wake of David Bowie’s newly released song about his past there. While some pieces have been great, others have been excruciating, expressing astonishment that the former East now has boutiques and noting that Berlin is far from Bavarian stereotypes ... not surprising given that Bavaria is 400 miles away.

Does this matter? As a sometime editor of city guides myself, I’m aware that not everyone wants to travel like a local, and that if there are stereotypes entrenched in the reader’s mind, writers need to at least acknowledge them. But the constant repetition of clichés about a city can actually help enshrine these truisms as dogma. This could be why the same slightly mistaken images of Berlin are so often reheated and served up as fresh, usually some sort of mash-up of Cabaret, The Lives of Others, and The 120 Days of Sodom.