A European Contact Zone: Portugal and Britain in Marianne Baillie's Lisbon in the Years 1821, 1822, and 1823

Abstract

This paper seeks to shed light on the relationship between Britain and Portugal in the 1820s filtered through Marianne Baillie's eyes in her travel writing Lisbon in the Years 1821, 1822, and 1823 (1824). Looked at through the lens of transculturation as used in Mary Louise Pratt's Imperial Eyes, this relationship – ambivalent though it may be – is perceived along the lines of centre and periphery, domination, and subordination. Portugal is identified as a European contact zone where disparate cultures meet with asymmetrical relations of power. The first part is dedicated to Portugal's entangled post-Napoleonic political situation and to the role of Baillie's letters as eye-witness accounts of historical importance. The second part focusses on Baillie's perception of the Portuguese and their culture, drawing on Jacques Derrida's Of Hospitality to explore the relationship between host and foreigner. It also highlights instances of Baillie's all-pervasive patriotism, which leads to a rather taste-based condemnation of local and living conditions. Her letters combine historical facts and personal impressions while at the same time showing characteristics of travel accounts and women's life writing.