ABSTRACT
Maria Graham’s Journal of a Residence in India (1812) was considered by some to be the definitive work on ‘English society in India’ until the early 1830s, despite many other personal narratives by male and female travellers appearing in the intervening years. Graham’s awareness of the literary marketplace, intelligent positioning of her work, ability to present herself as a credible narrator and careful observations of Anglo-India made a lasting impression on her readers and on British understanding of India. This chapter examines Graham’s careful construction of her narrative persona, her portrayals of Anglo-Indian women, and her characterisation of Indian people, including women in a zenana, and how these representations possibly affected the author’s legacy, the behaviour of future British visitors to India and British perceptions of India and its people.
