Some obligatory phrases from book blurbs, curiously absent from most tomes on Daoist ethnography:

• cuts a picaresque swathe
• madcap adventures
• with hilarious consequences!!!
• embarking upon a voyage of discovery
• emotional rollercoaster
• searing exposé
• unflinching
• feisty
• filigree
• vast, sprawling epic.

Happily, such clichés have been Laid Bare (oops, there’s another one) in several articles, such as this. And Molvania is jam-packed (packed like jam) with ’em. Not forgetting the ultimate homage to the language of the travelogue, Away from it all.

For further dubious marketing, click here; and for a series on cliché, start here. See also my blurb for Ogonek and Til.