Mary Wortley Montagu
1689-1762
English writer who introduced smallpox inoculations to England. Born into nobility, Montagu grew up surrounded by influential people. She suffered smallpox, which scarre...
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Mary Wortley Montagu
(1689 - 1762)
(Born Mary Pierrepont) English epistler, poet, essayist, translator, and playwright.
Mary Wortley Montagu: Introduction
Mary Wortley Montagu: Principal Works
Mary Wo...
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Well known throughout polite society for her wit and verse, English world traveller Lady Mary Wortley Montagu (1689-1762) also worked to introduce the practice of inoculation against smallpox to the m...
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Lady Mary Wortley Montague contributed to microbiology and immunology by virtue of her powers of observation and her passion for letter writing. As the wife of the British Ambassador Extraordinary to ...
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In the following essay, Lowenthal argues that in the Turkish Embassy Letters Montagu romanticizes and aestheticizes Turkish women. “Such strategies,” the critic observes, “while ...
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In this essay, Lowenthal argues that in her letters concerning the English social elite Montagu “attempts to work through [the competing demands of class and gender … and to emphasize th...
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In the essay below, Epstein offers a survey of Montagu's life and career.
Once, and but once, his heedless youth was bit, And liked that dangerous thing, a female wit.
—Alexander ...
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In the essay below, Aravamudan examines the implications of the “levantinization” or “transformation of identity that occurs when an individual from one culture is psychically and...
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In the following essay, Sherman investigates the apparent anti-feminism of such works by Montagu as “A Satyr.” According to the critic, Montagu's harsh rebukes of female behavior ...
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In this essay, Snyder maintains that in “Epistle from Mrs. Y[onge to Her Husband” Montagu defines an “alternative heroine” by “subtly manipulating the meanings of va...
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In the following essay, Landry compares the careers of Montagu and Alexander Pope. Despite the differences between the two writers, the critic observes, “their lives and writings tell us much a...
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In the essay below, Lew maintains that Montagu's Turkish Embassy Letters are “powerful critiques of both Ottoman and British culture” and anticipate by over two centuries the work...
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In the following excerpt, Lowe compares the Turkish Embassy Letters to the “tradition of letters about traveling in Turkey,” and asserts that “Montagu distinctly sets herself apar...
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In the following essay, Grundy examines Montagu's commentary on fiction—especially the new genre of the novel—throughout her poems, letters, essays, and other writings.
Several...
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In this essay, Desai surveys the biographical background to the writing of the Turkish Embassy Letters, the circumstances of their publication, and the reception they received.
At a gathering, in 1...
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In the essay below, Bohls declares that the Turkish Embassy Letters“are perhaps most valuable for their apparent aspiration, however partial and intermittent, to actual cultural exchangeȁ...
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In this essay, Campbell asserts that in the Turkish Embassy Letters Montagu “attempts to use her experience of cultural disjunctions to construct a voice that can speak of sexual desire and of ...
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In the essay below, Grundy contends that Montagu's unpublished Italian Memoir is “neither an inadequate fragment of autobiography nor a self-deluded venture into the role of romantic her...
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In the essay below, Looser evaluates Montagu's reputation as a progressive and a proto-feminist.
As with many women writers “found” by second-wave feminisms, Lady Mary Wortley ...
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The following excerpt appears as the introduction to a collection of Montagu's work titled Essays and Poems and Simplicity, A Comedy. Grundy, one of the editors of the collection, discusses the...
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In the following excerpt, Grundy discusses the events surrounding the publication of Verses, compares various claims to authorship of the poem, and concludes that it was probably a cooperative effort ...
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In the following excerpt Halsband investigates Montagu's feminism as it is displayed in her writings.
Lady Mary Wortley Montagu is sufficiently well known so that mention of her name need no...
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In the following excerpt, Messenger compares John Gay's version of the eclogue "The Toilette" with Montagu's version which appreared in Six Town Eclogues, and also provides...
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Mary Wortley Montagu
Montagu, Mary Wortley
Mary Wortley Montagu, Lady
Mary Wortley Montague
Critical Essay by Cynthia Lowenthal
