Maillart's prose not only qualifies her as one of the premier travel writers of the 20th century, but has also helped to move the genre of women's travel writing into well-deserved critical focus.Įlla Maillart's multiple expeditions and wanderings may indeed represent an effort to compensate for an early childhood plagued by illnesses. She consistently brings women's lives-both her own and those she meets in her travels-to the forefront. Through her texts, the author, photographer, and journalist exposes the reader to far-off people and places. There is perhaps no better way to trace the experiences of a career that spans nearly eight decades than to sift through the photographs, reflections, and observations that compose Maillart's narratives.
Turkestan Solo: One Woman's Expedition from the Tien Shan to the Kizil Kum (Des Montes Celestes aux Sables Rouges ,1938), Forbidden Journey: From Peking to Kashmir (Oasis Interdites, 1937), Gypsy Afloat (1942), Cruises and Caravans (1942), The Cruel Way (1947), Ti-Puss (1951), Land of the Sherpas (1955).Īt once intrepid and introspective, Ella Maillart chronicles her life and adventures through the pages of her varied travelogues. Learned to sail on Lake Geneva as a child left high school at 17 (1920) began university preparatory curriculum but did not finish captained and organized first Swiss women's field hockey team represented Switzerland in single-handed yacht competition in Paris Olympics (1924), the only woman among 17 entrants sailed to Crete with an all-woman crew (1925) traveled to Berlin and later Moscow (1930) to study filmmaking became a four-year member of international Swiss ski team, trekking to then-Soviet Caucuses, then-Soviet Central Asia, Peking, Tibet, Afghanistan, and India in 1930s, 1940s. Born Ella Katherine Maillart in 1903 in Geneva, Switzerland died at age 94 in her mountain chalet in Chandolin, Switzerland, on Madaughter of middle-class parents, her father was a fur-trader never married no children spent the winter months in Geneva, summer months in the Alpine village of Chandolin. Swiss-French writer, perhaps one of the last great 20th-century travelers to explore Asia before the onslaught of modern tourism, whose many travel narratives introduced Western readers to new, challenging perspectives on previously unexplored cultures.
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