Imperial Eyes: Travel Writing and Transculturation [Paperback]

Mary Louise Pratt (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0415060958 | ISBN-13: 978-0415060950 | Publication Date: February 29, 1992 | Edition: 1

This second edition of a highly acclaimed and interdisciplinary book which quickly established itself as a seminal text in its field investigates the way in which travel writing has constructed an image of the world beyond Europe for European readerships. Focusing on writing about South America and Africa in relation to the political and economic expansion of Europe, this long-awaited second edition of "Imperial Eyes": is updated throughout, including a new preface, an updated introduction and a postscript reflecting critically on the category of the 'postcolonial' and how it has changed since the first edition was published in 1992. It contains new material, which reads well-known Latin American texts through the concept of neocoloniality and continues to discuss more general questions of the postcolonial in relation to the Americas and new ways of expressing late twentieth-century experiences of migration and displacement. It contains new illustrations of relevant documents and artefacts discussed within the text.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Mary Louise Pratt is Professor of Spanish, Portuguese, and Comparative Literature at Stanford University.

Product Details

• Paperback: 272 pages
• Publisher: Routledge; 1 edition (February 29, 1992)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0415060958
• ISBN-13: 978-0415060950
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6.1 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #204,655 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

13 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Seminal book in the field, April 6, 2004

By 

Shannon H Vance (Bristol, TN USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Imperial Eyes: Travel Writing and Transculturation (Paperback)

While I understand this book presents a challenge to the reader, it is a seminal book in several fields: Mary Louise Pratt's prose is clear for a literary theorist and her vocabulary/jargon is appropriate to the subject. _Imperial Eyes_ takes the reader through several stages of European travel writing, and the effects these works have upon European representations and constructions of the "other." Pratt's strongest arguments deal with Mary Kingsley and Africa, in my personal opinion, but her work on Linneaus is important and relevant to history and to identity studies as well. As a professor, I would assign this book to an upper-division undergraduate course, and would expect students to have the ability to grapple with her argument and her prose. I recommend this book to anyone who wants to have a better understanding of the formation of modern European identity, the ideological underpinnings of colonialism, and the construction of the "other."

1 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Fantastic book, May 4, 2006

By 

John (New York City, NY) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Imperial Eyes: Travel Writing and Transculturation (Paperback)

Vituperative, scathing truths about the world they don't teach you in high school make this an excellent book for anyone who likes to uncover the scandal beneath social, economic, and political realities formed in history. Pratt's poignant and stinging language drives home every point in a very sophistocated and flowing discourse. If you haven't taken a college course in Sociology, Africana, or Latin American Studies or similar, this language may be new to you but Pratt makes it as easy as watching an on-the-edge-of-your-seat sports match.

23 of 56 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Refreshing perspective, but obscurity overpowers message, March 12, 2000

By 

Julie M. Warner - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Imperial Eyes: Travel Writing and Transculturation (Paperback)

Mary Louise Pratt has a lot of fresh and important things to say, but her writing style makes this book tough to read. I consider myself a good reader, I can usually pick out main ideas and meanings quite easily, but I found this book really frustratingly hard to read! Pratt flip-flops between a readable, clear style and one in which she employs almost indeciperable sentences. I think her message is really important and structurally, "Imperial Eyes" is smartly organized, but it takes a lot of patience and re-reading to understand it.