摘要
This article explains how modern European travelers, particularly European women adventurers, described East Asia. Travel writings that are expected to be truthful are not free from travelers＇ own personal, cultural, social, and political experiences and perceptions. At the turn of the 19th century, Europe was dominated by colonial discourse based on Western-centered textualized or imaginary knowledge of ＂the Orient＇＇1. The imaginary texts affected European travelers. In turn, their travel writings helped substantiate and reinforce the texts. European women travelers, who were in a relatively disadvantageous situation at home, enjoyed going beyond the sexual boundaries imposed on them at home by using their assumed racial superiority in the Orient. However, their marginal position in Western society helped them ponder their own understanding of other peoples and cultures, of themselves, and of their home societies. This article traces not only the surface discourse of travelogues on East Asia, particularly on Korea, but also travel writers＇ inner worlds, focusing on differences between men and women.
