An adventure is an exciting experience or undertaking that is typically bold, sometimes .
Motivation
Adventurous experiences create psychological
arousal,
which can be interpreted as negative (e.g.
fear) or positive (e.g. flow). For some people, adventure becomes a major pursuit in and of itself. According to adventurer André Malraux, in his
Man's Fate (1933), "If a man is not ready to risk his life, where is his dignity?"
Similarly, Helen Keller stated that "Life is either a daring adventure or nothing."
Outdoor adventurous activities are typically undertaken for the purposes of recreation or : examples are adventure racing and Adventure travel. Adventurous activities can also lead to gains in knowledge, such as those undertaken by explorers and pioneersthe British adventurer Jason Lewis, for example, uses adventures to draw global sustainability lessons from living within finite environmental constraints on expeditions to share with schoolchildren. Adventure education intentionally uses challenging experiences for learning.
Author Jon Levy suggests that an experience should meet several criteria to be considered an adventure:
-
Be remarkable—that is, worth talking about
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Involve adversity or perceived risk
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Bring about personal growth.
Mythology and fiction
Some of the oldest and most widespread stories in the world are stories of adventure, such as
Homer's
The Odyssey.
The knight errant was the form the "adventure seeker" character took in the Late Middle Ages.
adventure novel exhibits these "protagonist on adventurous journey" characteristics, as do many popular feature Adventure film, such as Star Wars
Marvel Comics, DC Comics, and other comic book publishers often use "adventurer"—or, in some cases, "costumed adventurer" or "superhuman adventurer"—as a synonym for "super-hero."
Outdoors
Adventure books may have the theme of the hero or main character going to face the
wilderness or
Mother Nature. Examples include books such as
Hatchet or
My Side of the Mountain. These books are less about "questing", such as in mythology or other adventure novels, but more about
Survival skills on their own, living off the land, gaining new experiences, and becoming closer to the natural world.
Questing
Many adventures are based on the idea of a quest: the hero goes off in pursuit of a reward, whether it be a skill, prize, treasure, or perhaps the safety of a person. On the way, the hero must overcome various obstacles to obtain their reward.
Video games
In video game culture, an adventure game is a
video game in which the player assumes the role of a protagonist in an interactive story driven by exploration and
Puzzle.
The genre's focus on story allows it to draw heavily from other
narrative-based media,
literature and
film, encompassing a wide variety of literary genres. Many adventure games (text and graphic) are designed for a single player, since this emphasis on story and character makes multi-player design difficult.
Nonfiction works
From ancient times, travelers and explorers have written about their adventures.
Journals which became best-sellers in their day were written, such as
Marco Polo's journal
The Travels of Marco Polo or
Mark Twain's
Roughing It. Others were personal journals, only later published, such as the journals of
Meriwether Lewis and
William Clark or Captain James Cook's journals. There are also books written by those not directly a part of the adventure in question, such as
The Right Stuff by
Tom Wolfe or books written by those participating in the adventure but in a format other than that of a journal, such as
Conquistadors of the Useless by
Lionel Terray. Documentaries often use the theme of adventure as well.
Adventure sports
There are many sports classified as adventure sports, due to their inherent danger and excitement. Some of these include mountain climbing,
skydiving, or other
extreme sports.
See also
External links
