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Letters from Egypt, by Lucie Duff-Gordon
Nov. 11th, 2020 03:47 pmA 19th century collection of letters home from an English woman who moved to Egypt for her health - she had tuberculosis, and the cool damp air of England was doing her lungs no favours.
It was not uncommon in the era for letters from travellers to be expected to be shared around in the social circle at home, so they're more like a travel blog than like personal letters; these letters fall into that pattern.
There's not zero personal stuff though. Duff-Gordon regularly updates her loved ones back home on the state of her health, though more often mentioning when she's doing much better than when she's having a downturn. Understandable; she doesn't want to worry them. And it's so obvious from the mentions of her family that she loves them dearly and misses them terribly.
But most of the book is discussions of the life and customs and people of Egypt as she observes and involves herself. Which....is all coming from a white 19th century Englishwoman's perspective. So it's pretty racist? But honestly better than I feared. And it's clear to me that she is working on overcoming her prejudices, and getting better about things as the years go by, and that she's miles better than most of the Europeans in Egypt, and that she truly genuinely cares about the Egyptians she meets and gets to know and is horrified by the way they are treated. She takes the time to learn to speak Arabic so she can communicate directly with people, acts as a doctor to anyone who needs, and spends a lot of time making friends with locals of multiple races and religions.
But she also generalizes terribly about groups of people, semi-regularly refers to how much it's like she's living in the Arabian Nights or the times of the Bible, uses the n-word to describe black people, and has household slaves. So like. Her broad-mindedness only goes so far, and the racism is still very much there. It's interesting to see the places where there are disconnects between these two different lenses through which she's experiencing the world!
I was reminded a bit about how Victor Hugo writes about women. Whenever Hugo presents opinions on women you're like OH GOD NO SHUT HIM UP but he is able to write women as people in such a clear-eyed and realistic way that it's obvious he genuinely knew many women on a deep level and cared about them.
Duff-Gordon's letters are very charming and thoughtful though, and she does seem to be genuinely trying hard and willing to learn and grow, and so I enjoyed the read despite her issues -- but of course ymmv.
It was not uncommon in the era for letters from travellers to be expected to be shared around in the social circle at home, so they're more like a travel blog than like personal letters; these letters fall into that pattern.
There's not zero personal stuff though. Duff-Gordon regularly updates her loved ones back home on the state of her health, though more often mentioning when she's doing much better than when she's having a downturn. Understandable; she doesn't want to worry them. And it's so obvious from the mentions of her family that she loves them dearly and misses them terribly.
But most of the book is discussions of the life and customs and people of Egypt as she observes and involves herself. Which....is all coming from a white 19th century Englishwoman's perspective. So it's pretty racist? But honestly better than I feared. And it's clear to me that she is working on overcoming her prejudices, and getting better about things as the years go by, and that she's miles better than most of the Europeans in Egypt, and that she truly genuinely cares about the Egyptians she meets and gets to know and is horrified by the way they are treated. She takes the time to learn to speak Arabic so she can communicate directly with people, acts as a doctor to anyone who needs, and spends a lot of time making friends with locals of multiple races and religions.
But she also generalizes terribly about groups of people, semi-regularly refers to how much it's like she's living in the Arabian Nights or the times of the Bible, uses the n-word to describe black people, and has household slaves. So like. Her broad-mindedness only goes so far, and the racism is still very much there. It's interesting to see the places where there are disconnects between these two different lenses through which she's experiencing the world!
I was reminded a bit about how Victor Hugo writes about women. Whenever Hugo presents opinions on women you're like OH GOD NO SHUT HIM UP but he is able to write women as people in such a clear-eyed and realistic way that it's obvious he genuinely knew many women on a deep level and cared about them.
Duff-Gordon's letters are very charming and thoughtful though, and she does seem to be genuinely trying hard and willing to learn and grow, and so I enjoyed the read despite her issues -- but of course ymmv.
