First, nice to see the board up and congratulations on your marriage!

I am long time admirer of Burton and have been fascinated with his life and works, but it is not an interest everyone understands. While Burton was undeniably a product of his age I have argued that his immense curiosity, desire to find out the truth about other peoples and not accept the reports of others and willingness to meet them on their own terms are qualities that are still valuable today. I'm curious to hear the thoughts of any other Burton fans out there. Thanks.

Dear Dietrich:
Burton was one of the first Europeans to see other cultures in the own light. He also pointed out the inconsistancies in his own society. This made him an outcast in Victorian England.

The western world today looks to the non western world in a different light. Western society seeks only that what is "good" in "native" societies and uses these things to cast a poor light on its own world. This is a self hatred.

Burton didn't do this. He showed it all. The warts of the Western World and the warts of the non western world. He was not politicaly correct. Being non PC Burton left alot of information that is still of value today. In particular his writings on female genital multilation.


Howard Wallace

Wisdom is timeless. And, hopefully, always relevant. Sir Richard was wisdom's helper by conveying a large portion in the form of a book, 'The Kasidah', to us in the present.

I find myself amused by the fact that in Burton's time he was castigated by most of his British peers as perhaps being a little to chummy with the "natives", whereas in these "enlightened" times, he is sometimes branded a racist. His intolerance was for ignorance and snobbery, even though he had his own version of the latter!
--Alan Q

It seems that Burton just won't fit into any era's neat definition! Burton could be a snob, but was that the reaction of a truly knowledgeable man whose accomplishments came through effort to the success of the ignorant and of bootlickers around him?

Alan Q makes an interesting point. Burton steeped himself in the culture of each place he visited - "turned native" as they used to say. He did not necessarily admire the culture, far from it indeed, but he took infinite pains to get it right. Today, by comparison, it is so much easier to examine other cultures, yet we are just about as ignorant as were the Victorians, with far less excuse - at the same time we make ludicrous politically correct statements which Burton would have scorned. Just one example would be that intelligence does not vary statistically with race - Burton knew this wasn't so, yet it is proclaimed as dogma today. A proper question is "why should you imagine that intelligence would not vary statistically with race, since it so obviously varies between individuals?"

Returning to the issue of cultural understanding, look at the invasion forces now in Iraq to see a total cultural divide, with the conquerors cowering in their enclaves to avoid taking casualties from a population whose culture is as unfathomable to them today as it was a year ago. I can imagine Burton's response, were he still with us.

Burton both applauded and criticized just about every race as he saw it, and he did his homework. Was he biassed? Who is not?

Some thought provoking ruminations in this group. We may all be creatures of our own times, but we can also rise above it all. Some may always be above it, i.e. in the sense of how they see the world, while seeking to understand and interpret what is around them. The luckier ones amongst us may gain extraordinary insights to enhance a personal world view. In the midst of all the mundanities of life and the need to fit in some remain outside of it all. So it goes each generation. So someone like Burton wouldn't fit in anywhere, anytime -- I recall the comment that he was really an Elizabethan in Victorian times. Would he, if here now, also be an Elizabethan in the new Elizabethan times? I've read the biographies (all except Richards)and much more. His character is a kaleidoscope -- as it turns in time and space we see things differently and always something new.

If we fully understood him would we lose interest? I think this gets to the root of why he appeals to so many people. I have sought to understand more of his many and varied interests, and that takes one into a maze of literary digging on tangled paths seemingly without end. I have virtually a whole library of materials relating to subjects covering areas of Burton's interests -- and I'm only trying to skim the surface in most cases. But it is also a personal voyage of discovery.

One of my personal fascinations (now I'm really digressing)is looking at the multifarious ways one can enter into Burton's world. Here's a thesis topic on its own!! I originally came across him nearly 40 years ago through an interest in African birds (cf. Serinus burtoni). Then I connected with him again through the BBC series, but it wasn't until I was travelling across North Africa that my spark of Burtonian enthusiasm was ignited. I found a copy of Moorehead's 'The White Nile' and read his marvellous prose. Then I was hooked. Yet writing this message is unusual because for virtually the whole of my time of interest studying and collecting material on Burton, it has been a private pursuit (this is a bit like coming out of a closet). Discussions about Burton for me have normally been confined to book dealers and people who don't understand me.

I only came across this site today using a new broadband connection and Google. While I've used the internet for about five years, all previous searches for RFB have only led me to book dealers (except the site for the tomb). I used to wonder why there were no such sites as this. Suddenly, after a little toying around, all my questions were answered. Anyhow, enough said, but nice to read some of the views etc. here and on the sites I found.

I agree, Burton's is one of those characters that would never "fit in" to any society - he'd see the blatant hypocrisy that is endemic in all ruling classes; he'd denounce it and he'd be ostracised. None of this suggests that Burton was personally immune to hypocrisy, of course; but faults are so much easier to forgive in one's self, than in others, don't you find? He was a wonderful free spirit but he was also crippled by his own deep cynicism - and that crippling was quite inevitable. Elsewhere here, I've already ruminated as to what possible fulfilling occupation could be available to a man like Burton - in any era. I concluded it would be a very liberally interpreted professorship in a prestigious university with NO administrative responsibilities!

I doubt if the bureaucratic restraints of any university, even if Burton had a 'carte blanche' agenda, would contain him. He would need to be a man of independent means, as were many of his contemporaries. I think much of his cynicism and hypocrisy was a consequence of his financial limitations and what he had to do to achieve any of his objectives. His quest for some measure of financial independence, such as his obsession to find riches through gold, underpinned so much of what he tried to do. The roots of his understandable cynicism would seem to go back to his experiences in India (although evident earlier), not to mention the hypocrisy he confronted all too frequently. We all know his famous response when he finally made money from his Arabian Nights work. It is a pity it came too late for him to use it more effectively. One wonders what he may have accomplished if he had been allowed to retire and had been able to have a few more years of travel and writing available to exploit his improved position.

His cynicism was also apparent in the insights he gained from understanding different cultures well beyond that of most of his peers. Imagine if his warnings prior to the Indian Mutiny had been heeded? If he was crippled by his own cynicism, then it was compounded by the bureaucratic structures that limited him, both in the army and in government employ (the worst of all bureaucracies). Of course this only got worse as time passed and his enemies became more influential. Arguably he was also his own worst enemy by allowing rumours about himself to continue, to enjoy being outspoken and notorious, yet not always see how his delight in shocking people worked to his own detriment all too often. How much of this was just lashing out at a world that did not understand him and/or was fearful of his potential to be right in the face of opposition? Such seemingly powerful people are always a threat to lesser mortals who will seek to constrain them if they can. It has always been thus.

The wonder is that he achieved as much as he did. Yet we know there is much more to the man. The recent Lovell biography gave valuable insights on him through his relationship with his wife and clarifies much of the negativity thrust at her by previous writers. I agree it is always easier to find faults in others.

I don't know, I have a friend who's a professor (UK) and pretty bright in his field and who has made such a mark that he can practically do anything he wants. In his case he's not cut out to be an administrator so the college hires somebody to do that and my friend does his research, travels and writes his books and the college gets the kudos. He keeps out of the politics (which I agree can be simply bitchy) but, look, Burton would have loved tinkering with that and bending lesser minds out of shape. He needed a secure platform from which to operate and I think this sort of thing would have been ideal - whatever money he received, he'd have spent anyway but it ought to have been enough to support his travel and a decent lifestyle.

It's true some enlightened universities take on a few fortunate academics who can be left to pursue their own agendas unhindered by the boring administrative side of things. They are indeed privileged persons and perhaps Burton could have featured amongst such a group. Such a platform with institutional support could indeed have served him well. Perhaps I was being too cynical about the matter. The mind bending possibilities would have been fascinating. Considering how much Burton achieved anyhow, particularly by the way he exploited his position in Trieste, certainly indicates an extraordinary potential if his position was more secure financially and in other ways.

He'd probably be off his face in a brothel doing 'research'.