15. Mary Wollstonecraft, Letters Written during a Short Residence in Sweden, Norway, and Denmark (1796)
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Anca-Raluca Radu
Abstract
Wollstonecraft’s Scandinavian Letters is a fascinating mixture of autobiography and travel writing, often leaving readers with the impression that the places Wollstonecraft visits and the people she encounters are only secondary in importance to the traveller’s own experiences, and that her journey is one of personal progress rather than one of geographical and social exploration. This chapter situates Wollstonecraft’s Letters in the context of eighteenth-century travel and epistolary writing, sentimental fiction and conventional representations of landscape. It also identifies some of the debts Letters owes to established generic conventions and some of the ways in which it detaches itself from its predecessors and contemporaries. In terms of critical traditions, this analysis owes a great deal to feminism, but it also reads the text against its grain, especially by including its non-Anglo-American reception in which scholars often borrow from the vocabulary of postcolonial studies, noting how Wollstonecraft’s Britishness as well as her class influence her perceptions of the Scandinavians and Scandinavian landscapes.
Abstract
Wollstonecraft’s Scandinavian Letters is a fascinating mixture of autobiography and travel writing, often leaving readers with the impression that the places Wollstonecraft visits and the people she encounters are only secondary in importance to the traveller’s own experiences, and that her journey is one of personal progress rather than one of geographical and social exploration. This chapter situates Wollstonecraft’s Letters in the context of eighteenth-century travel and epistolary writing, sentimental fiction and conventional representations of landscape. It also identifies some of the debts Letters owes to established generic conventions and some of the ways in which it detaches itself from its predecessors and contemporaries. In terms of critical traditions, this analysis owes a great deal to feminism, but it also reads the text against its grain, especially by including its non-Anglo-American reception in which scholars often borrow from the vocabulary of postcolonial studies, noting how Wollstonecraft’s Britishness as well as her class influence her perceptions of the Scandinavians and Scandinavian landscapes.
Kapitel in diesem Buch
- Frontmatter I
- Editors’ Preface V
- Contents VII
- 0. Introduction 1
-
Part I: Systematic Questions
- 1. Periods of Travel Writing 11
- 2. Discourses of Travel Writing 31
- 3. Gender 55
- 4. Travel Writing and Translation 79
- 5. Practices and Purposes 95
- 6. Intertextual Travel Writing 113
- 7. The Market for Travel Writing 125
-
Part II: Close Readings
- 8. Walter Ralegh, The Discoverie of the Large, Rich, and Bewtiful Empyre of Guiana (1596) 145
- 9. Daniel Defoe, Robinson Crusoe (1719) and Tour Thro’ The Whole Island of Great Britain (1724–1727) 161
- 10. Samuel Johnson, A Voyage to Abyssinia (1735) 181
- 11. Thomas Pennant, Selected Works (1754–1804) 199
- 12. Lady Mary Wortley Montagu, The Turkish Embassy Letters (1763) 213
- 13. James Boswell, Journals and Letters from his Grand Tour (1764–1765) 231
- 14. James Cook and George Forster, Journals and Travel Reports from Their “Voyage Round the World” (1777) 247
- 15. Mary Wollstonecraft, Letters Written during a Short Residence in Sweden, Norway, and Denmark (1796) 267
- 16. Mariana Starke, Letters from Italy (1800) 297
- 17. Maria Graham, Travel Writing on India, Italy, Brazil, and Chile (1812–1824) 313
- 18. Lord Byron, Childe Harold’s Pilgrimage (1812–1818) 335
- 19. Anna Jameson, Selected Works (1826–1859) 357
- 20. Charles Darwin, The Voyage of the Beagle (1839) 373
- 21. Isabella Bird, Selected Works (1856–1899) 397
- 22. Mary Kingsley, Travels in West Africa (1897) and West African Studies (1899) 411
- 23. Vita Sackville-West, Selected Works (1926, 1928) 433
- 24. Robert Byron, The Road to Oxiana (1937) 449
- 25. Freya Stark, Selected Works (1938–1988) 467
- 26. W. H. Auden, Journey to a War (1939) 485
- 27. V. S. Naipaul, Selected Works (1962–1998) 501
- 28. Dervla Murphy, Selected Works (1965–2015) 515
- 29. William Dalrymple, Selected Works (1989–1997) 535
- 30. Nicholas Crane, Two Degrees West (1999) and Great British Journeys (2007) 555
- 31. Robert Macfarlane, The Wild Places (2007) 575
- Index of Names and Works 595
- Index of Subjects and Places 609
- List of Contributors 617
Kapitel in diesem Buch
- Frontmatter I
- Editors’ Preface V
- Contents VII
- 0. Introduction 1
-
Part I: Systematic Questions
- 1. Periods of Travel Writing 11
- 2. Discourses of Travel Writing 31
- 3. Gender 55
- 4. Travel Writing and Translation 79
- 5. Practices and Purposes 95
- 6. Intertextual Travel Writing 113
- 7. The Market for Travel Writing 125
-
Part II: Close Readings
- 8. Walter Ralegh, The Discoverie of the Large, Rich, and Bewtiful Empyre of Guiana (1596) 145
- 9. Daniel Defoe, Robinson Crusoe (1719) and Tour Thro’ The Whole Island of Great Britain (1724–1727) 161
- 10. Samuel Johnson, A Voyage to Abyssinia (1735) 181
- 11. Thomas Pennant, Selected Works (1754–1804) 199
- 12. Lady Mary Wortley Montagu, The Turkish Embassy Letters (1763) 213
- 13. James Boswell, Journals and Letters from his Grand Tour (1764–1765) 231
- 14. James Cook and George Forster, Journals and Travel Reports from Their “Voyage Round the World” (1777) 247
- 15. Mary Wollstonecraft, Letters Written during a Short Residence in Sweden, Norway, and Denmark (1796) 267
- 16. Mariana Starke, Letters from Italy (1800) 297
- 17. Maria Graham, Travel Writing on India, Italy, Brazil, and Chile (1812–1824) 313
- 18. Lord Byron, Childe Harold’s Pilgrimage (1812–1818) 335
- 19. Anna Jameson, Selected Works (1826–1859) 357
- 20. Charles Darwin, The Voyage of the Beagle (1839) 373
- 21. Isabella Bird, Selected Works (1856–1899) 397
- 22. Mary Kingsley, Travels in West Africa (1897) and West African Studies (1899) 411
- 23. Vita Sackville-West, Selected Works (1926, 1928) 433
- 24. Robert Byron, The Road to Oxiana (1937) 449
- 25. Freya Stark, Selected Works (1938–1988) 467
- 26. W. H. Auden, Journey to a War (1939) 485
- 27. V. S. Naipaul, Selected Works (1962–1998) 501
- 28. Dervla Murphy, Selected Works (1965–2015) 515
- 29. William Dalrymple, Selected Works (1989–1997) 535
- 30. Nicholas Crane, Two Degrees West (1999) and Great British Journeys (2007) 555
- 31. Robert Macfarlane, The Wild Places (2007) 575
- Index of Names and Works 595
- Index of Subjects and Places 609
- List of Contributors 617