Re-Discovering the Travel Narratives of Ella Maillart

Swiss-French writer and adventurer Ella Maillart traveled all over Asia in the 1930s and 1940s before the onslaught of modern tourism. Maillart recounts through her prose and photos the stories that made up these journeys: her travel books offer observations and images of worlds little known to her readers. Maillart's five travel books make a significant contribution to the larger body of women's travel writing and to feminist studies as a whole. Yet outside of Switzerland, Ella Maillart remains virtually unknown to the scholarly world.