Have I ever told you what the river is like on a hot summer night? At dusk the mist hangs in long white bands over the water; the twilight fades and the lights of the town shine out on either bank, with the river, dark and smooth and full of mysterious reflections, like a road of triumph through the midst. - Gertrude Bell writing of the Euphrates near Baghdad. Gertrude Bell -
daughter of the desert,
Uncrowned Queen of Iraq, Advisor to kings and Ally of Lawrence of Arabia.
Gertrude Bell was a
traveller and mountaineer, recruited by British Intelligence to work in the Middle East during the First World War and, who later worked for the British Government in Baghdad.
Bell's influence on Middle Eastern politics made her the
most powerful woman in the British Empire in the years after World War I. She was a archeologist, writer, translated the poetry of
Hafiz and a
photographer as well. 1909: Letters from Gertrude Bell, dated
May 14 and
May 20. She died early in the morning of July 12th, 1926, 58 years old, from an overdose of sleeping pills--whether accidental or not is not known. She is buried in Baghdad, where her grave is still visited and her memory revered.
Cherchez La Femme
posted by y2karl
on Mar 23, 2003 -
12 comments
