Customer Reviews

A Rage to Live: A Biography of Richard and Isabel Burton

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(9)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Mary Lovell's book about the life of Richard and Isabel Burton is a rather hefty tome which brings an interesting aspect to the fascinating life of one of the most interesting characters of the 19th Century - Captain, Sir Richard Francis Burton. Namely the interaction between Richard and his "adoring" wife, Isabel, which previous biographers have overlooked, or only mentioned in passing. According to Ms. Lovell, she managed to uncover new aspects of Richard's and Isabel's life together from previously unknown manuscripts and journals long thought destroyed. The result is a complete and thorough rendering of his life and Isabel's influence on it during their marriage and even beyond. One cannot help but admire Richard Burton, his accomplishments - he spoke 29 languages and 12 dialects fluently - his literary, scientific, ethnological, geographical, and sexual observations of those societies he happened to come into contact with. Ms. Lovell does an admirable job with a mountain of research, prodigious footnotes and exhaustive quotations. She weaves a excellent story of this enigmatic character and the woman who ministered to him till his death in 1890. My only frustration with the book came with all of the myriad quotations interspersed throughout the story. I found these oftentimes lengthy extracts interfering with the flow of the narrative. For someone not familar with the Burton's, a better introduction would be Fawn Brodie's, "The Devil Drives." It is a much easier read, although not as complete as Ms. Lovell's well constructed publication. Aloha!

I have very much enjoyed Lovell's previous biographys (on Jane Digby and on the Mitford family) firstly because she goes all out to uncover new material, secondly because of her meticulous detailing of all sources - especially when going against the traditional view of previous writers, and lastly because I think she makes her subjects real and therefore an incredibly good read. She certainly does that with the Burtons - necessarily so because both Isabel and Richard Burton led full and active lives (it seems almost to be underselling the incredibly contributions they made to Victorian society) and the 700 odd pages which Lovell uses to talk about them barely seems enough.

Having read the other reader reviews on this book I was struck by one person opining that there wasn't enough discussion on Burton's books in here. I would say that there is enough. This is a biography and it covers an awful lot of ground. Each of Burton's books was about his travel, and each trip is minutely detailed in which Lovell uses not just his books, but his notes, his letters, and other sources to track not just his trips, but the dynamics of his relationships with others. I also think it is fair to say that Lovell has talked about the impact his books made on society - certainly many of his books are still in print and in some cases are still used as text books in modern Eastern study as they are still considered relevant.

Both the Burton's come alive under Lovell's pen. Isabel's intense love for Burton - and his for her. Lovell is careful in discussing each of Burton's controversies in life such as his falling out with Speke, and his inability to seem to get on with other men (Rigby, Playfair, the Ambassador while as Consul in Damascus and so on). Again these petty political battles are carefully detailed and the entire growth of each situation shown. Lovell demonstrates how many of Burton's strengths were also his greatest failings. He had a huge intellect, great intellegence but little patience and diplomacy to follow his calling in the Foreign Office. His energy was generally spent on his exploring in which he was ably supported and often accompanied by his wife, Isabel. Certainly with as many enemies as Burton managed to make, coupled with his ironic sense of humour he managed to leave behind a mythology of a rather horrid nature what he did and didn't do. He was fond of telling self-deprecating stories to people - at the expense of his reputation. Lovell has sifted through these rumours and misinformation to find the real man and his exploits underneath. These are no less amazing only less voilent.

Burton was a scholar and a linguist of some note. While in India he learnt a number of the major dialects and would have been officially noted as the foremost scholar in the field had not professional jealousies prevented him from being credited with his last language exams. Certainly he passed top in his class in each of his exams. He opened up inner Africa for future European explorers making it possible for them to confirm the source of the Nile, he also was the first European to make the Haj as a disguised as a muslim - and these are just a few of the explorations he undertook.

I think Isabel comes off a lot better under Lovell's pen than I have read about her before. She has also suffered a great deal of bad press in the past - again her own deeds are obfuscated by rumour and dislike. She was not the most likeable woman in the world, but in conclusion I did feel she was the only woman who could have matched Burton, especially in that stultifying conventional world which Victorian England limited their women to inhabiting.

I really enjoyed this book. It was a long read - hard to do with a young baby handing around - but each chapter was almost like a new story. Lovell was excellent in tying each chapter in the Burton's life together into a fresh story - a fresh outlook on the Burton's altogether a satisfying read.

I want to give this book 4 stars, I truly do. Having read Lovell's truly stunning biography of Beryl Markham, I looked forward to this one. While the Markham biography, Straight on Till Morning is fresh, fascinating and fast-moving, this dual biography was in desperate need of an editor courageous enough to tell the writer half the text needed to go.

Having said that, however, I want immediately to add that once I got past the first few chapters, I DID get caught up on the utterly fabulous tale of Richard Burton's amazing life. Quite simply, there is no one in our world with whom to compare him. The redeeming value of Lovell's far too detailed description of his life is that -- at the end of the book -- you feel as if you have travelled with him.

Isabel is amazing in so many ways, but unfortunately, while Lovell goes to lengths extraordinaire to exclaim about Richard, she fails to point out just how truly remarkable and ahead of her time was Isabel.

The author is clearly enamored of the two of them and goes to great lengths to try to de-bunk the conclusions of other Burton scholars. Unfortunately, after a while her defenses become tiresome. Enough already. Enough and more than enough writing.

This is yet another example of what happens when the publishing world decides that editors are redundant. Had this mss been given the editing it deserved it could have been one of the great biographies of the past 10 years.

A Rage to Live by Mary Lovell is an outstanding biography of both Sir Richard and the Lady Burton. Burton is about the only person that I have bothered to read multiple biograhies of. He was so complex and his life was just THAT interesting! There are a few other treatments of Sir Richard still in print, and Lovell takes these into account in her own telling. A great deal of data are available for the first time in this book, and the author uses this information adroitly to clear up long-standing misconceptions (and outright slanders) of both Burtons.

Lovell provides a good bit of compelling discussion about the conflict between Burton and John Hanning Speke over the source of the Nile. It has been common for Burton biographers to over-simplify the nature of the disagreement: Burton thought the Nile originated in Lake Tanganyika, Speke argued for Victoria Nyanza. Not so! Speke only really WANTED the source of the Nile to be Victoria (the lake, not the queen), whereas Burton, a Man of Science, argued that the observations at hand were insufficient to decide one way or the other. With the available information, Burton understood that Tanganyika or some as yet unknown spring could still have been the head of the Nile. Lovell explains well the behind-the-scenes wrangling at the Royal Geographical Society by Burton's detractors to back Speke as much out of spite as any other reason.

What really compelled me to read A Rage to Live -- besides what might best be called an obsession of the man -- was my desire to learn more about the Lady Burton, Isabel. She was an independent and interesting person herself, but she has been abused at the hands of other Burton biographers. To them, Isabel was an over-zealous Catholic, the schemer ready to use her influence and Richard's name for her own advancement, and the arsonist of Burton's papers and manuscript of the Scented Garden. Lovell makes the case that this is hogwash, the previous biographers have given too much credit to the bigoted opinions of Richard's spinster niece. Among the new information provided by Lovell's research is the fact that Richard was instructing Isabel what to write on his behalf. She was very much his partner in all aspects of their life together, and Lovell's story does provide some justice for the Lady Burton. Most significantly, Lovell demonstrates that Isabel burned at Trieste what Richard had instructed her to burn, and that many important papers did indeed survive.

A Rage to Live is an enormous volume, more than 900 pages -- my train ride to and from work has been considerably lightened since I finished reading the book. It has the best maps of the recent Burton biographies, but the fewest illustrations. Sources are well documented. Previous reviewers have commented upon the state of the editing of this book; they make some good points. But speaking (NOT speke-ing) as someone who has tried to read everything that they can find by and about Sir Richard Francis Burton, Lovell's A Rage to Live is the best single source on the subject.

Author Lovell clearly wants to refurbish Isabel Burton's image, and she has done so. In doing so, Lovell does not appear to have let the desire to attain that goal outrun the evidence at hand. Indeed, Lovell provides the reader with a considerable body of previously unknown and/or unused material which supports her contention that Isabel Burton---long branded as some sort of religion-filled and -frenzied lunatic---was of a piece with many other Victorian women who actually helped their husband's careers immeasurably. (Consider, for example, Elizabeth Custer, wife of George Armstrong Custer.) This book is not the end-all-be-all for those interested in Richard Burton, however, for there is actually very little in the way of detail about his travels and experiences. This makes sense when the narrative hits areas Burton himself purposely left blank (his Indian years, forinstance). But this approach makes for problems in areas Burton purposely highlighted. I enjoyed the book as a book, and found Lovell a stylish writer who alerts her readers to her own biases (always welcome in a historian). But for those who have read about Burton before this could---stress on "could"---be an oddly unsatisfying piece of work. For those who come to the subject fresh, or wish to round out their understandings about this intriguing couple (hence the "could" caveat above), this is a wonderful book. It is, after all, not all about Richard (although Richard might've thought so; yet even here, Lovell makes him a good deal more rounded in his sensibilities and sensitivities than many who've earlier given him a go ). The book is about a couple, and within those parameters it is a solid and fascinating volume.

This book should be read by all biographers as a warning as to what happens when an author becomes to close to their subject. Richard Burton is a fascinating man and his exploits in India, Africa, South America, and the Middle East are truly epic in some cases. His wife Isabel loved her husband, there can be no doubt. But author Lovell blunts every criticism lodged against the couple, and portays those who critize them as petty and vindictive.

For example, Burton travels through Africa with a fellow Englishman, Speke. Both men are terribly ill throughout this trek which seems to be comprised of these two being dragged through the interior of Africa by their porters. Speke regains his health somewhat to make a side trip which discovers a large lake in the interior of the country. Once they return, Speke tries to take credit for the success of the trip and Burton becomes almost an outcast because of some issues over payment of the porters. While Burton never returns to Africa, Speke makes another journey and discovers Lake Victoria which will be determined as one of the main sources of the Nile. However, Lovell points out that Speke could not prove this at the time. Speke is portrayed almost as a cruel and vindictive man, who rages against Burton for no apparent reason.

Later in his life, Burton works for the Foreign Office and becomes a consul at posts in Africa, Middle East, South America and Europe. He never seems to actually do anything besides use these jobs as a convenient way to pay his bills. He requests an inordinate amount of sick leave and then uses this time to journey to such places as Iceland to check on mining possibilities. Yet the author insist that Burton was unfairly treated by the Foreign Office.

On the subject of Isabel Burton, the author goes to extremes. It seems as if other biographers have been very critical of Isabel and her determination to nag to death everyone she knows for the sake of her husband's job promotions and in addition, she burns a manuscript at the time of his death which she considered pornographic. The author makes every excuse for Isabel and defends her as working on the orders of her husband.

Overall, it seemed like the author became so entranced with both characters that she could not abide to write anything critical of them. Yet it colors all of the information in the book to such a degree that the effect is to make both Richard and Isabel seem petty. Indeed, the whole effect of the book to me is to belitte the efforts the Richard Burton because of the pettiness that both he and his wife seemed to revel in.

Having read all of the modern biographies of Burton, I can honestly say that this is one of the best of the lot. Lovell is lucky to have access to some of Burton's previously unpublished writings. It is a great testament to Burton's multi-dimentional persona that it's possible to read various biographies and come away with the feeling that you've read about totally different people who have all happened to live the same life. Ms. Lovell manages to discover new aspects of both Burton and his wife's personalities which give this particular biography a fresh and new approach to looking at the couple. Of course they still die at the end so if you know the story don't expect any new major revelations. My only complaint is that even at 800 pages much of the first portion of Richard's life is basically just relayed to us. In her introduction Lovell says she cut out a third of her work. Perhaps it would have been a more complete effort if it was split into 2 or 3 volumes. If someone like Hemingway can merit a five volume biography, why not do the same for a person as deserving as Burton?

Revisionist biographies continue to poke through the well turned turf of the nineteenth century like brightly colored weeds. No one can deny their freshness; yet for all their vigor and excitement, they are still weeds. They serve only their own purpose. Mary Lovell writes and researches well. She has created her Richard Burton to evoke our sympathy. It's a shame there's any need for this at all. Larger than life individuals like Richard Burton don't need our sympathy. It's a waste of water on a superbly toughened desert shrub. She believes we want our legends (and he is one) pruned and prettified, ready for admiration or, oddly emulation. What we admire about Burton are the vigor of his intellect, and the physical endurance to satisfy an extraordinary curiosity about the world. He doesn't need softening or explanation. It takes a hard man to push his way into history. That is enough.

While Richard and Isabel Burton were of the Victorian age it cannot be said that they shared it's values. Richard Burton was was one of the most remarkable individuals of all times. A true scholar, a writer, soldier, African explorer and master linguist he is without equal in history. Isabel tirelessly promoted her husbands career and accompanied him on some of his many expeditions. The tales of his travels in search of the source the Nile with Richard Hanning Speke are the stuff of legend. His command of language was so great he was able to enter both Mecca and Medina and while there discuss the finer points of the Koran with those he met. He wrote many tomes and also translated the Kama Sutra and The Arabian Nights and by so doing incurred the displeasure of his Victorian contemporaries. He was greatly interested in sexual matters and studied the sexual habits of many cultures. He abhorred Victorian prudishness and by so doing spent most of his life swimming against the current. This book was amazing and I found it difficult to put down.

Sir Richard F. Burton - adventurer extraordinare. First infidel European into Mecca (that comes out alive), to sight Lake Tanganyika, to so well chronicle the Indian subcontinent, to be instrumental in discovery in source of the Nile, and on and on.

Pity that the rest of us can't as easily polyglot 24+ languages to facilitate such endeavors or first translate the Karma Sutra and Arabian Nights into English as Burton had done.

The emphasis of this work on the relationship between Sir Richard and his wife, Isabel, in no way detracts from all these vivid and historic journeys. Do so admire Burton for his invigorating irreverence of not embracing the political game.

Most inspirational: their perseverance to continue on whilst battling countless illnesses from deepest darkest Africa, the Amazon, and tropical places of the like. Even without a spear impaled into your left cheek and out of your right, you may want to think of that the next time that you are unable to continue and say that you "can't go on" with having a cold or flu. Well done!