Veiled Transgression and Subversion: Dinah Maria Mulock Craik and Greek Female Translatorship in the 1800s

• Published in: Nineteenth-Century gender studies 2022-07, Vol.18 (2)
• Main Author: Misiou, Vasiliki
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: 19th century; Christianity; Consciousness; Cultural heritage; Education; Greek language; Interpreters; Society; Translations; Women
• ISSN: 1556-7524

Craik was so confident in her role as a cultural agent and active citizen that she wanted other women to follow the path she had decided to lead herself. [...]it comes as no surprise that she kept stressing the significance of financial independence to a woman’s life: “To be able to earn money, or, failing that, to know how to keep it, and to use it wisely and well, is one of the greatest blessings that can happen to any woman” (26–27). To this end, she encouraged the creation of a community of female readers, calling them to “explore the power of female relationships stemming from shared goals and faith” (Stenson Newnum 310). [...]a woman’s entrance into the world of letters, a traditionally male-dominated world, was not met with approval by all. [...]Craik did not denounce all of society’s ideals, despite leading “a much more unconventional existence than many of her female contemporaries” (Foster 41) and despite pointing to a life women could live without losing themselves “in the exquisite absorption of home” (63). Within this context, Rhigas Velestinlis, one of the fathers of the Greek War of Independence, and Adamantios Koraes, an eminent and hugely influential humanist scholar, addressed and pointed to the negative impact of discrimination and structural inequalities against women in society.