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A Woman in Arabia: The Writings of the Queen of the Desert
A portrait in her own words of the female Lawrence of Arabia, the subject of the PBS documentary Letters from Baghdad, voiced by Tilda Swinton, and the major motion picture Queen of the Desert, starring Nicole Kidman, James Franco, Damian Lewis, and Robert Pattinson and directed by Werner HerzogGertrude Bell was leaning in 100 years before Sheryl Sandberg. One of the great woman adventurers of the twentieth century, she turned her back on Victorian society to study at Oxford and travel the world, and became the chief architect of British policy in the Middle East after World War I. Mountaineer, archaeologist, Arabist, writer, poet, linguist, and spy, she dedicated her life to championing the Arab cause and was instrumental in drawing the borders that define today’s Middle East. As she wrote in one of her letters, “It’s a bore being a woman when you are in Arabia.” Forthright and spirited, opinionated and playful, and deeply instructive about the Arab world, this volume brings together Bell’s letters, military dispatches, diary entries, and travel writings to offer an intimate look at a woman who shaped nations.For more than seventy years, Penguin has been the leading publisher of classic literature in the English-speaking world. With more than 1,800 titles, Penguin Classics represents a global bookshelf of the best works throughout history and across genres and disciplines. Readers trust the series to provide authoritative texts enhanced by introductions and notes by distinguished scholars and contemporary authors, as well as up-to-date translations by award-winning translators.
322 pages, Kindle Edition
First published March 31, 2015
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Gertrude Bell
93 books128 followersGertrude Margaret Lowthian Bell, CBE was an English writer, traveller, political officer, administrator, and archaeologist.
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June 20, 2024Qallat Semaan, março de 1905
Este é o local onde São Simeão viveu num pilar. Enquanto os criados montavam as minhas tendas, fui até lá e sentei-me em cima da coluna de São Simeão ainda resta uma boa parte -, a pensar no quão diferente ele teria sido de mim. Apareceu uma estrela grande que cintilou para mim na noite doce e quente, e ambas concordámos que era mais agradável deambular pelos céus e pela terra do que ficar sentado toda a vida no cimo de um pilar.
Gertrude Bell era mulher que não sabia estar quieta: era viajante, linguista, exploradora, arqueóloga, diplomata, alpinista (e alpinismo em roupa interior é coisa que não se vê muitas vezes), arabista e um outro cento de coisas. Porém, a sua biografia tem normalmente particular interesse para os curiosos quando o seu papel converge com a queda do Império Otomano já que Bell é fundamental no mapeamento e na reorganização política dos Estados Árabes no pós-guerra. Já para mim, a sua biografia é mais interessante do ponto de vista da história de género e da história da arte já que, entre os anos 1868-1926, Bell representa umas das pouquíssimas exceções à regra em território europeu afirmando-se como figura de autoridade em domínios (assim propagandeados) marcadamente masculinos, como política, guerra, ciência.
Monte Carmel, Haifa, 30 de março de 1902
Muito me apraz saber que sou uma Pessoa neste país - todos me consideram uma Pessoa!... A reputação não é algo difícil de conquistar neste lugar.
Descendente de industriais, e fruto de um meio privilegiado e essencialmente capitalista, Bell usufrui de uma educação superior em História Moderna que rapidamente põe a render - não haja, no entanto, dúvidas de que esta educação não é um privilégio, mas uma esmola, já que às mulheres estava vedada a maioria dos cursos, sobrando História e pouco mais, e, mesjo assim, findo o percurso académico, estas não recebiam grau. Anda assim, Gertrude Bell termina com grande mérito o curso e, após uma primeira visita à Pérsia, em 1892, não mais abandona os paises árabes senão por curto espaço de tempo, viajando de forma independente - quase sempre acompanhada apenas por uma mão cheia de criados e alguns locais de confiança, seus companheiros habituais de viagem:
Com o silêncio de um mundo extinto ainda a pesar sobre nós, caminhámos até à zona mais alta do vale, mas perto dos portões da planície fomos recebidos pela Vida. Uma malva-rosa selvagem estava de sentinela entre as pedras; algumas das suas pétalas amarelas serviam de estandarte e nas suas hastes verticais os botões estavam gordos e cremosos num desabrochar iminente. A chuva tinha caído durante a noite, chamando o deserto à vida, vestindo os seus espinhos com um traje púrpura de flores mipnúsculas; o sol maravilhoso aquecia-nos os ombros; uma aragem agradável soprava na nossa direção o odor húmido e adocicado da terra que despertava; os nossos cavalos cheiraram o ar e, contagiados pelo momento, puxaram os freios e desataram a galope sobre o piso amaciado pela chuva. E nós também emergimos do silêncio e recordámos que estávamos vivos. A vida apoderou-se de nós e inspirou-nos com uma sensação de folia tresloucada. O vento murmurava e a terra abundante gritava: "Vida! Vida!" enquanto cavaleávamos. Vida! Vida!, a abundante, a esplendorosa! A velhice estava longe de nós longe como a morte; tínhamo-la deixado entronizada nas suas montanhas áridas, com cidades fantasmagóricas e fés antiquadas para lhe fazerem companhia. Para nós a planície ampla e o mundo ilimitado, para nós a beleza e a frescura da manhã, para nós a juventude e a alegria de viver!
Entre as suas muitas aventuras pela Arábia, nos anos que se seguem, Bell experiencia a língua...
Estou a aprender persa, não com grande energia, aqui nada se faz com energia. O meu professor é um senhor de idade encantador, com os olhos brilhantes e um turbante branco, que percebe tão pouco de francês (o francês é o nosso meio de comunicação) que nem me consegue traduzir os poetas nem explicar quaisquer dificuldades gramaticais. Não obstante, damo-nos incrivelmente bem e passamos muito do nosso tempo em longas discussões filosóficas, eu em francês e ele em persa.
...vivencia a cultura de marginalização da mulher...
Bagdade, 27 de dezembro de 1918
A pobre criatura nunca sai de casa nem vê ninguém. Há muitas famílias cujas mulheres vivem em isolamento total. Devo dizer que elas odeiam isso e o coração dói-me de tédio sempre que penso nelas.
...e o seu valor como despojo de guerra...
Lá estavam elas, as mulheres - envoltas em brocados indianos, enfeitadas com joias e servidas por escravos, e não havia uma coisa nelas que evidenciasse a existência básica da Europa ou dos Europeus - a não ser eu! Eu era a mancha. Algumas das mulheres da casa do xeque eram belas. Passam de mão em mão - o vitorioso fica com elas, com o poder e a glória, imagina só! As mãos dele estão manchadas do sangue dos maridos e dos filhos delas. A própria Mudi - é uma mulher ainda nova e muito simpática já foi esposa de três Amir seguidos. Bem, um dia contar-te-ei como é tudo, mas a verdade é que ainda me sinto completamente estupefacta.
...enfrenta dificuldades técnicas...
5 de julho de 1907
Passámos a manhä inteira de aldeia em aldeia ao longo da es costa da Karajadagh, à procura de ruínas e inscrições. O procedimento é o seguinte: chegamos a uma aldeia e perguntamos por inscrições. Eles dizem-nos que não há nada. Respondemos-lhes que temos a certeza absoluta de que existem inscrições e depois ficamos parados sob o sol abrasador durante uns dez minutos, enquanto os aldeões se reúnem à nossa volta. Por fim, alguém diz que tem uma pedra com escritos em casa. Deslocamo-nos até lá, encontramo-la, copiamo-la e damos ao proprietário duas piastras, e, de repente, toda a gente tem uma pedra com escritos algures...
...chegando a estar no meio de escaramuças locais...
No deserto, todos os recém-chegados são inimigos até sabermos que são amigos.
O Muhammad enfiou um cartucho na sua espingarda, o Hussein extraiu o seu pingalim da bolsa no lombo do cavalo, onde o costumava guardar, e eu tirei um revólver do meu coldre.
[...]
Os três homens encontravam-se armados[...] Se, quando alcançassem o topo da elevação de terra diante de nós, erguessem as armas, eu e o Hussein teríamos tempo de disparar primeiro, enquanto eles acalmavam as suas éguas. Os três cavaleiros alcançaram a elevação de terra e, assim que lhes vimos os rostos, o Muhammad fez-lhes a saudação muçulmana; eles retribuíram e após esse consenso ficámos todos mais à vontade. Pois se os homens dão e recebem a saudação muçulmana quando estão perto o suficiente para vislumbrarem os rostos uns dos outros, não pode, segundo o costume do deserto, existir qualquer perigo de ataque.
...a ver-se envolvida em quezílias intestinas e a ser feita prisioneira:
16 de fevereiro de 1905
Salkhad é uma pequena aldeia coberta de lava negra situada na encosta sul de um vulcão. Na cratera do vulcão existe um enorme castelo em ruínas, incrivelmente sinistro e magnificente. Esta noite, enquanto jantava... ouvi o som de cânticos selvagens, juntamente com o soar de tiros, e, quando saí para o exterior, avistei uma fogueira a arder no ponto mais elevado dos muros do castelo. [...]Tratava-se de um apelo às armas. Já lhe contei que Beni Sakhre e os drusos eram grandes inimigos. Há um mês Sakhr levou cinco mil ovelhas dos currais drusos na planície. Amanhã os drusos irão investir, dois mil homens a cavalo, com o objetivo de reaver os seus rebanhos, e matar todos os homens, mulheres e crianças do Sakhr com quem se cruzarem. A fogueira foi um sinal para os campos.
Pelo meio, Bell ainda arranjou tempo para se manter à frente da biblioteca de Bagdade, ser fundadora do Museu do Iraque, participar ativamente no estudo e proteção de achados arqueológicos (chegando a chefiar e financiar diretamente algumas escavações de grande monta) e viver as suas experiências afetivas e amorosas; força para se alistar na Cruz Vermelha durante a guerra, servir o governo britânico (ocupando os cargos mais altos para um civil dentro do Império Britânico), fazer parte da intelligentsia de dois continentes ou ser conselheira de reis; e inspiração para ser uma escritora prolífica e uma observadora inata da beleza do mundo.
Como todos nós, Bell tem os seus defeitos - a sua participação na reorganização política dos países árabes não é isenta ou inocente e partia de uma posição de superioridade que acompanha as grandes potências europeias do século passado, mas o seu coração, capaz de discernir o certo do errado, levou-a sempre na direção das pessoas com quem travava fácil amizade, de quem assimilava costumes, admirava a cultura e imitava a filosofia.
Os textos deixam claro que, com o passar dos anos, Bell se sente cada vez mais afastada das gentes, dos homens da política, do mundo onde havia conquistado uma posição de destaque, pelo que o desgosto transparece algumas vezes com grande vigor, deixando adivinhar um final amargo:
Receio bem que quando chegar ao fim não irei olhar para trás e dizer: "Isto valeu mesmo a pena"; o mais certo é olhar para trás e dizer: "Que perda de tempo"... É nisto que estou a pensar esta noite e temo que esteja perigosamente próximo da verdade. Quase que desejo que algo aconteça - algo empolgante, um assalto ou uma batalha! E, no entanto, isso também não faz parte do meu trabalho [...]não me sinto nada filha de reis, que é o que é suposto eu ser aqui. É um tédio ser mulher quando se está na Arábia.
Progressivamente afastada das posições de poder a que se acostumara e com uma saúde em declínio, Bell encontra o seu final numa overdose de soporíferos (cuja intencionalidade não está nada fora de caráter):
12 de março de 1915
Quando o meu coração vacila, lembro-me dos tubos de morfina e sei que há uma saída... Se não posso adormecer nos teus braços, adormecerei desta maneira.
Para nós, fica a paixão da autora pela Arábia (como de outras mulheres que aí procuraram refúgio), fica a sua erudição, a sua rebeldia, a capacidade de se ligar às pessoas e às causas, a defesa arreigada de um património comum, e uma obra literária extensa e de grande valor social, político e documental.
Ao deixar Alepo, fevereiro de 1909
Há um momento... quando a pessoa acaba de chegar ao Oriente, quando está consciente do mundo que se encolhe numa ponta e se expande na outra, até que toda a perspetiva de vida se altera ao fim de uns dias passa a ser banal e deixamos de reparar nele... Um dia espero que o Oriente recupere a sua força e desenvolva a sua própria civilização, em vez de imitar a nossa, e depois talvez nos possa ensinar algumas das coisas que em tempos aprendemos com ele e que já esquecemos, para grande perda nossa...
Este é o local onde São Simeão viveu num pilar. Enquanto os criados montavam as minhas tendas, fui até lá e sentei-me em cima da coluna de São Simeão ainda resta uma boa parte -, a pensar no quão diferente ele teria sido de mim. Apareceu uma estrela grande que cintilou para mim na noite doce e quente, e ambas concordámos que era mais agradável deambular pelos céus e pela terra do que ficar sentado toda a vida no cimo de um pilar.
Gertrude Bell era mulher que não sabia estar quieta: era viajante, linguista, exploradora, arqueóloga, diplomata, alpinista (e alpinismo em roupa interior é coisa que não se vê muitas vezes), arabista e um outro cento de coisas. Porém, a sua biografia tem normalmente particular interesse para os curiosos quando o seu papel converge com a queda do Império Otomano já que Bell é fundamental no mapeamento e na reorganização política dos Estados Árabes no pós-guerra. Já para mim, a sua biografia é mais interessante do ponto de vista da história de género e da história da arte já que, entre os anos 1868-1926, Bell representa umas das pouquíssimas exceções à regra em território europeu afirmando-se como figura de autoridade em domínios (assim propagandeados) marcadamente masculinos, como política, guerra, ciência.
Monte Carmel, Haifa, 30 de março de 1902
Muito me apraz saber que sou uma Pessoa neste país - todos me consideram uma Pessoa!... A reputação não é algo difícil de conquistar neste lugar.
Descendente de industriais, e fruto de um meio privilegiado e essencialmente capitalista, Bell usufrui de uma educação superior em História Moderna que rapidamente põe a render - não haja, no entanto, dúvidas de que esta educação não é um privilégio, mas uma esmola, já que às mulheres estava vedada a maioria dos cursos, sobrando História e pouco mais, e, mesjo assim, findo o percurso académico, estas não recebiam grau. Anda assim, Gertrude Bell termina com grande mérito o curso e, após uma primeira visita à Pérsia, em 1892, não mais abandona os paises árabes senão por curto espaço de tempo, viajando de forma independente - quase sempre acompanhada apenas por uma mão cheia de criados e alguns locais de confiança, seus companheiros habituais de viagem:
Com o silêncio de um mundo extinto ainda a pesar sobre nós, caminhámos até à zona mais alta do vale, mas perto dos portões da planície fomos recebidos pela Vida. Uma malva-rosa selvagem estava de sentinela entre as pedras; algumas das suas pétalas amarelas serviam de estandarte e nas suas hastes verticais os botões estavam gordos e cremosos num desabrochar iminente. A chuva tinha caído durante a noite, chamando o deserto à vida, vestindo os seus espinhos com um traje púrpura de flores mipnúsculas; o sol maravilhoso aquecia-nos os ombros; uma aragem agradável soprava na nossa direção o odor húmido e adocicado da terra que despertava; os nossos cavalos cheiraram o ar e, contagiados pelo momento, puxaram os freios e desataram a galope sobre o piso amaciado pela chuva. E nós também emergimos do silêncio e recordámos que estávamos vivos. A vida apoderou-se de nós e inspirou-nos com uma sensação de folia tresloucada. O vento murmurava e a terra abundante gritava: "Vida! Vida!" enquanto cavaleávamos. Vida! Vida!, a abundante, a esplendorosa! A velhice estava longe de nós longe como a morte; tínhamo-la deixado entronizada nas suas montanhas áridas, com cidades fantasmagóricas e fés antiquadas para lhe fazerem companhia. Para nós a planície ampla e o mundo ilimitado, para nós a beleza e a frescura da manhã, para nós a juventude e a alegria de viver!
Entre as suas muitas aventuras pela Arábia, nos anos que se seguem, Bell experiencia a língua...
Estou a aprender persa, não com grande energia, aqui nada se faz com energia. O meu professor é um senhor de idade encantador, com os olhos brilhantes e um turbante branco, que percebe tão pouco de francês (o francês é o nosso meio de comunicação) que nem me consegue traduzir os poetas nem explicar quaisquer dificuldades gramaticais. Não obstante, damo-nos incrivelmente bem e passamos muito do nosso tempo em longas discussões filosóficas, eu em francês e ele em persa.
...vivencia a cultura de marginalização da mulher...
Bagdade, 27 de dezembro de 1918
A pobre criatura nunca sai de casa nem vê ninguém. Há muitas famílias cujas mulheres vivem em isolamento total. Devo dizer que elas odeiam isso e o coração dói-me de tédio sempre que penso nelas.
...e o seu valor como despojo de guerra...
Lá estavam elas, as mulheres - envoltas em brocados indianos, enfeitadas com joias e servidas por escravos, e não havia uma coisa nelas que evidenciasse a existência básica da Europa ou dos Europeus - a não ser eu! Eu era a mancha. Algumas das mulheres da casa do xeque eram belas. Passam de mão em mão - o vitorioso fica com elas, com o poder e a glória, imagina só! As mãos dele estão manchadas do sangue dos maridos e dos filhos delas. A própria Mudi - é uma mulher ainda nova e muito simpática já foi esposa de três Amir seguidos. Bem, um dia contar-te-ei como é tudo, mas a verdade é que ainda me sinto completamente estupefacta.
...enfrenta dificuldades técnicas...
5 de julho de 1907
Passámos a manhä inteira de aldeia em aldeia ao longo da es costa da Karajadagh, à procura de ruínas e inscrições. O procedimento é o seguinte: chegamos a uma aldeia e perguntamos por inscrições. Eles dizem-nos que não há nada. Respondemos-lhes que temos a certeza absoluta de que existem inscrições e depois ficamos parados sob o sol abrasador durante uns dez minutos, enquanto os aldeões se reúnem à nossa volta. Por fim, alguém diz que tem uma pedra com escritos em casa. Deslocamo-nos até lá, encontramo-la, copiamo-la e damos ao proprietário duas piastras, e, de repente, toda a gente tem uma pedra com escritos algures...
...chegando a estar no meio de escaramuças locais...
No deserto, todos os recém-chegados são inimigos até sabermos que são amigos.
O Muhammad enfiou um cartucho na sua espingarda, o Hussein extraiu o seu pingalim da bolsa no lombo do cavalo, onde o costumava guardar, e eu tirei um revólver do meu coldre.
[...]
Os três homens encontravam-se armados[...] Se, quando alcançassem o topo da elevação de terra diante de nós, erguessem as armas, eu e o Hussein teríamos tempo de disparar primeiro, enquanto eles acalmavam as suas éguas. Os três cavaleiros alcançaram a elevação de terra e, assim que lhes vimos os rostos, o Muhammad fez-lhes a saudação muçulmana; eles retribuíram e após esse consenso ficámos todos mais à vontade. Pois se os homens dão e recebem a saudação muçulmana quando estão perto o suficiente para vislumbrarem os rostos uns dos outros, não pode, segundo o costume do deserto, existir qualquer perigo de ataque.
...a ver-se envolvida em quezílias intestinas e a ser feita prisioneira:
16 de fevereiro de 1905
Salkhad é uma pequena aldeia coberta de lava negra situada na encosta sul de um vulcão. Na cratera do vulcão existe um enorme castelo em ruínas, incrivelmente sinistro e magnificente. Esta noite, enquanto jantava... ouvi o som de cânticos selvagens, juntamente com o soar de tiros, e, quando saí para o exterior, avistei uma fogueira a arder no ponto mais elevado dos muros do castelo. [...]Tratava-se de um apelo às armas. Já lhe contei que Beni Sakhre e os drusos eram grandes inimigos. Há um mês Sakhr levou cinco mil ovelhas dos currais drusos na planície. Amanhã os drusos irão investir, dois mil homens a cavalo, com o objetivo de reaver os seus rebanhos, e matar todos os homens, mulheres e crianças do Sakhr com quem se cruzarem. A fogueira foi um sinal para os campos.
Pelo meio, Bell ainda arranjou tempo para se manter à frente da biblioteca de Bagdade, ser fundadora do Museu do Iraque, participar ativamente no estudo e proteção de achados arqueológicos (chegando a chefiar e financiar diretamente algumas escavações de grande monta) e viver as suas experiências afetivas e amorosas; força para se alistar na Cruz Vermelha durante a guerra, servir o governo britânico (ocupando os cargos mais altos para um civil dentro do Império Britânico), fazer parte da intelligentsia de dois continentes ou ser conselheira de reis; e inspiração para ser uma escritora prolífica e uma observadora inata da beleza do mundo.
Como todos nós, Bell tem os seus defeitos - a sua participação na reorganização política dos países árabes não é isenta ou inocente e partia de uma posição de superioridade que acompanha as grandes potências europeias do século passado, mas o seu coração, capaz de discernir o certo do errado, levou-a sempre na direção das pessoas com quem travava fácil amizade, de quem assimilava costumes, admirava a cultura e imitava a filosofia.
Os textos deixam claro que, com o passar dos anos, Bell se sente cada vez mais afastada das gentes, dos homens da política, do mundo onde havia conquistado uma posição de destaque, pelo que o desgosto transparece algumas vezes com grande vigor, deixando adivinhar um final amargo:
Receio bem que quando chegar ao fim não irei olhar para trás e dizer: "Isto valeu mesmo a pena"; o mais certo é olhar para trás e dizer: "Que perda de tempo"... É nisto que estou a pensar esta noite e temo que esteja perigosamente próximo da verdade. Quase que desejo que algo aconteça - algo empolgante, um assalto ou uma batalha! E, no entanto, isso também não faz parte do meu trabalho [...]não me sinto nada filha de reis, que é o que é suposto eu ser aqui. É um tédio ser mulher quando se está na Arábia.
Progressivamente afastada das posições de poder a que se acostumara e com uma saúde em declínio, Bell encontra o seu final numa overdose de soporíferos (cuja intencionalidade não está nada fora de caráter):
12 de março de 1915
Quando o meu coração vacila, lembro-me dos tubos de morfina e sei que há uma saída... Se não posso adormecer nos teus braços, adormecerei desta maneira.
Para nós, fica a paixão da autora pela Arábia (como de outras mulheres que aí procuraram refúgio), fica a sua erudição, a sua rebeldia, a capacidade de se ligar às pessoas e às causas, a defesa arreigada de um património comum, e uma obra literária extensa e de grande valor social, político e documental.
Ao deixar Alepo, fevereiro de 1909
Há um momento... quando a pessoa acaba de chegar ao Oriente, quando está consciente do mundo que se encolhe numa ponta e se expande na outra, até que toda a perspetiva de vida se altera ao fim de uns dias passa a ser banal e deixamos de reparar nele... Um dia espero que o Oriente recupere a sua força e desenvolva a sua própria civilização, em vez de imitar a nossa, e depois talvez nos possa ensinar algumas das coisas que em tempos aprendemos com ele e que já esquecemos, para grande perda nossa...
August 15, 2015
Fascinating story about a woman ahead of her time. Her contributions to the world have gone unsung for too long, and it is good to see that she is finally getting her due. It is uncanny how her observations of the British mishandling of post-WWI Middle East accurately describe the next century's slide into the chaos we see there today. another reason why women worldwide should have an equal role in any political process.
January 18, 2025
Owning such a great and insightful mind, it's no wonder she was ignored. "A sign of the times."
Maybe the world would be a better place if her voice was listened to.
It is wonderful to read of her.
Maybe the world would be a better place if her voice was listened to.
It is wonderful to read of her.
Want to read
July 3, 2015Gertrude Bell Archive
Having most relevance for research in Archaeology, History, Politics and Travel, the books and papers of Gertrude Bell (1868-1926) were given to Newcastle University Library by Gertrude's half-sister, Lady Richmond, although part of the Doughty-Wylie correspondence came from St. Anthony's College, Oxford.
Her diaries are available online here
Her letters are available online here
Having most relevance for research in Archaeology, History, Politics and Travel, the books and papers of Gertrude Bell (1868-1926) were given to Newcastle University Library by Gertrude's half-sister, Lady Richmond, although part of the Doughty-Wylie correspondence came from St. Anthony's College, Oxford.
Her diaries are available online here
Her letters are available online here
April 7, 2021
Extratos de cartas e entradas de diário, agrupados, não cronologicamente, mas por temas, resumindo as andanças de Bell pelas arábias, sempre acompanhada pelos seus mainatos que a protegiam e serviam. Tudo muito maçador.
January 12, 2022
My preface about Gertrude Bell when reviewing 'Bell of the Desert' by Alan Gold. I don't believe I can improve on my comprehensive introduction to the woman:
'Gertrude Bell was born into a life of privilege in upper class English society, formerly presented to Queen Victoria as a debutante. Fortunately for us, she was a woman born out of her time, with brains, courage and ability; qualities that were not admired in the person of a women during the Victorian and Edwardian eras. Seeking adventure and a life outside of the restricted social sphere of London society, she travelled the world and during those travels, started a lifelong love affair with the world known as Mesopotamia and Arabia and its peoples. She spoke fluent Arabic, Persian, French, German, Italian and Turkish and deeply understood the differing cultures, customs and thinkings of the many diverse tribes of the many peoples who lived in this land, holding a lifelong dream to somehow help them to unite and self administer themselves under a democratic style government. Through this attainment, she hoped that they might find peace and personal freedom for themselves and also be educated and enlightened to finally begin to treat the women of their families as equals instead of discardable possessions.
Brilliant Oxford scholar, mountaineer, authoritative archeologist, diplomat, advisor and spy in Arabia for the the British Government before, during and after World War I, Gertrude Bell was responsible for determining the boundaries of modern day Iraq and setting out the procedure for finally granting independence to its government under King Faisal in a constitutional monarchy. She was accepted as an honorary man in her many counsels with Arabic and Islamic leaders, who could not otherwise have spoken directly with her. She was the chief advisor on the customs and interpretation of political interactions for the British Government and advisor for the mapping out of the previously unknown desert tribal lands during the outbreak of WWI. She was also the brains, friend and primary advisor behind the famous figurehead, the legendary 'Lawrence of Arabia'.
This collection of letter, military dispatches, diary entries and other writings is an editor's attempt to reduce some sixteen thousand letters, sixteen diaries, seven notebooks and forty-four packets of miscellaneous material that Gertrude Bell produced in her lifetime, in order to document a life that seems too full of world-changing feats, to have happened in one solitary woman's life. In order to bring this to a readable and cohesive biography, the editor Georgina Howell chose to break Gertrude's life into sectional themes in order to represent the facets of what she felt best described the person who was Gertrude Bell. As a result, in this book her life is divided up into sections titled: 'The Linguist', 'The Poet', 'The Person', 'The Mountaineer', 'The Archeologist', 'The Desert Traveler', 'The Lover', 'The Prisoner', 'The War Worker', 'The Intrusives', 'The Nation Builder', 'The King Maker' and 'The Courtier'. While this list of titles used to describe any one person's life is absolutely mind boggling and all titles were certainly facets of Gertrude's life, perhaps the most remarkable aspect is that we are talking about a woman who lived, unmarried and making her own way in life during the late 19th and early 20th Century (1868-1926).
I was not a fan of this style of organising Gertrude's writings. To me it sectionalised Gertrude's life too much and made it difficult to follow the time line of events that both influenced her life and which she also influenced. It also fragmented her voice too much and made it difficult to connect with her as a person. Frequently I found myself completely confused about which decade I was in, and it also resulted in multiple portrayals of the same events and people from different angles which felt capricious to me. However, the joy of hearing Gertrude's own words, of hearing her speak for herself from her own point of view in beautiful, witty, snarky or poetical prose made the pursuit of finishing this book worthwhile. I would like to read more about Gertrude Bell, in her own words, in a more conventional collection of her writings, less edited and therefore less subjective. I do not wish to listen to another person's explanation of a woman who is so indubitably able to speak for herself and in more expressive and articulate language than any editor could possess.
I would like to add a sample of Gertrude's writing here to illustrate my point:
"..the holy men sat in an atmosphere reeking of antiquity, so thick with the dust of ages that you can't see through it--nor can they."
“Sunshine - sunshine! tedious, changeless, monotonous. Not that discreet English Sunshine which varies its charm with clouds, with rainbows, with golden mist... here the sun has ceased trying to please so venerable a world.”
― Gertrude Bell, Persian Pictures: From the Mountains to the Sea
If any further persuasion is needed, the beautifully translated Poems From the Divan of Hafiz (Poems from the Divan of Hafiz) by Gertrude Lowithian Bell will speak for themselves as to her eloquence and expertise with written words.
'Gertrude Bell was born into a life of privilege in upper class English society, formerly presented to Queen Victoria as a debutante. Fortunately for us, she was a woman born out of her time, with brains, courage and ability; qualities that were not admired in the person of a women during the Victorian and Edwardian eras. Seeking adventure and a life outside of the restricted social sphere of London society, she travelled the world and during those travels, started a lifelong love affair with the world known as Mesopotamia and Arabia and its peoples. She spoke fluent Arabic, Persian, French, German, Italian and Turkish and deeply understood the differing cultures, customs and thinkings of the many diverse tribes of the many peoples who lived in this land, holding a lifelong dream to somehow help them to unite and self administer themselves under a democratic style government. Through this attainment, she hoped that they might find peace and personal freedom for themselves and also be educated and enlightened to finally begin to treat the women of their families as equals instead of discardable possessions.
Brilliant Oxford scholar, mountaineer, authoritative archeologist, diplomat, advisor and spy in Arabia for the the British Government before, during and after World War I, Gertrude Bell was responsible for determining the boundaries of modern day Iraq and setting out the procedure for finally granting independence to its government under King Faisal in a constitutional monarchy. She was accepted as an honorary man in her many counsels with Arabic and Islamic leaders, who could not otherwise have spoken directly with her. She was the chief advisor on the customs and interpretation of political interactions for the British Government and advisor for the mapping out of the previously unknown desert tribal lands during the outbreak of WWI. She was also the brains, friend and primary advisor behind the famous figurehead, the legendary 'Lawrence of Arabia'.
This collection of letter, military dispatches, diary entries and other writings is an editor's attempt to reduce some sixteen thousand letters, sixteen diaries, seven notebooks and forty-four packets of miscellaneous material that Gertrude Bell produced in her lifetime, in order to document a life that seems too full of world-changing feats, to have happened in one solitary woman's life. In order to bring this to a readable and cohesive biography, the editor Georgina Howell chose to break Gertrude's life into sectional themes in order to represent the facets of what she felt best described the person who was Gertrude Bell. As a result, in this book her life is divided up into sections titled: 'The Linguist', 'The Poet', 'The Person', 'The Mountaineer', 'The Archeologist', 'The Desert Traveler', 'The Lover', 'The Prisoner', 'The War Worker', 'The Intrusives', 'The Nation Builder', 'The King Maker' and 'The Courtier'. While this list of titles used to describe any one person's life is absolutely mind boggling and all titles were certainly facets of Gertrude's life, perhaps the most remarkable aspect is that we are talking about a woman who lived, unmarried and making her own way in life during the late 19th and early 20th Century (1868-1926).
I was not a fan of this style of organising Gertrude's writings. To me it sectionalised Gertrude's life too much and made it difficult to follow the time line of events that both influenced her life and which she also influenced. It also fragmented her voice too much and made it difficult to connect with her as a person. Frequently I found myself completely confused about which decade I was in, and it also resulted in multiple portrayals of the same events and people from different angles which felt capricious to me. However, the joy of hearing Gertrude's own words, of hearing her speak for herself from her own point of view in beautiful, witty, snarky or poetical prose made the pursuit of finishing this book worthwhile. I would like to read more about Gertrude Bell, in her own words, in a more conventional collection of her writings, less edited and therefore less subjective. I do not wish to listen to another person's explanation of a woman who is so indubitably able to speak for herself and in more expressive and articulate language than any editor could possess.
I would like to add a sample of Gertrude's writing here to illustrate my point:
"..the holy men sat in an atmosphere reeking of antiquity, so thick with the dust of ages that you can't see through it--nor can they."
“Sunshine - sunshine! tedious, changeless, monotonous. Not that discreet English Sunshine which varies its charm with clouds, with rainbows, with golden mist... here the sun has ceased trying to please so venerable a world.”
― Gertrude Bell, Persian Pictures: From the Mountains to the Sea
If any further persuasion is needed, the beautifully translated Poems From the Divan of Hafiz (Poems from the Divan of Hafiz) by Gertrude Lowithian Bell will speak for themselves as to her eloquence and expertise with written words.
January 21, 2016
-orientalism & the imperial project; the extent to which the "orientals" she meets are othered & western identity & intellectuality always the standard against which
-the annoying tendency of biographers/editors to justify/rationalize any character failings of their subjects; both come off looking shoddy and compromised.
-annoyed by the continual references to her "love of beautiful clothing". Why is this of any importance?
"I sat in my tent & read Hamlet from beginning to end & as I read, the world swung back into focus. Princes and powers of Arabia stepped down into their true place & there rose up above them the human soul, conscious & answerable to itself." -excerpted from her diary while in a tent in the desert when travel stymied by rain.
"[…] once you've made up your mind that you have no luggage, it is rather an exhilarating feeling." -Baghdad, Apr 22 1925 (56)
"The whole world shone like a jewel, green crops, and blue waters and far away the gleaming snows of the mountains that bound Mesopotamia to the north—we saw them today for the first time. I sat on a hill top for an hour and considered the history of Asia that was spread out before me. Here Mithridates murdered the Greek generals, here Xenophon began to have his command, and just beyond Zab the Greeks turned and defeated the archers of Mithridates, marching then on to Larissa, the mound of Nimrud, where Xenophon saw the great Assyrian city of Calah standing in ruins. Nimrud stood out among the cornfields at my feet. A little further east I could see the plain of Arbela, where Alexander conquered Asia. We people of the west can always conquer, but we can never hold Asia—that seemed to me to be the legend written across the landscape…" -record of her first view, 60 miles south of Mosul, of what would become Iraq, excepted from her diary, April 27th, 1909 (83-4)
"[…] the Tower of Silence is visible, a mocking gleam reminding the living of the vanity of their eager days." -from Persian Pictures, published reluctantly (she thought it "feeble"), about her journey in 1892 (93)
"You will find in the East habits of intercourse less fettered by artificial chains, and a wider tolerance born of greater diversity. Society is divided by caste and sect and tribe into an infinite number of groups, each one of which is following a law of its own, and however fantastic, to our thinking, that law may be, to the Oriental it is an ample and a satisfactory explanation of all peculiarities. A man may go about in public veiled up to the eyes, or clad if he please only in a girdle: he will excite no remark. Why should he? Like every one else he is merely obeying his own law. So too the European may pass up and down the wildest places, encountering little curiosity and of criticism even less. The news he brings will be heard with interest, his opinions will be listened to with attention, but he will not be thought odd or mad, nor even mistaken, because his practices and the ways of his thought are at variance with those of the people among whom he finds himself. "'Adat-hu:" it is his custom. And for this reason he will be the wiser if he does not seek to ingratiate himself with Orientals by trying to ape their habits, unless he is so skillful that he can pass as one of themselves. Let him treat the law of others respectfully, but he himself will meet with a far greater respect if he adheres strictly to his own. For a woman this rule is of the first importance, since a woman can never disguise herself effectually. That she should be known to come of a great and honoured stock, whose customs are inviolable, is her best claim to consideration." -excepted from The Desert and the Sown, p.1907 (95-6)
"In the desert every newcomer is an enemy till you know him to be a friend." -excerpted from Amurath To Amurath, p1924 (99)
-the annoying tendency of biographers/editors to justify/rationalize any character failings of their subjects; both come off looking shoddy and compromised.
-annoyed by the continual references to her "love of beautiful clothing". Why is this of any importance?
"I sat in my tent & read Hamlet from beginning to end & as I read, the world swung back into focus. Princes and powers of Arabia stepped down into their true place & there rose up above them the human soul, conscious & answerable to itself." -excerpted from her diary while in a tent in the desert when travel stymied by rain.
"[…] once you've made up your mind that you have no luggage, it is rather an exhilarating feeling." -Baghdad, Apr 22 1925 (56)
"The whole world shone like a jewel, green crops, and blue waters and far away the gleaming snows of the mountains that bound Mesopotamia to the north—we saw them today for the first time. I sat on a hill top for an hour and considered the history of Asia that was spread out before me. Here Mithridates murdered the Greek generals, here Xenophon began to have his command, and just beyond Zab the Greeks turned and defeated the archers of Mithridates, marching then on to Larissa, the mound of Nimrud, where Xenophon saw the great Assyrian city of Calah standing in ruins. Nimrud stood out among the cornfields at my feet. A little further east I could see the plain of Arbela, where Alexander conquered Asia. We people of the west can always conquer, but we can never hold Asia—that seemed to me to be the legend written across the landscape…" -record of her first view, 60 miles south of Mosul, of what would become Iraq, excepted from her diary, April 27th, 1909 (83-4)
"[…] the Tower of Silence is visible, a mocking gleam reminding the living of the vanity of their eager days." -from Persian Pictures, published reluctantly (she thought it "feeble"), about her journey in 1892 (93)
"You will find in the East habits of intercourse less fettered by artificial chains, and a wider tolerance born of greater diversity. Society is divided by caste and sect and tribe into an infinite number of groups, each one of which is following a law of its own, and however fantastic, to our thinking, that law may be, to the Oriental it is an ample and a satisfactory explanation of all peculiarities. A man may go about in public veiled up to the eyes, or clad if he please only in a girdle: he will excite no remark. Why should he? Like every one else he is merely obeying his own law. So too the European may pass up and down the wildest places, encountering little curiosity and of criticism even less. The news he brings will be heard with interest, his opinions will be listened to with attention, but he will not be thought odd or mad, nor even mistaken, because his practices and the ways of his thought are at variance with those of the people among whom he finds himself. "'Adat-hu:" it is his custom. And for this reason he will be the wiser if he does not seek to ingratiate himself with Orientals by trying to ape their habits, unless he is so skillful that he can pass as one of themselves. Let him treat the law of others respectfully, but he himself will meet with a far greater respect if he adheres strictly to his own. For a woman this rule is of the first importance, since a woman can never disguise herself effectually. That she should be known to come of a great and honoured stock, whose customs are inviolable, is her best claim to consideration." -excepted from The Desert and the Sown, p.1907 (95-6)
"In the desert every newcomer is an enemy till you know him to be a friend." -excerpted from Amurath To Amurath, p1924 (99)
January 19, 2016
Not too many English ladies
On the banks of the Euphrates.
On the banks of the Euphrates.
October 17, 2021
É um livro que, através das cartas e apontamentos de Gertrude Bell, apresenta-nos uma mulher num mundo completamente dominado por homens, mas com um papel mais importante que grande parte deles. Ficamos a conhecer Bell, a viajante, montanhista, arqueóloga, linguista, escritora e a estadista. Não é apresentada como alguém perfeito, mas nem por isso se torna menos admirável e fascinante.
A segunda metade do livro é incrível. Podemos acompanhar, através da escrita dela, a sua luta pela autodeterminação árabe e o nascimento do Iraque como nação. É como se tivéssemos lá. Contudo, houve partes que não foram exploradas com tanta profundidade e acabam por tornar-se menos interessantes.
A segunda metade do livro é incrível. Podemos acompanhar, através da escrita dela, a sua luta pela autodeterminação árabe e o nascimento do Iraque como nação. É como se tivéssemos lá. Contudo, houve partes que não foram exploradas com tanta profundidade e acabam por tornar-se menos interessantes.
September 18, 2016
There is too much justification on the part of the editor about anything that Bell was doing which might be deemed ‘controversial’ (like the fact that Bell didn’t want women to get the right to vote). And I think this causes what Bell actually thought and what the editor wants you to believe to become blur together too easily.
Honestly, I don’t think the book is all that unpleasant or anything, but it certainly wasn’t what I was expecting. A lot of parts were actually quite interesting to read about but overall, this was just ok.
Honestly, I don’t think the book is all that unpleasant or anything, but it certainly wasn’t what I was expecting. A lot of parts were actually quite interesting to read about but overall, this was just ok.
March 9, 2022
Extraordinary intelligent woman. World needs more Gertrude Bell’s.
Pg 19: Her opposition to womens suffrage in context. In 1832 the Reform bill and successors, increased number of voters from 500,000 to 5 million in 1884, the vote was limited to men of property. The property laws at the time, dictated that possessions of women became their husbands property on marriage. Married women would have been denied the vote, while widows, prostitutes and spinsters could vote. Independent rational women felt suffrage could not be addressed without transforming property laws.
Gertrude Bell learned Arabic, Persian, Turkish, and took the time to learn the cultural customs, religions, tribal customs.
The book includes a letter from TE Lawrence to her father when she died.
The movie “Queen of the Desert” with Nicole Kidman is focused on the two men she loved, but didn’t marry. One was a gambler, the other a married man. Not much is mentioned about her mountaineering in the alps, archeology, mapping, visiting with tribes and their leaders and women.
Gertrude Bell might have enjoyed RBG, or Golda Meir.
Pg 19: Her opposition to womens suffrage in context. In 1832 the Reform bill and successors, increased number of voters from 500,000 to 5 million in 1884, the vote was limited to men of property. The property laws at the time, dictated that possessions of women became their husbands property on marriage. Married women would have been denied the vote, while widows, prostitutes and spinsters could vote. Independent rational women felt suffrage could not be addressed without transforming property laws.
Gertrude Bell learned Arabic, Persian, Turkish, and took the time to learn the cultural customs, religions, tribal customs.
The book includes a letter from TE Lawrence to her father when she died.
The movie “Queen of the Desert” with Nicole Kidman is focused on the two men she loved, but didn’t marry. One was a gambler, the other a married man. Not much is mentioned about her mountaineering in the alps, archeology, mapping, visiting with tribes and their leaders and women.
Gertrude Bell might have enjoyed RBG, or Golda Meir.
September 18, 2018
Very interesting and informative, especially in its second half where we get to follow Gertrude through her long advocacy in favour of Arab self-determination. Eventually, the nation of Iraq, which used to be made up of three separate regions of the Ottoman Empire, is established with King Faisal I on its throne and we, as readers, get to experience it all through the words of one who was there when these events took place, one without whom things would, perhaps, not have turned out as they did.
Despite being a woman who lived between the end of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th, Gertrude Bell managed to become by sheer determination and tireless hard work one of the most respected authorities on matters of the Middle East. She spoke a huge amount of local dialects and languages, was passionate about the area's history and worked there as an archaeologist as well as a museum director, helped map out areas of which no accurate maps existed yet, had close relationships with innumerable tribes and local key figures, became THE ONLY female political officer in the British forces, and that's just the tip of the iceberg.
All of these aspects of her life are touched upon in the book, each being assigned its own neat little section made up of a short presentation by the editor, Georgina Howell, giving us context and followed by a collection of pertaining writings by Bell herself. I found this set-up very clever and liked that Howell did not shy away from pointing out some of Gertrude's less admirable moments that just made her all the more fascinating to me. She wasn't perfect, so what?
The only downsides to this book, in my opinion, were the absence of any of Bell's letters and reports concerning the Armenian genocide and the considerable level of dryness. This is not stuff you devour in a frenzy to get to the end, but that you work your way through in order to learn something new.
Despite being a woman who lived between the end of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th, Gertrude Bell managed to become by sheer determination and tireless hard work one of the most respected authorities on matters of the Middle East. She spoke a huge amount of local dialects and languages, was passionate about the area's history and worked there as an archaeologist as well as a museum director, helped map out areas of which no accurate maps existed yet, had close relationships with innumerable tribes and local key figures, became THE ONLY female political officer in the British forces, and that's just the tip of the iceberg.
All of these aspects of her life are touched upon in the book, each being assigned its own neat little section made up of a short presentation by the editor, Georgina Howell, giving us context and followed by a collection of pertaining writings by Bell herself. I found this set-up very clever and liked that Howell did not shy away from pointing out some of Gertrude's less admirable moments that just made her all the more fascinating to me. She wasn't perfect, so what?
The only downsides to this book, in my opinion, were the absence of any of Bell's letters and reports concerning the Armenian genocide and the considerable level of dryness. This is not stuff you devour in a frenzy to get to the end, but that you work your way through in order to learn something new.
dnf-or-set-aside-for-now
October 15, 2016This book combines commentary with letters written by Ms. Bell to portray a true Renaissance woman of her age.
interesting quotes:
"While the franchise was denied to so many men, Parliament could not have contemplated giving the vote to women. In discussions about giving the vote only to women of property, Parliament came up against an insuperable difficulty: the property laws. The possessions of wives automatically became their husband's property on marriage. This was the law that led Gertrude's father to refuse her marriage to Henry Cadogan, known to be a gambler. So married women would be denied the vote, while much of the franchise would have been granted to widows, prostitutes, and spinsters. As independent and rational women such as Gertrude and Florence felt, women's suffrage could not be addressed until the property laws were transformed." (pp. 18-19)
"These women dreaded a reaction to the demands of the suffragists - who kept within the law - and the suffragettes - who broke it - that would bring retribution and destroy the advances that women had already made." (p. 19)
"'I read them your letter and I said to them, Oh Sheikhs' - we hung upon his words - 'This is a women - what must the men be like!'" (p. 22)
[E.L. Strutt]: "Everything that she undertook, physical or mental, was accomplished so superlatively well, that it would indeed have been strange if she had not shone on a mountain as she did in the hunting-field or in the desert. Her strength, incredible in that slim frame, her endurance, above all her courage, were so great that even to this day her guide and companion Ulrich Fuhrer - and there could be few more competent judges - speaks with an admiration of her that amounts to veneration." (p. 30)
new word: peroration
interesting quotes:
"While the franchise was denied to so many men, Parliament could not have contemplated giving the vote to women. In discussions about giving the vote only to women of property, Parliament came up against an insuperable difficulty: the property laws. The possessions of wives automatically became their husband's property on marriage. This was the law that led Gertrude's father to refuse her marriage to Henry Cadogan, known to be a gambler. So married women would be denied the vote, while much of the franchise would have been granted to widows, prostitutes, and spinsters. As independent and rational women such as Gertrude and Florence felt, women's suffrage could not be addressed until the property laws were transformed." (pp. 18-19)
"These women dreaded a reaction to the demands of the suffragists - who kept within the law - and the suffragettes - who broke it - that would bring retribution and destroy the advances that women had already made." (p. 19)
"'I read them your letter and I said to them, Oh Sheikhs' - we hung upon his words - 'This is a women - what must the men be like!'" (p. 22)
[E.L. Strutt]: "Everything that she undertook, physical or mental, was accomplished so superlatively well, that it would indeed have been strange if she had not shone on a mountain as she did in the hunting-field or in the desert. Her strength, incredible in that slim frame, her endurance, above all her courage, were so great that even to this day her guide and companion Ulrich Fuhrer - and there could be few more competent judges - speaks with an admiration of her that amounts to veneration." (p. 30)
new word: peroration
February 17, 2017
I had read Gertrude Bell's Biography Desert Queen and then found this book with her letters in it. What a truly fascinating and exciting woman. Wish I had known about her when I was younger - a marvelous role model. She was brilliant spoke 11 plus languages and multiple dialects of several of them, she graduated from Oxford with honors, she was a mountain climber, an archaeologist, an explorer, a politically savvy individual with extensive knowledge of the Middle East that the British Government used extensively. She had massive organizational skills and she taught Lawrence of Arabia the skills, drew him maps and gave the name of the Arabic leaders that he needed to pull off his famous raids. She was at the table with Churchill, Cox and Lawrence when the current boundaries of the Middle East were drawn and she helped the new state of Iraq, its ruler and government for years and built the famous museum there.
Reading her letters and excerpts from her other writings really made her come alive for me.
Reading her letters and excerpts from her other writings really made her come alive for me.
September 27, 2023
This was just so enjoyable. I have no idea how I got this far in life without knowing anything about Gertrude Bell. I downloaded this audiobook in advance of a very long drive, and it was great company for the trip. The book covers Bell's life thematically - e.g., "The Mountaineer", "The Archaeologist", "The Linguist", etc. - starting from the early years and finishing up with her death. While there is narrative from her biographer, for me the best content of the book was taken from Bell's letters and diaries. She was a dedicated and lyrical writer, beautifully bringing to life the incredible scenes from her fascinating life. This audiobook has launched me down a Gertrude Bell rabbithole and it is brilliant.
Read
November 20, 2016Readers who are interested in learning about Bell should not read this book first. It is a compilation of her letters but the timeline is all out of order and all over the place. I'd recommend reading a traditional biography of her first.
May 11, 2017
Disappointing. I had expected more writing by Gertrude Bell and less editorial intervention.
January 2, 2018
Gertrude Bell should be as well known as Laurence of Arabia. She actually had a more interesting and wide-ranging series of adventures, in my opinion. This book is a good introduction to her amazing life...
December 4, 2018
Its unfortunate that the recent move about Gertrude Bell was such a dud. The woman was incredible. They just don't make people like this anymore. What a life she had! And what an ending...this should be on every school curriculum, instead of the YA drivel they read these days.
September 9, 2024
Não gostei muito da organização e para mim esse é o grande defeito. Há entradas que são muito lúcidas sobre a relação ocidente- oriente. Há entradas deliciosas. Todo o capítulo sobre arqueologia me encantou. E o fazer nascer nações. Quando não é um 3 é um 5.
January 18, 2021
An amazing and inspiring woman whom I knew nothing about. Loved reading about her life in her own words.
Some of my favorite quotes:
[On expat society]: "..The devil take all inane women." and "A collection of more tiresome women I never encountered" (23).
[On her expedition being attacked/shot at while camping in the desert]: "I got up too, and came out to see the fun" (51).
"I'm planning a two days' jaunt by myself in the desert. I want to feel savage and independent again" (53).
the Druze chief, questioning the local villagers, "Have you seen a queen traveling?" (67).
"lest there should be anyone so evil minded as to dream of stealing a camel from us, Mhailam has just now stepped out into the night and shouted: 'Ho! Anyone who watches! come in to supper!...Let anyone who is hungry come and eat!' And having thus invited the universe to our bowl, we sleep, I trust, in peace" (124).
"And to the spiritual sense the place smells of blood....The tales round my camp fire are all of murder and the air whispers murder. And good, please God! please God nothing but good" (128).
Some of my favorite quotes:
[On expat society]: "..The devil take all inane women." and "A collection of more tiresome women I never encountered" (23).
[On her expedition being attacked/shot at while camping in the desert]: "I got up too, and came out to see the fun" (51).
"I'm planning a two days' jaunt by myself in the desert. I want to feel savage and independent again" (53).
the Druze chief, questioning the local villagers, "Have you seen a queen traveling?" (67).
"lest there should be anyone so evil minded as to dream of stealing a camel from us, Mhailam has just now stepped out into the night and shouted: 'Ho! Anyone who watches! come in to supper!...Let anyone who is hungry come and eat!' And having thus invited the universe to our bowl, we sleep, I trust, in peace" (124).
"And to the spiritual sense the place smells of blood....The tales round my camp fire are all of murder and the air whispers murder. And good, please God! please God nothing but good" (128).
June 16, 2020
Not a thought on the book really but I love when you've cultivated enough time reading about different people during certain time periods. When certain names pop up in different books they are like familiar guest characters. It just makes me smile when someone pops up who's biography I read, doing something I hadnt read about them doing, in a book I didn't expect to see them in.
March 11, 2019
Really loved the story but the structure of the book wasn't my favorite. However, seriously this lady is a bad ass and my new personal hero.
September 21, 2024
Rather than the 'female Lawrence of Arabia' it would be more fitting for T.E. Lawrence to be referred to as the 'male Gertrude Bell'.
Gertrude Bell ought to be central in any study of the Modern Middle East - unmatched by her European contemporaries in knowledge and true understanding and love for the region. I don't doubt the region would have been in a different, better, place if she would have been taken as seriously as a male contemporary would have been. Don't let it go unnoticed this was a mistake made in far greater measure by the British authorities, rather than the tribes and Arab communities who managed to appreciate her for the nation-builder that she was.
Howell did a wonderful job in portraying Bell by using Bell's own letters.
Gertrude Bell ought to be central in any study of the Modern Middle East - unmatched by her European contemporaries in knowledge and true understanding and love for the region. I don't doubt the region would have been in a different, better, place if she would have been taken as seriously as a male contemporary would have been. Don't let it go unnoticed this was a mistake made in far greater measure by the British authorities, rather than the tribes and Arab communities who managed to appreciate her for the nation-builder that she was.
Howell did a wonderful job in portraying Bell by using Bell's own letters.
May 15, 2016
Pasti ramai yang mengenali Lawrence of Arabia, pegawai British yang mengapi-apikan semangat kesukuan Arab untuk bangkit melawan kerajaan Othmaniah.
Gertrude Bell juga antara individu yang memainkan peranan di dalam melakarkan sempadan negara-negara di Timur Tengah khususnya Iraq dan Jordan.
Lahir di dalam keluarga aristokrat. Keluarganya antara keluarga terkaya di era Victoria kesan daripada revolusi perindustrian di Eropah.
Beliau menamatkan pengajian di dalam bidang sejarah di Universiti Oxford dengan ijazah kelas pertama. Ketika berusia 24 tahun beliau melawat pakciknya yang bertugas sebagai duta di Parsi.
Buku ini merakamkan perjalanan beliau di dalam melakukan ekspedisi menjelajah padang pasir di Timur Tengah. Perjalanan ini dilakukan secara persendirian.
Perjalanan ini membolehkan beliau menjelajah dan mengenali pelbagai suku Arab yang bebas dari naungan Othmaniah dan juga pengaruh British.
Di dalam siri ekspedisi ini beliau merekodkan dan merakamkan kawasan-kawasan sejarah, tapak arkeologi dan juga kawasan ketenteraan kerajaan Othmaniah.
Maklumat ini kelak digunakan oleh British ketika membantu Arab melawan kerajaan Othmaniah. Gertrude diberi pangkat major dan dianugerahkan pingat Comander of British Empire di atas sumbangan beliau.
Dikalangan orang Parsi dan Arab, Gertrude amat dihormati. Beliau diberi gelaran "Khatun" bermaksud permaisuri di dalam bahasa Parsi dan juga Umm al Muminin (???)
Sumbangan terbesar beliau apabila berjaya memujuk Raja Faisal untuk menjadi Raja di Iraq. Raja Faisal yang membantu British menakhluk Damsyik telah dikhianati apabila Damsyik diserahkan kepada Perancis di dalam Perjanjian Sykes-Picot.
Iraq yang ditinggalkan oleh kerajaan Uthmaniah berada di dalam keadaan tanpa kerajaan memerintah. Gertrude memainkan peranan di dalam persetujuan kerajaan British untuk melantik Raja Faisal sebagai Raja Iraq.
Pengalaman beliau bersama pelbagai suku Arab dan Kurdis berjaya mengolah persetujuan mereka untuk menerima kepimpinan Raja Faisal di kalangan Sunni, Syiah dan Arab sekular. Beliau berbakti untuk Iraq sehingga akhir hayatnya. Beliau meninggal dunia ketika berusia 58 tahun di Baghdad.
Gertrude diingati sebagai seorang poligot (beliau boleh bertutur tujuh bahasa), agen British, ahli arkeologi, ahli photografi, pendaki, penjelajah yang ulung dan penentu raja yang memerintah.
Gertrude Bell juga antara individu yang memainkan peranan di dalam melakarkan sempadan negara-negara di Timur Tengah khususnya Iraq dan Jordan.
Lahir di dalam keluarga aristokrat. Keluarganya antara keluarga terkaya di era Victoria kesan daripada revolusi perindustrian di Eropah.
Beliau menamatkan pengajian di dalam bidang sejarah di Universiti Oxford dengan ijazah kelas pertama. Ketika berusia 24 tahun beliau melawat pakciknya yang bertugas sebagai duta di Parsi.
Buku ini merakamkan perjalanan beliau di dalam melakukan ekspedisi menjelajah padang pasir di Timur Tengah. Perjalanan ini dilakukan secara persendirian.
Perjalanan ini membolehkan beliau menjelajah dan mengenali pelbagai suku Arab yang bebas dari naungan Othmaniah dan juga pengaruh British.
Di dalam siri ekspedisi ini beliau merekodkan dan merakamkan kawasan-kawasan sejarah, tapak arkeologi dan juga kawasan ketenteraan kerajaan Othmaniah.
Maklumat ini kelak digunakan oleh British ketika membantu Arab melawan kerajaan Othmaniah. Gertrude diberi pangkat major dan dianugerahkan pingat Comander of British Empire di atas sumbangan beliau.
Dikalangan orang Parsi dan Arab, Gertrude amat dihormati. Beliau diberi gelaran "Khatun" bermaksud permaisuri di dalam bahasa Parsi dan juga Umm al Muminin (???)
Sumbangan terbesar beliau apabila berjaya memujuk Raja Faisal untuk menjadi Raja di Iraq. Raja Faisal yang membantu British menakhluk Damsyik telah dikhianati apabila Damsyik diserahkan kepada Perancis di dalam Perjanjian Sykes-Picot.
Iraq yang ditinggalkan oleh kerajaan Uthmaniah berada di dalam keadaan tanpa kerajaan memerintah. Gertrude memainkan peranan di dalam persetujuan kerajaan British untuk melantik Raja Faisal sebagai Raja Iraq.
Pengalaman beliau bersama pelbagai suku Arab dan Kurdis berjaya mengolah persetujuan mereka untuk menerima kepimpinan Raja Faisal di kalangan Sunni, Syiah dan Arab sekular. Beliau berbakti untuk Iraq sehingga akhir hayatnya. Beliau meninggal dunia ketika berusia 58 tahun di Baghdad.
Gertrude diingati sebagai seorang poligot (beliau boleh bertutur tujuh bahasa), agen British, ahli arkeologi, ahli photografi, pendaki, penjelajah yang ulung dan penentu raja yang memerintah.
November 8, 2015
I was looking forward to reading this book since I had heard about Gertrude Bell and her vast accomplishments; adventurer, writer, traveller, political officer, archaeologist, explorer and cartographer.
She was an English woman and after finishing her studies at Oxford, she went around the world traveling and for a decade, she was a Mountaineer, climbing some of the most difficult peaks and setting records first as a climber and second as a female climber. You have to remember that this was the year 1899, when women were absolutely not doing this sort of thing.
She then became fascinated with archaeology, which would stay with her through her long life. She actually worked on excavation sites in Iraq and Syria, which led to her creating the first museum in Iraq, under the King. She went around to excavation sites In Iraq, where other countries were taking away Iraq's antiquities, and she fought for pieces and brought them all back and painstakingly had them all labeled to create their first Museum (which ironically got raided when the US invaded Iraq).
She was a woman ahead of her time, incredibly educated (she learned to speak and read several languages including Arabic and Farsi), with a great spirit for life.
As fascinating as the woman was, I found the way the book was laid out, dry and too cut up. Rather than attempt to write a book about her life, Ms. Georgina Howell, grouped all of Ms. Bell's vast writings, into relevant groups titled for example, "the archaeologists", "the dessert traveller" etc so though you are reading from the letters of Ms. Bell, the end result is a chopped up book where a full picture of the woman is a bit difficult to put together.
She was an English woman and after finishing her studies at Oxford, she went around the world traveling and for a decade, she was a Mountaineer, climbing some of the most difficult peaks and setting records first as a climber and second as a female climber. You have to remember that this was the year 1899, when women were absolutely not doing this sort of thing.
She then became fascinated with archaeology, which would stay with her through her long life. She actually worked on excavation sites in Iraq and Syria, which led to her creating the first museum in Iraq, under the King. She went around to excavation sites In Iraq, where other countries were taking away Iraq's antiquities, and she fought for pieces and brought them all back and painstakingly had them all labeled to create their first Museum (which ironically got raided when the US invaded Iraq).
She was a woman ahead of her time, incredibly educated (she learned to speak and read several languages including Arabic and Farsi), with a great spirit for life.
As fascinating as the woman was, I found the way the book was laid out, dry and too cut up. Rather than attempt to write a book about her life, Ms. Georgina Howell, grouped all of Ms. Bell's vast writings, into relevant groups titled for example, "the archaeologists", "the dessert traveller" etc so though you are reading from the letters of Ms. Bell, the end result is a chopped up book where a full picture of the woman is a bit difficult to put together.
November 18, 2015
Very interesting. And what a cool fucking lady! Not at all what I usually read. I'm having a difficult time figuring out what to call this book - a biography? Miss Bell's letters are indeed the primary reference, but this is hardly a compendium. The editor, clearly a dedicated fan, shows her handiwork a little strongly for my tastes, but she has obviously done her homework and should be proud of that. (Anyway, there is hardly any such thing in the world as an objective biography.) Moreover, the book's organization is an acquired taste: chapters are topical rather than chronological, though they follow a rough trajectory through time. An accurate reflection of the many facets and facts of Miss Bell's life and character, yes, but it did leave me often enough flipping back to the preface's timeline of events.
February 12, 2016
In her own words, Gertrude's life in Mesopotamia and later Iraq - Insightful and rewarding. However after reading first the biography Desert Queen, I didn't like this book's format as much as DQ. It was organised by subject rather than chronologically and so flip flopped about a bit in time. Not as successful I thought in assembly of her words. Getrude Bell was a very great woman and died too soon. Did she have cancer through her incessant smoking and did she really commit suicide or her taking of too much medication was an oversight on her part. We will never really know.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
September 8, 2015
Gertrude Bell was an incredibly interesting lady. I'm glad she was such a prolific letter writer so we have a glimpse into her world. The book is broken up into chapters about her different roles throughout her life--archaeologist, kingmaker, desert traveler, etc. This is a bit confusing at first because you don't know the scope of her life yet, but it evens out by being roughly chronological overall.
March 24, 2016
Gertrude Bell was a woman ahead of her time although she was rich so she could pretty much do as she liked! But she was interested in languages and archaeology and politics and travel. It is always interesting to me how much easier it was to travel in Iraq at the beginning of the twentieth century than it is now, especially for women. I always find books of letters to be sort of weird to read but this is annotated and organized by theme rather than by chronology.
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