‘Were I not Polish, I would like to be Greek’. Anna Neumann – the forgotten enthusiast of Greece
‘Were I not Polish, I would like to be Greek’. Anna Neumann – the forgotten enthusiast of Greece

Summary/Abstract: Literary works of female authors and travellers, especially those written during the time of the spectacular growth of tourism in the 19th century, have inspired a lot of interest for a long time (Adams Davenport 1882; Hodgson 2002a; Hodgson 2002b). Not only are they being analyzed within the frame of gender literary criticism, but also constitute a classic example of breaking 19th century mores (Blunt 1994), when women could travel almost exclusively as wives accompanying their husbands, while the task of recording travel memoirs was reserved to men, ‘the main explorer’. As a result, in countless travel memoirs a female character is given only an auxiliary role, at times even anecdotal, as someone who is not able to endure the usual hardships of the voyage and accommodation in exotic venues, who demands male attentiveness and resourcefulness, who tends to surrender to changing moods and weariness – as opposed to the adventurer who is always portrayed as ready to face any challenges in the wilderness of Africa or Asia (as challenging as they may be in case of a Cook package tour or for a voyager surrounded by servants and guides). The author would then parade his erudition in describing natural phenomena, local customs and ancient structures – often by means of copying passages straight from the works of Baedeker and/or Budge.

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