Isabella Bird Bishop was one of the most successful Victorian travellers and writers whose undisputable literary skills and outspoken style earned her public appreciation and critical acclaim. She published numerous travelogues about remote lands which aroused the interest of her contemporaries within the context of the great colonial expansion of nineteenth-century Britain.Isabella Bird always suffered from poor health and she had to remove a tumour near her spine when she was eighteen. She was also afflicted with depression and insomnia, which disappeared on every long journey she took. Bird made her first overseas journey to America, followed by her first and popular travelogue The Englishwoman in America, and the subsequent explorations in Australia, in the Hawaii Islands, and then in the Rocky Mountains in the company of Jim Nugent, to the various trips to the East, from Japan to China passing by India, Persia, Korea and Manchuria. Over the years, Isabella Bird shaped the literary image of a woman resistant to fatigue and danger, of a solitary adventurer continuously searching for unbeaten tracks where she could escape from civilisation.. The distinction between tourist and traveller, the search for the pristine identity of the territories, the dilemma of having been preceded by others en route were some of the most recurring themes of nineteenth-century travel writing. The exceptional proliferation of Victorian travelogues must be located within the broader context of British colonial expansion. The latter, indeed, promoted countless exploration expeditions intended to thoroughly map the ‘blank spaces’ of the earth that the British Empire aimed to conquer for the sake of its ‘civilising mission’.Bird, the first woman who obtained full membership in the Royal Geographical Society in 1892, entered the twenty-year heated debate about the admission of women Fellows in the RGS with her unique personality and works. The contribution of women explorers and writers has been the object of gender studies as well as of historical revisionism and post-modern reconstruction of scientific thinking. The contradiction embedded in the condition of Victorian women within the colonial context, powerfully described by Indira Ghose as “colonized by gender, but colonizers by race” can be variously traced in Isabella Bird’s works which reveal the ambiguity of the positions she adopted in meeting with the ‘other’, the ‘exotic’ and the cultures she came into contact. Bird’s use of medicine within the missionary context additionally brought her into direct contact with the local people, which allowed her experience fleeting moments of solidarity across race, sex and culture when colonial barriers temporarily disintegrated. Bird’s support to the British imperial efforts and on the writer’s commitment to the ideals of her country, endorses the assumption that the Victorian women travellers “never truly left home”.The special travel permits she obtained through the mediation between local governments and colonial administrations were essential tools for Bird, who could thus profit from an extraordinary freedom of movement across ‘unbeaten tracks’, beyond the limits of the treaty ports. Like other authors of colonial texts, Bird often hinted at the idea that her presence and, by extension, British rule, were demanded by the locals as a saving solution for domestic issues or for the threat posed by other powers. The writer's staunch defence of the “sphere of interest” as opposed to the “greedy” notion of “sphere of influence” highlights the writer’s ideological, moral and pedagogical commitment.
Isabella Bird Bishop fu una delle viaggiatrici e scrittrici vittoriane di maggior successo, capace di riscuotere il gradimento del pubblico e della critica a lei contemporanea grazie alle sue indiscusse doti letterarie e alla schiettezza del suo stile, pubblicando numerosi resoconti di viaggio su terre remote per i quali i suoi contemporanei nutrivano grande interesse.Subì un intervento chirurgico per la rimozione di un tumore a carico della spina dorsale nel 1850, nonostante il quale non guarì dai suoi continui dolori fisici. Afflitta inoltre da depressione ed insonnia, constatò che i suoi mali scomparivano ad ogni lungo viaggio. Il ricorso ai viaggi per lenire le sue sofferenze psico-fisiche fu dapprima prescritto dai medici divenendo poi prassi consolidata: dal primo viaggio oltremare in America, alle successive esplorazioni in Australia, poi nelle isole Hawaii, successivamente visitando le Montagne Rocciose in compagnia del pittoresco Jim Nugent, ai numerosi viaggi in Oriente, dal Giappone alla Cina passando per l’India, la Persia, la Corea e la Manciuria. Isabella Bird plasmò nel corso degli anni la propria immagine letteraria di donna sprezzante della fatica e del pericolo, avventuriera solitaria alla perpetua ricerca di sentieri non battuti e in fuga dalla ‘civiltà’. La distinzione tra turista e viaggiatore, la ricerca della genuinità e identità dei territori visitati, il dilemma dell’esser stati preceduti da altri nel proprio itinerario divennero alcuni dei temi più ricorrenti nella letteratura di viaggio del diciannovesimo secolo. La straordinaria fioritura di resoconti di viaggio d’epoca vittoriana va incardinata nel più ampio conteso dell’espansione coloniale britannica, beneficiando delle innumerevoli spedizioni esplorative volte a mappare dettagliatamente gli ‘spazi bianchi’ del mondo ancora poco conosciuto e che l’Impero britannico intendeva inglobare in virtù della propria ‘missione civilizzatrice’. Prima donna ammessa nel 1892 nella Royal Geographical Society, la sua peculiare personalità e il suo operato si inserirono nell’acceso dibattito ventennale attorno all’ammissione delle donne alla Società. L’apporto delle donne esploratrici e scrittrici alla formazione del pensiero scientifico sono stati successivamente oggetto di studi di genere e di letture post-moderne del pensiero scientifico. La contraddizione insita nella condizione delle donne vittoriane in ambito coloniale, efficacemente descritte da Indira Ghose come “colonizzate in virtù del proprio genere e colonizzatrici per razza”, si può leggere in molti scritti di Isabella Bird dai quali trapela l’ambiguità delle posizioni assunte rispetto al proprio ruolo in rapporto all’ ‘altro’, all’ ‘esotico’ e alle culture con le quali la scrittrice entrò in contatto. L’uso della medicina in ambito missionario portò inoltre Isabella Bird a contatto ravvicinato con i nativi che si tradusse in rari attimi di solidarietà e comunanza, in cui le rigide barriere coloniali si disintegravano. Il sostegno della scrittrice agli sforzi della nazione imperialista, nonché l’adesione della scrittrice agli ideali della madrepatria, confermando l’idea secondo cui la donna vittoriana viaggiatrice non “lasciasse veramente la propria casa”. I permessi di viaggio speciali, ottenuti tramite la mediazione tra i governi locali e le amministrazioni coloniali, furono essenziali potendo così beneficiare, “al di là” dei limiti talvolta imposti agli stranieri, d’una straordinaria libertà di movimento in zone “non battute” di difficile penetrazione. La strenua difesa da parte di Isabella Bird della “sfera di interesse” in opposizione all’ “avida” nozione di “sfera di influenza” sottolinea l’impegno ideologico, morale e pedagogico della scrittrice.
Isabella Bird and her travelogues from Asia: the identity of a Victorian woman on the borders of the Empire.
MARCOLIN, ELENA
2020/2021
Abstract
Isabella Bird Bishop was one of the most successful Victorian travellers and writers whose undisputable literary skills and outspoken style earned her public appreciation and critical acclaim. She published numerous travelogues about remote lands which aroused the interest of her contemporaries within the context of the great colonial expansion of nineteenth-century Britain.Isabella Bird always suffered from poor health and she had to remove a tumour near her spine when she was eighteen. She was also afflicted with depression and insomnia, which disappeared on every long journey she took. Bird made her first overseas journey to America, followed by her first and popular travelogue The Englishwoman in America, and the subsequent explorations in Australia, in the Hawaii Islands, and then in the Rocky Mountains in the company of Jim Nugent, to the various trips to the East, from Japan to China passing by India, Persia, Korea and Manchuria. Over the years, Isabella Bird shaped the literary image of a woman resistant to fatigue and danger, of a solitary adventurer continuously searching for unbeaten tracks where she could escape from civilisation.. The distinction between tourist and traveller, the search for the pristine identity of the territories, the dilemma of having been preceded by others en route were some of the most recurring themes of nineteenth-century travel writing. The exceptional proliferation of Victorian travelogues must be located within the broader context of British colonial expansion. The latter, indeed, promoted countless exploration expeditions intended to thoroughly map the ‘blank spaces’ of the earth that the British Empire aimed to conquer for the sake of its ‘civilising mission’.Bird, the first woman who obtained full membership in the Royal Geographical Society in 1892, entered the twenty-year heated debate about the admission of women Fellows in the RGS with her unique personality and works. The contribution of women explorers and writers has been the object of gender studies as well as of historical revisionism and post-modern reconstruction of scientific thinking. The contradiction embedded in the condition of Victorian women within the colonial context, powerfully described by Indira Ghose as “colonized by gender, but colonizers by race” can be variously traced in Isabella Bird’s works which reveal the ambiguity of the positions she adopted in meeting with the ‘other’, the ‘exotic’ and the cultures she came into contact. Bird’s use of medicine within the missionary context additionally brought her into direct contact with the local people, which allowed her experience fleeting moments of solidarity across race, sex and culture when colonial barriers temporarily disintegrated. Bird’s support to the British imperial efforts and on the writer’s commitment to the ideals of her country, endorses the assumption that the Victorian women travellers “never truly left home”.The special travel permits she obtained through the mediation between local governments and colonial administrations were essential tools for Bird, who could thus profit from an extraordinary freedom of movement across ‘unbeaten tracks’, beyond the limits of the treaty ports. Like other authors of colonial texts, Bird often hinted at the idea that her presence and, by extension, British rule, were demanded by the locals as a saving solution for domestic issues or for the threat posed by other powers. The writer's staunch defence of the “sphere of interest” as opposed to the “greedy” notion of “sphere of influence” highlights the writer’s ideological, moral and pedagogical commitment.È consentito all'utente scaricare e condividere i documenti disponibili a testo pieno in UNITESI UNIPV nel rispetto della licenza Creative Commons del tipo CC BY NC ND.
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https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14239/1771