LADY MARY MONTAGU: The Turkish Embassy Letters
Topics to be covered today:
1) EPISTOLARY POLITICS
Question: Although Montagu intended for her letters to be
published, she maintains the EPISTOLARY FORM in the
address to her "Dear Sister." Why? To what effect?
2) PUBLIC/PRIVATE (SUBJECT) MATTERS
Question: How does the content of the letters illustrate
Montagu's placement "poised rather precariously between the
private and the public realms of personal talk and literary art"
(Gardner 2)? Consider the description of the Turkish carriage
and her entrance into the various rooms of the bathhouse.
3) ACCESS/AUTHORITY AND WOMEN'S EXPERIENCE
Question: How does Montagu's gender shape her literary or
observational authority in the text? Consider her references to
"our voyage writers" and to "Mr. Gervase" the painter.