Maria Graham: A Literary Biography

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Maria Graham's story is as remarkable as her work, and this biography not only narrates her life but also delves into the representation she made of herself in her published and unpublished journals, diaries, memoirs, and letters. The result of her endeavours is a literary persona that appears far removed from the controversial woman that she actually was. Who is the woman behind the texts? How did she conceive them? Was she simply one of many other adventurous and articulate female authors of the nineteenth century, or did she for some reason stand apart? This book shows how she manufactured her identity at times by conforming to, challenging, or ignoring the rules of society regarding women's behaviour. She was a child of the Enlightenment in that she valued knowledge above all things, yet she flavoured her discoveries with a taste of romanticism. Her search took her to distant lands where she captured for her readers foreign cultural manifestations, exotic landscapes, and obscure religious rites; yet a reading of her work generates the impression that despite the dramatic descriptions of peoples and places, Graham's subject was, simply, herself. What we know of her story comes mainly from her own narratives, although there are significant letters to, from, and about her that round up the analysis. This biography reconstructs Maria Graham's literary image by means of significant passages of her work, memoirs, diaries, journals, and letters. The chosen texts are meant to illustrate salient features of her style and of her interaction with the prevalent ideologies of her time. The intention is to display a groundbreaking female intellectual who captured for her readers the ancient culture of India as deftly as she represented bloodthirsty bandits in the north of Italy or nascent countries in South America.

Maria Graham: A Literary Biography Review

A literary biography usually narrates a writer's life set in its social and historical context by quoting and discussing passages from her work and other sources such as journals and letters to, from, and about her.
This literary biography follows Mary Dundas, then Maria Graham, and finally Maria Callcott, from her happy childhood in the north of England to the home of unkind relatives as an orphaned girl, afterwards to school, and later on a sea voyage to India. The exotic locations and rituals are seen through her young eyes, as is the narrative of her on-board romance.
The biograhy follows her back to Scotland as a married woman who tries to combine domestic duties with her love of study and learning. After a trip to Italy, her story takes a dramatic turn during an ill-fated voyage to South America. Maria's vision of the new countries is coloured by her own prejudices and attempts to justify her existence as a female intellectual. Her adventures in Brazil are extraordinary and there are many sources that round up the story that is only partially told by Maria herself. Maria Graham's contribution to literature in English should not be overlooked, and this biography calls attention to her life, her work, and the main issues of her time.

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