Reading the ‘anti- conquest’: A Critique of Orientalist and Exoticist Representations in Lucie Duff Gordon’s Letters From Egypt

This paper aims to analyze Lucie Duff Gordon’s Letters from Egypt in light of Mary Louise Pratt’s coined term “anti-conquest” which refers to “the strategies of representation whereby the European subject secures his innocence while maintaining western hegemony” (7). Taking Pratt’s term as a point of departure, the paper exposes the complexity of the representations of Egyptians in Gordon’s letters which simultaneously perpetuate English moral supremacy while acknowledging Egyptian diversity. These representations have contributed to constructing a specific image of Gordon as the Victorian traveler who could authentically represent “real” Egyptians. In this sense, the constructed image of Egypt is produced by the traveler’s gaze; however, this gaze is also a reflective gaze that reflects distorted images of the self. Gordon’s representations oscillate between reinscribing imperial hierarchical power relations while simultaneously humanizing the Egyptian Other. The paper draws on Victor Segalen’s concept of the exot to further explore Gordon’s representations whichemphasize Egyptians’ diversity. Hence, the study aims to engage with recent interest in women travel writing filling a gap in studies on Lucie Duff Gordon’s Egypt which tends to highlight one aspect only pertaining to her humane perspective of Egyptians.