Wortley Montagu: Questions for Discussion and Further Research
Lady Wortley Montagu is an animated writer — but her correspondence may tell us as much or more about the life of a British woman of her station than it does about Turkey. Her letters describe a collision of cultures, in her time abroad, and offer a potential window into the experiences of a Briton who has become The Other in someone else’s land.
Discuss:
- What is Wortley Montagu’s class background? How does it affect her experiences while traveling, and the way she views her new surroundings outside England? Finally, how do these differences in class and background shape travel writing as a genre (i.e., “outsiders” reporting on cultures and regions they do not belong to)?
- How does Wortley Montagu view members of her Turkish host country/culture? How do you know? Furthermore, how do her descriptions aesthetically frame non-Europeans? What kind of picture do they paint for readers back home?
- How do Wortley Montagu’s experiences as a British woman shape her perspective? Does it give her a different type of voice — and does that serve as an advantage in some ways, before audiences back home? How does she view women’s and men’s roles? Have her experiences in Turkey and elsewhere created a space where she feels more comfortable challenging them than she would in Britain? Explain.
Do further research:
- Wortley Montagu’s letters are an early example of British travel writing, which increased in popularity throughout the 18th and 19th centuries. Using your college library resources, research and select another British travel writer from the 18th or 19th century, and review one of their works. What features does this second text share with Wortley Montagu’s letters? In what ways do they differ?
