Stedman and Women
According to the editorial introduction to the Narrative, Stedman "larded his autobiographical sketch with amorous adventures." For example, as a young man in England, Stedman had concurrent affairs with his landlord's wife and her maid until the landlady became jealous and evicted both Stedman and the maid simultaneously. Frequent encounters with slave women began on the night he arrived in Surinam and continued throughout his journey. Stedman noted many encounters in his diary, though never in explicit detail.
Unsurprisingly, the personal journal that Stedman kept (and the sexual encounters mentioned therein) varies quite a bit from his published Narrative. The image-conscious Stedman, with a wife and children in England, wanted to cultivate the impression of a gentleman rather than the philanderer he might be considered on the basis of his diary. Stedman's Narrative removes the depersonalized sex with slave women and replaces it with more detail regarding his romantic relationship with Joanna.
Read more about this topic: John Gabriel Stedman
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