Abstract
As it is well known, travel literature is any coherent and well-structured narrative that records what travelers had seen, experienced and lived. However, we always referred to this literature from the male point of view, since travel itself is considered something proper to men, who generally travelled to discover and explore new lands, to conquer other peoples, for espionage missions, diplomatic posts, religious motives, etc. We should know that women also contributed a great deal to this genre of literature. This was the case of Lady Mary Wortley Montagu, a woman traveler who went on with her husband for his diplomatic work. She was also able, through her writings, to break certain stereotypes about the Orient, which is why she is considered the pioneer of women’s travel literature in the Orient. Unlike the Orientalists, she was able to bring the Western reader closer to the Eastern world without any more inventions or lies and by breaking certain stereotypes about it. She wrote her Letters from Istanbul with such care and artistry that they earned the admiration of Voltaire himself, who praised their literary quality and disseminated them in Europe. In this article, we will introduce this great traveler and writer, with some reflections on the image of the East in her work. Observation, research, analysis and reflection are the actions we are going to count on in this work.
Recommended Citation
Laamarti, Latifa
(2024)
"Letters from Istanbul by Lady Mary Wortley Montagu:The Orient from a woman's point of view,"
Soroud: The journal of Literacy Criticism: Vol. 7:
Iss.
1, Article 14.
Available at:
https://scholarhub.univh2c.ma/soroud/vol7/iss1/14