Unsuitable for Ladies: An Anthology of Women Travellers

By Jane Robinson

Book Overview

Diving to the bed of the Timor sea, reaching the summit of Annapurna, encountering a madman in the Amazon jungle, suffering shipwreck and kidnap on the Barbary Coast, hiking the Alps with an infant in a backpack--these are just a few of the adventures readers will explore in Unsuitable for Ladies, a wide ranging collection of travel pieces written by intrepid women globe-trotters. These writings reveal that there are few corners of the world that have not been visited by English women, and that there are few difficulties, physical or emotional, real or imagined, that have not been overcome by these same dauntless explorers.
Here readers will find such well known authors and figures as Florence Nightingale, Mary Shelley, Frances Trollope, Gertrude Bell, Karen Blixen, Mary Kingsley, Jan Morris, Freya Stark, Rosie Swayle, and Rebecca West. These writers take us to virtually every area of the globe in every era, from Alp-climbing with Freya Stark in 1950 ("The first time in my life I climbed with a rope.... The happiness was almost frightening") to exploring Waterloo with Charlotte Eaton in 1817, just after the battle ("The ground was ploughed up...with the charge of the cavalry, and the whole field...covered with soldiers' caps, shoes...belts, and scabbards") to a trek through China in 1885 with Emily Innes ("I was suddenly awakened by a great shouting and a great light overhead. 'A Chinese festival, no doubt, ' thought I; and I felt no alarm.... I was far from guessing what was the fact, namely, that my host had been murdered a few minutes before") to Mary Kingsley's description of shooting leopards in Africa ("Do not mistake this for a sporting adventure"). Riveting, often disturbing accounts of historical events appear, ranging from Florence Nightingale's thoughts on the bloody Crimean war, to eye-witness accounts of recent uprisings in Soviet Georgia and in Romania, where Dervia Murphy witnessed the execution of dictator Ceausescus, an event that left her uneasily satisfied and "shocked badly to be taken over, for the first time...by pure hatred of fellow beings." And throughout the volume are brilliant descriptions of exotic foreign landscapes, such as Karen Blixen's writings on her home in the African hill country ("Africa distilled up through six thousand feet, like the strong and refined essence of a continent"). Editor Jane Robinson skillfully weaves the excerpts together with short introductions that keep each entry distinct while connecting them by theme, time, or place, and she includes a detailed map section, providing geographic orientation for the reader.
An exhilarating journey through sixteen centuries of travel writing, aboard almost anything from a Bugatti to a Bath chair, Unsuitable for Ladies is a fascinating read, suitable for anyone who loves exploring new cultures and landscapes, whether first-hand or from an armchair.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0192824899
• ISBN13: 9780192824899
• Release Date: June 1995
• Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
• Length: 496 Pages
• Weight: 0.72 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.0" x 5.1" x 7.8"

Customer Reviews

Spunky collection

In this spunky companion volume to Wayward Women (her book about women travel writers through history), Robinson collects the global travels of women like Lady Mary Wortley Montague, Karen Blixen, Freya Stark and Jan Morris. Grouped by geography with numerous entries for each place which serve as a conversation between the region, the time and the characters themselves, the chapters are bookended by thoughtful selections in "Setting Out" and "Coming Home", indicating that the act of travel is and has always been a transformative force in women's lives. Sometimes reputation risking and life threatening, but often culturally redeeming and personally empowering, travel must be intellectually prepared for, and assimilated.

If you are off on a trip or feeling restless - read this!

Jane Robinson is a genius - although many readers of this anthology might not realise it at first. She is clearly someone who loves her work, and her collection of travel books by women writers - she has, in "Unsuitable for Ladies" cut through much of the long travelogue and found pertinent, thought provoking and often laugh out loud quotes. And they are so interesting....and so relevant....and and...so darn interesting!So many of the books she uses are either no longer in publication, or difficult to get - or ones you just would plain never have heard of.If you are planning a big overseas trip somewhere - or know someone who is - give them this book as a present. Especially for women - it is just wonderful - putting in perspective 600 years of women's journey's around the world.I'd also highly recommend her wonderful book "Wayward Women" which is a sort of mix between anthology of women's travelling books and potted bios of each traveller.

Have Book - Will Travel

What a wonderful find! The real-life adventures of women travelers spanning the past 300 years. Brave, joyful women who carried the same adventurous spirits in their souls as I do when I travel (real or armchair). Soul-mates found across the generations! I have always enjoyed reading letters and diaries of women but this is an extra special collection. I look forward to reading Jane Robinson's next work.