Burton: Snow Upon the Desert

by F . J . Mc Lynn (Author)

• Used

  Hardcover
  1993

  $6.73

  Richard Burton was a phenomenon, even by the standards of his time. Master swordsman, fluent in two dozen languages, poet, scholar, soldier, archaeologist and anthropologist, he was also the pioneer explorer of East Africa; he discovered Lake Tanganyika and took part in the notorious search for the source of the Nile and the 'Mountains of the Moon'. He travelled extensively in West Africa, the Americas, India, Europe and the Middle East. A translator of immense talent, he produced. English versions of Camoens' Lusiads, the Kama Sutra, and, most famously, The Arabian Nights. As a sexologist he anticipated Freud and Havelock Ellis. In this biography, Frank McLynn draws on material from a wealth of untapped sources. He offers a challenging and original psychological portrait of the public and private Burton, the latter tortured, divided and deeply ambivalent. Not neglected either is Burton's formidable and controversial wife Isabel. The result is a disturbing but compelling portrait of a man many claim to have been the greatest of all the 'Eminent Victorians'.

• Used

  Hardcover
  1990

  $3.25

  A centennial biography which draws on new material from untapped manuscript sources in order to clarify events in Richard Burton's life hitherto hardly dealt with. The author offers a challenging and original psychological portrait of this poet, scholar, soldier, archaeologist and explorer. Richard Burton discovered Lake Tanganyika and took part in the notorious search for the source of the Nile. He risked death visiting the sacred place of Mecca, disguised as a Muslim, and again penetrating the forbidden city of Harar. He travelled extensively in North and South America, India, Europe and the Middle East. A talented translator, he produced English versions of Camoens's Lusiads , the Kama Sutra and, most famously, The Arabian Nights . However, if the public man had to his credit so many resounding achievements, the private man was tortured, divided, and deeply ambivalent. Politically reactionary and a hater of women, blacks, sociologists, egalitarians, Jews and the Irish, Burton was a mass of contradictions. Frank McLynn is a biographer and historian and has also published Charles Edward Stuart: A Tragedy in Many Acts and Stanley: The Making of an African Explorer .