THE INFAMILIAR IN THE GEOCARTOGRAPHIES OF WRITING IN THE DIARIES OF RAHEL VARNHAGEN AND MARIA GRAHAM, TWO WOMEN OF ROMANTICISM

Abstract

Rahel Varnhagen and Maria Graham are two women, one German and one English, whose texts have surpassed their century and still persist today as literature/documents of a time and of a female voice that was rarely heard.  Through their diaries and letters, forms not always considered literature, we will look for the paths of the construction of the subjectivity of these women who tried to place themselves in the male literary world with their writings that largely present aspects of the unfamiliar.  In other words, the diary that is part of the journey of being a woman in the 19th century reveals the mind and the interpretation they make of reality, bringing what is familiar and unfamiliar to them. We will also draw on some current theorists to show the differences between diaries and how they should be read. Travel diaries, field diaries and others, which play an important role in contemporary narrative.