front cover of Colonial Memory
Colonial Memory
Contemporary Women’s Travel Writing in Britain and The Netherlands
Sarah De Mul
Amsterdam University Press, 2011

Exploring the intersections of memory, gender, and the postcolonial, Colonial Memory explores the phenomenon of colonial memory through the specific genre of women’s travel writing. Building on criticism of memory and travel writing, Sarah De Mul seeks to open Dutch literature to postcolonial themes and concepts and to insert the history of the Dutch colonies and its critical recollection into the traditionally Anglophone-dominated field of postcolonial studies.

“A vividly conceived and theoretically astute reading of the complicated weavings between the past and present involved in memory work and the process of nostalgic return.”—Elleke Boehmer, University of Oxford
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front cover of The Fateful Journey
The Fateful Journey
The Expedition of Alexine Tinne and Theodor von Heuglin in Sudan (1863-1864)
Robert Joost Willink
Amsterdam University Press, 2012
Bold, headstrong, and fabulously wealthy, Dutch traveller Alexine Tinne (1834–1869) made several excursions into the African interior, often accompanied by her mother, at a time when very few European women traveled. The Fateful Journey follows her trip with German zoologist Theodor von Heuglin, which took them through Egypt and Sudan in search of adventure and unknown regions in Central Africa.. Drawing upon four years of research in the Tinne archives, and including never before published correspondence, photographs, and other documents, Robert Joost Willink presents a compelling account of their journey and its tragic ending. This exciting volume not only sheds light on Tinne’s life and times, it also offers captivating insights into the world of European adventurers in the 19th century.
            An enthralling mix of adventure and careful scholarship, The Fateful Journey creates a powerful portrait of Alexine Tinne throughout her life, from her start as a rich heiress in the Netherlands to her end as the intrepid explorer who risked—and lost—everything on a daring, doomed quest.
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front cover of Perfect Worlds
Perfect Worlds
Utopian Fiction in China and the West
Douwe Fokkema
Amsterdam University Press, 2012
Perfect Worlds is an extensive, comparative study of utopian narratives in both the East and the West. Douwe Fokkema provides an elegant argument about the human impulse to imagine new and better worlds, astutely observing that the utopian imagination thrives in the context of secularization. Fokkema also tracks the rise of dystopian narratives, invoking authors as diverse as Margaret Atwood and Lao She, and provides a cogent evaluation of the role of imagined worlds in both Chinese and Euro-American fiction. A shrewd comparison of cultures, as well as a vivid account of cross-cultural influence, this volume is a welcome addition to the scholarly discourse on utopias.
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