Great Women Travel Writers: From 1750 To The Present - Hardcover

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0826416837 ISBN 13: 9780826416834

Publisher: Continuum Intl Pub Group, 2005

Synopsis

Travel is sacred. Travel is a quest. Travel is an escape. Travel is a passion! It is enlightening, a distraction, a novelty, a dream fulfilled. It may inspire joy, terror, longing – often, all three. Women explorers and travelers are a special breed. Some were also great writers, recording their cross-cultural impressions with stunning vividness, blending history, myth, technology, and poetic imagination. The 22 courageous women profiled in this book encircled the globe. Together, they form a grand tradition and speak to us today as never before – -Lady Hester Stanhope (1776-1839) left the comfort of England to wander through the Near East – never to return home, so deeply did she treasure her freedom-Fanny Lewald (1811-89) traveled through Europe and especially Italy to record its Risorgimento-Pandita Ramabai (1858-1922) traveled from India and lived through Western experiences that revamped her ideas -Daisy Bates (1859-1951), Irish to the roots, immersed herself in Australian Aboriginals -Gertrude Bell (1868-1926), dubbed “Queen of the Desert,” was the most powerful woman in Edwardian England-the Danish Isak Dinesen (1885-1962) made her mark in Africa -Anaïs Nin (1903-77) may be thought of as “a mental traveler” -Freya Stark (1893-1993) – knighted by Queen Elizabeth for her contribution to travel literature – lived among the Druze of Syria and in shades of our own time researched the deadly terrorist group of ancient Persian Assassins -Oriana Fallaci (1930- ) has literally covered the world -Valentina Vladimirovna Tereshkova (1937- ), has surely traveled the farthest as the first woman in space A dozen other women who boldly crossed international barriers often to encounter the most patriarchal cultures of their time are focused on in this delightful book – a significant contribution to travel literature as well as to women’s studies.

About this title

About the Author:

BETTINA L. KNAPP is the author of over 50 books, including Anaïs Nin, Gertrude Stein, Antonin Artaud, French Fairy Tales: A Jungian Approach, and Women in Myth. She lives in New York City. Both editors have traveled the world, apart and together.Alba Amoia is the author of Twentieth-century Italian Women Writers, No Mothers We!, Albert Camus, Feodor Dostoevsky, and other works. She lives in Rome.

Review:

"Amoia and Knapp offer brief biographical chapters about the lives of 22 women who traveled in and wrote about Africa, India, the Near East—nearly every corner of the world...An enthusiastic two-page introduction helps to foreground the often-dangerous and arguably groundbreaking travels of the women. Each chapter is chronological, proceeding from the writer's birth through significant life events and including tantalizing excerpts from their forays; each includes a short bibliography of primary and secondary sources. The book concludes with a two-page general bibliography and a helpful index of people and place-names. Providing useful background for those interested in travel writers in general or in women's travel writing or specific authors in particular, this book will be a good supplement to collections of travel writing by women...Recommended: Lower-division undergraduates and above." - Choice, January 2006 (M.W. Cox CHOICE)

"Amoia and Knapp offer brief biographical chapters about the lives of 22 women who traveled in and wrote about Africa, India, the Near East—nearly every corner of the world...An enthusiastic two-page introduction helps to foreground the often-dangerous and arguably groundbreaking travels of the women. Each chapter is chronological, proceeding from the writer's birth through significant life events and including tantalizing excerpts from their forays; each includes a short bibliography of primary and secondary sources. The book concludes with a two-page general bibliography and a helpful index of people and place-names. Providing useful background for those interested in travel writers in general or in women's travel writing or specific authors in particular, this book will be a good supplement to collections of travel writing by women...Recommended: Lower-division undergraduates and above."  - Choice, January 2006 (, CHOICE)

About this edition

• Publisher: Continuum Intl Pub Group
• Publication date: 2005
• ISBN 10: 0826416837
• ISBN 13: 9780826416834
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 304
• Editor: Bettina Knapp, Alba Amoia