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A review by graculus
The Pioneering Life of Mary Wortley Montagu: Scientist and Feminist by Jo Willett
3.0
I can't say that I knew much about Mary Wortley Montagu before picking up this book, so I was attracted partly by the overall title and feel like I didn't really get what I was promised. As a biography, the author has clearly done her research, to pull together the life of a woman who was clearly an outstanding writer in her time and a notable figure in literary circles.
However, to classify her either as a scientist or a feminist is stretching matters a bit - there's more argument to be had over the latter, since she clearly did have some feminist ideas and wrote about them frequently. Beyond that, she certainly was a strong advocate for the rights of one of her sisters, standing up for her against all-comers when her sister's mental health was at its most precarious, but again this is very much centred on her own family.
The 'scientist' label? I'm not so convinced. What she did do was introduce an idea into the UK that was already well-known in Turkey, after accompanying her husband there when he was made ambassador to the Ottoman Empire. Was she an advocate for this apparently radical idea to prevent the smallpox epidemics that had ravaged Europe? Certainly. Does this allow us to call her a scientist? I'm still not convinced.
Anyway, if you're looking for a well-researched biography of a woman of letters, contemporary of Alexander Pope and Henry Fielding, this is the book for you. If you're looking to discover something else about the woman in question, as I hoped to do, this is possibly not going to leave you as satisfied.
I received a copy of this book for free from the publisher and Netgalley, in exchange for an honest review.
However, to classify her either as a scientist or a feminist is stretching matters a bit - there's more argument to be had over the latter, since she clearly did have some feminist ideas and wrote about them frequently. Beyond that, she certainly was a strong advocate for the rights of one of her sisters, standing up for her against all-comers when her sister's mental health was at its most precarious, but again this is very much centred on her own family.
The 'scientist' label? I'm not so convinced. What she did do was introduce an idea into the UK that was already well-known in Turkey, after accompanying her husband there when he was made ambassador to the Ottoman Empire. Was she an advocate for this apparently radical idea to prevent the smallpox epidemics that had ravaged Europe? Certainly. Does this allow us to call her a scientist? I'm still not convinced.
Anyway, if you're looking for a well-researched biography of a woman of letters, contemporary of Alexander Pope and Henry Fielding, this is the book for you. If you're looking to discover something else about the woman in question, as I hoped to do, this is possibly not going to leave you as satisfied.
I received a copy of this book for free from the publisher and Netgalley, in exchange for an honest review.