Between 1850 and 1920 women's travel and travel writing underwent an explosion. It was an exciting period in the history of travel, a golden age. While transportation had improved, mass tourism had not yet robbed journeys of their aura of adventure. Although British women were at the forefront of this movement, a number of intrepid Spanish women also participated in this new era of travel and travel writing. They transcended general societal limitations imposed on Spanish women at a time when the refrain "la mujer en casa, y con la pata quebrada" described most of their female compatriots, who suffered from legal constraints, lack of education, a husband's dictates, or little or no money of their own. Spanish Women Travelers at Home and Abroad, 1850-1920: From Tierra del Fuego to the Land of the Midnight Sun analyzes the travels and the travel writings of eleven extraordinary women: Emilia Pardo Bazan, Carmen de Burgos (pseud. Colombine), Rosario de Acuna, Carolina Coronado, Emilia Serrano (Baronesa de Wilson), Eva Canel, Cecilia Boehl de Faber (pseud. Fernan Caballero), Princesses Paz and Eulalia de Borbon, Sofia Casanova, and Mother Maria de Jesus Gueell. These Spanish women travelers climbed mountain peaks in their native country, traveled by horseback in the Amazon, observed the Indians of Tierra del Fuego, suffered from el soroche [altitude sickness] in the Andes, admired the midnight sun in Norway, traveled to mission fields in sub-Saharan Africa, and reported on wars in Europe and North Africa, to mention only a few of their accomplishments. The goal of this study is to acquaint English-speaking readers with the narratives of these remarkable women whose works are not available in translation. Besides analyzing their travel narratives and the role of travel in their lives, Spanish Women Travelers includes many long excerpts translated into English for the first time.
Jennifer Jenkins Wood is associate professor of Spanish at Scripps College.
List of Illustrations Notes on Translations Acknowledgments Introduction to the History of Spanish Women Travelers An Overview of Gender and Travel Writing OneCecilia Boehl de Faber (b. 1796 Morges, Switzerland-d. 1877, Sevilla): On the Therapeutic Value of Travel TwoCarolina Coronado (b. Almendralejo, 1820?-d. Lisbon, 1911): A Melancholy Traveler ThreeEmilia Serrano, the Baronesa de Wilson (b. Granada, 1833?-d. Barcelona, 1923): The Bard of the Americas FourRosario de Acuna (b. Madrid, 1850?-d. Gijon, 1923): Spanish Mountain Landscapes FiveEmilia Pardo Bazan (b. La Coruna,1851-d. Madrid, 1921): Discovering Spain and her Place in the World at the Turn of the Century SixEva Canel (b. Coana [Asturias], 1857-d. Havana, Cuba, 1932): A Spanish Patriot in the Americas SevenSofia Perez de Casanova (b. 1861 or 1862, Almeiras [Galicia], Spain-d. 1958, Poznan, Poland): Poland and Russia through Spanish Eyes Eight Princess Maria Eulalia de Borbon (Madrid, 1864-Fuenterrabia, 1958): A Spanish Princess in theAmericas NineMaria de la Paz Borbon, Princess of Spain and Princess of Bavaria (b. Madrid, 1862 -- d. Munich, 1946): A Royal Pilgrim TenCarmen de Burgos Segui (b. Almeria, 1867?-d. Madrid, 1932): World Traveler and First Spanish Woman War Correspondent ElevenSpanish Missionary Nuns in Africa: The First Voyage of the Conceptionist Sisters to Fernando Po (Spanish Guinea), 1884-1885 Bibliography Primary sources Secondary sources About the Author Index
In this superbly researched investigation, Wood examines 11 Spanish women who traveled during a time when travel was facilitated by ever-improving transportation but was not so easy that it led to mass tourism. The author's subjects are on Cecilia Boehl de Faber (pseudonym Fernan Caballero), Carolina Coronado, Emilia Serrano, Rosario de Acuna, Emilia Pardo Bazan, Eva Canel, Sofia Casanova, Princesses Paz and Eulalia de Borbon, Carmen de Burgos (known as Colombine), and Mother Maria de Jesus Gueell. Wood achieves her goal of acquainting English-speaking readers with these women and their travel narratives by offering translated excerpts of their works, contextualized within a framework of relevant biographical information and accompanied by an image of each traveler. With this volume Wood makes a solid contribution to not only the study of travel literature but also the fields of women's studies, history, and anthropology. Summing Up: Recommended. Upper-division undergraduates and above. * CHOICE *
