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sophia_sol) wrote2020-09-21 08:03 pm
sophia_sol) wrote2020-09-21 08:03 pm
The Wonderful Adventures of Mrs Seacole in Many Lands, by Mary Seacole
It's been a while since I've read a 19th century woman's travelogue but I have returned again to this strangely compelling genre! Although, for a book that promises "many lands" in its title, the author tells you of remarkably few lands.
I read this book by listening to the Librivox recording of it, and I can highly recommend that as a way of reading this particular book, because the volunteer reader gave so much charm to Mary Seacole's voice.
Anyway! Seacole is most well known for having been a nurse in the Crimean War, like Florence Nightingale except less famous because Seacole was creole and Nightingale was white. Something like half this book is about Seacole's time in the Crimea, with the rest being....basically a prologue to that part.
Throughout the whole book it was SO obvious to me as a reader that the book had an agenda to push to its readers, that agenda basically being "I'm a good nurse who helped a lot of people and DIDN'T go to the Crimea just to make money off the war no matter what anyone says" and then I got to the conclusion which then made it suddenly explicit that this book was part of efforts from various officers etc to raise money to support Seacole, who was living in poverty post-war. HUH.
Seacole makes it clear in this book that she attempted pretty dang hard to like, sign up to be an official nurse to the army, but she was summarily rejected (seems to be because she's not white!) and so the only way for her to reasonably go overseas to help the ill and injured soldiers (who, for the record, DEFINITELY needed decent nursing care, there's a reason Nightingale is so famous for her nursing reforms, the medical standards were appalling) was for her to set up a business at the camp.
So all in all the book was a fascinating look from one very particular perspective at Seacole's life, and although it isn't either a comprehensive memoir OR really a travelogue, it was a worthwhile read for the kind of book it is.
Also! Her small comments here and there about racism are fascinating. She has an extremely poor opinion of Americans due to how racist Americans all are to black people, which is really refreshing to read in a 19th century book. And she clearly experiences some fairly nasty racism at times. But also she's, uh, kiiiinda racist herself. Her opinions of the indigenous peoples of central america are Not Great. And also there's a person who she refers to solely as "Jew Johnny". And so forth. People are complicated and contain multitudes!
I was also fascinated by the apparently-important distinction between looting and taking souvenirs from a battlefield. Apparently the latter is TOTALLY FINE for respectable people to engage in but the former is appalling. And like. Taking souvenirs can include cutting a button off the uniform of a dead man, so.... Where is the line drawn between the two? Unknown! Is Seacole's opinion standard for the time? I'm not quite sure, but given that she talks about it openly in a book that she intends to raise public opinion of her, it seems likely. But it's weird. I want to know more about this tbh.
I read this book by listening to the Librivox recording of it, and I can highly recommend that as a way of reading this particular book, because the volunteer reader gave so much charm to Mary Seacole's voice.
Anyway! Seacole is most well known for having been a nurse in the Crimean War, like Florence Nightingale except less famous because Seacole was creole and Nightingale was white. Something like half this book is about Seacole's time in the Crimea, with the rest being....basically a prologue to that part.
Throughout the whole book it was SO obvious to me as a reader that the book had an agenda to push to its readers, that agenda basically being "I'm a good nurse who helped a lot of people and DIDN'T go to the Crimea just to make money off the war no matter what anyone says" and then I got to the conclusion which then made it suddenly explicit that this book was part of efforts from various officers etc to raise money to support Seacole, who was living in poverty post-war. HUH.
Seacole makes it clear in this book that she attempted pretty dang hard to like, sign up to be an official nurse to the army, but she was summarily rejected (seems to be because she's not white!) and so the only way for her to reasonably go overseas to help the ill and injured soldiers (who, for the record, DEFINITELY needed decent nursing care, there's a reason Nightingale is so famous for her nursing reforms, the medical standards were appalling) was for her to set up a business at the camp.
So all in all the book was a fascinating look from one very particular perspective at Seacole's life, and although it isn't either a comprehensive memoir OR really a travelogue, it was a worthwhile read for the kind of book it is.
Also! Her small comments here and there about racism are fascinating. She has an extremely poor opinion of Americans due to how racist Americans all are to black people, which is really refreshing to read in a 19th century book. And she clearly experiences some fairly nasty racism at times. But also she's, uh, kiiiinda racist herself. Her opinions of the indigenous peoples of central america are Not Great. And also there's a person who she refers to solely as "Jew Johnny". And so forth. People are complicated and contain multitudes!
I was also fascinated by the apparently-important distinction between looting and taking souvenirs from a battlefield. Apparently the latter is TOTALLY FINE for respectable people to engage in but the former is appalling. And like. Taking souvenirs can include cutting a button off the uniform of a dead man, so.... Where is the line drawn between the two? Unknown! Is Seacole's opinion standard for the time? I'm not quite sure, but given that she talks about it openly in a book that she intends to raise public opinion of her, it seems likely. But it's weird. I want to know more about this tbh.
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