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The place of women in island writing

Early-modern maps, drawings and descriptions of (European) islands were predominantly men’s creations, but in specific cultural roles, women could at least occassionally play a part. Most often, women appeared as artists or patronesses of the arts. As many island-themed works of the early-modern period were, in fact, stage plays or operas, women were mentioned as perfomers. One particularly popular opera of the early 18th century (translated into several languages) was “Arsinoe, Queen of Cyprus”. In some of the English editions of arias from this opera, Letitia Cross and Mrs. Toft are mentioned as female singers:

 

Clayton, Thomas. 1705a. Sleep Ormondo: a song in ye opera of Arsinoe Queen of Cyprus: sung by Mrs Toft. [London].
———. 1705b. To warr, my thoughts, to warr: a song in the opera of Arsinoe. Sung by Mrs Toft. [London].
———. 1705c. Wanton Zephyrs softly blowing: a celebrated verse in the opera of Arsinoe Queen of Ciprus: sung by Mrs Toft. [London].
Clayton, Thomas, und Letitia Cross. 1710. Set by Mr Clayton, Sung by Mrs Cross in Ye Opera of Arsinoe. [London].
Clayton, Thomas. 1710. Sleep Ormondo: a song in ye opera of Arsinoe Queen of Cyprus. Sung by Mrs Toft. London.
But women also acted as printers or booksellers. Upon the deaths of their husbands or fathers, women could continue the family business. Mrs Elizabeth James, widow to “J. James”, for instance, was one of the shop keepers who sold the purported memoirs of Theodor von Neuhoff, the hapless German King of Corsica:
Neuhoff, Theodor von, 1739. A General Account and Description of the Island of Corsica: Including a Genuine Relation of the Late Revolutions There, Occasioned by the Oppressions of the Genoese. With Authentic Memoirs of Baron de Neuhoff, Stiled Theodore I, King of Corsica … To Which Is Prefix’d, a Correct Map of the Whole Island. The second edition. London: Printed for C. Corbett.

Photo by Chris Chow on Unsplash

The third – and perhaps most interesting – role women occupied in relation to island publications was that of the translator. Swedish Lutheran bishop Uno von Troil (1746-1803) wrote several internationally renowned travel reports and letters on Iceland, which were first translated into German. Later English editions were not translated from the original Swedish but based on the earlier German versions. And the Dublin edition of Troil’s letters published in 1780 featured Susanna Dorothy Dixon (née Forster, 1857-1822) as the translator:
Translated from the German version: Briefe welche eine von Herrn Dr. Uno von Troil im Jahr 1772 nach Island angestellte Reise betreffen (from the Swedish, of J. G. P. Möller) by Mrs. Susanna Dorothy (Forster) Dixon.
Susanna was the daughter of banker and antiquary Edward Forster the elder (1730–1812) and the sister of Thomas Furly Forster, Benjamin Meggot Forster, and Edward Forster the Younger (1765–1849). Her three brothers took a keen interest in botany and successfully grew or drew plants. Susanna, for her part, married Anglican clergyman Rev. Francis Dixon, through whom she may have been acquainted with Troil’s circle.
The Gentleman’s Magazine, Volume 92, Part 2 of 1822 reported her death as follows:
Oct. 9. At Walthamstow, aged 65, Susanna Dorothy Dixon, widow of the late Rev. Francis Dixon, B.D. Rector of Bindcombe and Broadway, in Dorsetshire, and formerly Fellow of Benet College, Cambridge, who died 26 July, 1801. She was daughter to Edward Forster, esq. whose death, on the 20th April, 1812, is recorded in vol. LXII. pt. i. p. 398 and 487. DUring the life-time of her husband, she resided in the Vicarage House at Henham, Essex, of which parish he was Curate. To the poor of that village her attention has been ever since continued, and is now perpetuated by a bequest of 100 l. in trust, the interest to be annually distributed about Christmas in bread, &c.
While her charity towards the poor is mentioned, intellectual interests or activities are not recorded. It remains unclear whether the translation of Troil’s letters was her only contribution to publishing.

In recent decades, scholars have tried to uncover the role of women in (scientific) translating of the Enlightenment more generally:

  • Agorni, Mirella “A Marginal(ized) Perspective on Translation History: Women and Translation in the Eighteenth Century”. Meta 50, no. 3 (2005) : 817–830. https://doi.org/10.7202/011598ar
  • Agorni, Mirella, 2002. Translating Italy for the Eighteenth Century: British Women, Translation and Travel Writing. Routledge, Manchester, UK ; Northampton, MA.
  • Kawashima K. Women’s translations of scientific texts in the 18th century: a case study of Marie-Anne Lavoisier. Hist Sci (Tokyo), no. 21.2 (2011): 123-37. PMID: 22606747: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/22606747/
  • Lebert, Marie, 21 December 2020. Some famour women translators of the past. Blog post, https://marielebert.wordpress.com/2017/09/18/translators-women/
  • Pieretti, Marie-Pascale. “Women Writers and Translation in Eighteenth-Century France.” The French Review 75, no. 3 (2002): 474-88. Accessed March 15, 2021. http://www.jstor.org/stable/3132846.
  • van Deinsen, L. and Vanacker, B., 2019. Found through Translation: Female Translators and the Construction of ‘Relational Authority’ in the Eighteenth-Century Dutch Republic. Early Modern Low Countries, 3(1), pp.60–80. DOI: http://doi.org/10.18352/emlc.90
A targeted search for women’s first names in my collected island publications may bring further instances of female knowledge production to light.

Photo by Chris Chow on Unsplash


OpenEdition suggests that you cite this post as follows:
Monika Barget (March 16, 2021). The place of women in island writing. INSULAE. Retrieved November 7, 2025 from https://doi.org/10.58079/qd8v


Monika Barget

Monika Barget is an assistant professor in History at Maastricht University and co-coordinator of the DigiKAR geohumanities project at IEG Mainz. Her research interests include spatial history, digital mapping, political history and media.

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