“If Female Envy Did Not Spoil Every Thing in the World of Women”: Lies, Rivalry, and Reputation in Lady Elizabeth Craven's Travelogues

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Winch, Alison. 2014. “If Female Envy Did Not Spoil Every Thing in the World of Women”: Lies, Rivalry, and Reputation in Lady Elizabeth Craven's Travelogues. In: Clare Broome Saunders, ed. Women, Travel Writing, and Truth. New York: Routledge, pp. 91-105. ISBN 9781138023529 [Book Section]

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This chapter demonstrates that Mitchison's decision to publish her eyewitness account in the form of a diary was neither feminine caprice nor intellectual idleness, but instead a carefully conceived strategy that disguised the main political purpose of her writing in a domestic, and intentionally more accessible, format. Politics and truth are a notoriously unlikely couple, particularly in the 'low dishonest decade' of the 1930s, when the powers that be all conspired to occlude the truth of what was happening on the geo-political stage. The narrative structure of Vienna Diary invokes the past, present, and the future, but it seems to obey the form of its chosen genre by offering not an overview of historical events, but rather momentary insights. The travel writer performs in a volatile space which is embroiled in a process of constant negotiation with the dominant political discourses shaping their travels, their perceptions, and both the form and reception of their writing.

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Book Section

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"This is an Accepted Manuscript of a book chapter published by Routledge in Women, Travel Writing, and Truth on 17 July 2014, available online: https://www.routledge.com/Women-Travel-Writing-and-Truth/Saunders/p/book/9781138023529"

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