Salme, the daughter of the Sultan of Oman and Zanzibar and a Circassian slave, secretly left Zanzibar in 1866 to marry the Hamburg merchant Heinrich Ruete, following him to his homeland. When her memoirs were published in 1886, they attracted significant attention and were quickly translated into several languages. Salme recounts the exotic and turbulent daily life in the Sultan's palace and harem, detailing the intrigues within the palace and their implications for the Sultanate amid the aggressive colonial policies of Bismarck and England. No contemporary colonial archive or documentation could illuminate the conditions and events that Emily Ruete, born Salme, a princess of Oman and Zanzibar, reveals to the reader. Estranged from her family during her lifetime, Emily Ruete is now commemorated in a room dedicated to her at the Palace Museum in Zanzibar, while she rests in Ohlsdorf Cemetery in Hamburg. These poignant memoirs convey her enduring sense of rootlessness and longing for her homeland until her death.
Emily Ruete Livres
30 août 1844 – 29 février 1924
Emily Ruete, née Princesse Sayyida Salme de Zanzibar et d'Oman, est célébrée comme une auteure qui a exploré les intersections culturelles et la liberté personnelle. Son écriture offre une perspective aiguë sur la collision entre le monde islamique traditionnel et une Europe en voie de modernisation. À travers ses œuvres littéraires, elle offre un aperçu unique de la vie d'une femme qui a osé transcender les attentes sociales de son époque. Ses textes constituent un témoignage précieux de la recherche d'identité et d'indépendance dans un monde complexe.
