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A review by funnellegant
In the Shadow of Sinai: A Story of Travel and Research from 1895 to 1897 by Agnes Smith Lewis
3.0
Both Agnes Lewis and her twin sister, Margaret Gibson, led fascinating lives that subvert many of my mental categories of European women in the 19th century. These women showed themselves more than capable of transcending the cult of domesticity so defining of the feminine experience in their world:
-Their presumption to insert themselves into the male-dominated academic world of Cambridge as worthy peers;
-Their self-assuredness in independently forming international relationships;
-Their dive into discomfort and danger for the sake of their task; and
-Their ingenuity and mastery of photographic technology, ancient Syriac grammar, and chemical treatment of vellum (without formal college education).
All these made Agnes' travel record an engaging read - a glimpse into a life motivated by an intense desire to preserve history.
Unfortunately, Agnes was less able to transcend the corrupting influence of ethnocentrism, classism and bigotry that so defined the Europe of her lifetime. Her record of the local Muslims, the nomadic tradition, and the culture at large was in its best times patronizingly appreciative, sometimes hateful, and always condescending. These records and her reflections on them make up something like a quarter of the book, so it is impossible to gloss over them.
-Their presumption to insert themselves into the male-dominated academic world of Cambridge as worthy peers;
-Their self-assuredness in independently forming international relationships;
-Their dive into discomfort and danger for the sake of their task; and
-Their ingenuity and mastery of photographic technology, ancient Syriac grammar, and chemical treatment of vellum (without formal college education).
All these made Agnes' travel record an engaging read - a glimpse into a life motivated by an intense desire to preserve history.
Unfortunately, Agnes was less able to transcend the corrupting influence of ethnocentrism, classism and bigotry that so defined the Europe of her lifetime. Her record of the local Muslims, the nomadic tradition, and the culture at large was in its best times patronizingly appreciative, sometimes hateful, and always condescending. These records and her reflections on them make up something like a quarter of the book, so it is impossible to gloss over them.