Gertrude Bell et ses récits de voyage en Syrie (1907) et en Mésopotamie (1911) : Un orientalisme ambivalent au début du xxe siècle

This article focuses on two pieces of travel narratives – in Syria and in Mesopotamia – by Gertrude Lowthian Bell, which date back to the first decade of 20th century. While giving visibility to women writers and their trajectories, we attempt to understand the elements which reject an orientalist discourse, following Edward Saïd’s definition of this term. Given that The Desert and the Sown and Amurath to Amurath were written at the height of the British Empire, this study does not aim to deny the imperialist aspects within these works; rather, it highlights the originality and the complexity of these texts, full of uncertainties and contradictions.