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The Collector of Worlds: A Novel of Sir Richard Francis Burton Hardcover – Bargain Price, March 24, 2009
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A stunning fictionalized account of the infamous life of British colonial officer and translator Sir Richard Francis Burton
This fictionalized account imagines the life of Sir Richard Francis Burton—a nineteenth-century British colonial officer with a rare ability to assimilate into indigenous cultures. Burton's obsessive traveling took him from England to British India, Arabia, and on a quest for the source of the Nile River in Africa. He learned more than twenty languages, translated The Arabian Nights and the Kama Sutra, and took part in the pilgrimage to Mecca, in addition to writing several travel books.
This elegant, layered novel tells the story of Burton's adventures in British West India, his experience on the hajj to Mecca, and his exploration of East Africa. In each section, perspective shifts between Burton and the voices of those men he encounters along the way: his Indian servant tells the stories of his travails with Burton to a scribe; the qadi, the governor, and the shari in Mecca investigate Burton's hajj; and Sidi Mubarak Bombay, his African guide, shares his story with friends in Zanzibar. The concentric narratives examine the underbelly of colonialism while offering a breathtaking tour of the nineteenth century's most stunning landscapes.
The Collector of Worlds won the fiction prize of Germany's Leipzig Book Fair in 2006 and the Berlin Literary Award, in addition to being a runaway bestseller in Germany.
- Print length464 pages
- LanguageEnglish
- PublisherEcco
- Publication dateMarch 24, 2009
- Dimensions6 x 1.41 x 9 inches
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Editorial Reviews
From Publishers Weekly
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From Booklist
Review
“I was thrilled by this book. One could compare it to Moby-Dick, narrated in a masterly manner. . . . This is a novel that entertains as well as informs, and this is the best that one could say of any book.” (Günter Grass )
“Mesmerizing...the perfect present for wannabe explorers.” (National Geographic Traveler Online )
“A rounded and satisfying portrait that traditional biography could never match…Troyanov’s novel is itself an act of brave exploration, setting out to chart the unknown and unknowable by filling in the blank spaces of Richard Francis Burton.” (New York Times Book Review )
About the Author
Born in Bulgaria, iliya troyanov has lived in Germany, Kenya, India, and South Africa. He has written several novels as well as travelogues on Africa, India, and Bulgaria. His Along the Ganges was included in CondÉ Nast Traveler's list of the best travelogues ever. Troyanov lives in Vienna, Austria.
Product details
- ASIN : B002QGSWQK
- Publisher : Ecco; 1st edition (March 24, 2009)
- Language : English
- Hardcover : 464 pages
- Item Weight : 1.45 pounds
- Dimensions : 6 x 1.41 x 9 inches
- Customer Reviews:
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Troyanov divides the novel into three parts: Burton's exploits in India as a young army captain; his infiltration of Medina and Mecca; and his efforts to find the source of the Nile.
For the first segment, Troynanov relies on the point of view of Naukaram, Burton's servant. Most of this is about Naukaram's efforts to get a letter of recommendation written by a lahiya (a sort of scribe) by telling him of his time with Burton after he had been dismissed for getting into a fight with a chef. As a result we don't learn much about Burton's exploits as a spy. However, we do see him begin to wear Arab clothes and begin to learn several languages.
The second part, Burton's penetration of the Moslem holy cities, mostly deals with various Islamic officials investigating how Burton was able to overcome their defenses. We hear from The Sharif of Mecca among others. They interrogate the innocent pilgrims who accompanied Burton on his Hajj. Most have nothing but good things to say about Burton. Burton assumes the disguise of a Persian doctor and dervisher who likes to drink. This doesn't surprise the pilgrims much. Meanwhile we're introduced to some curious Islamic activities, such as circumambulating anti-clockwise the Kaaba, the supposed Rock of Abraham, seven times along with hundreds of other pilgrims who try to touch it.
The third segment deals with Burton's attempt to find the source of the Nile. Burton sets out, with fellow explorer John Speke, on a caravan led by African guide and former slave, Sidi Mubarek Bombay, to find the two mysterious lakes, one of which Speke names Lake Victoria. Burton is sick with malaria most to the time. As a result, Speke gets the jump on him with the help of Bombay. Bombay likes to tell stories. Unfortunately his wife has heard most of them; their humorous interaction is the highlight of this part of the book.
Troyanov skips over the debate with Speke about the true source of the Nile. He doesn't even cover Speke's suicide (or hunting accident) on the eve of a debate with Burton. Instead we see Burton on his death bed and the priest who administers extreme unction is worried that Burton was not a Christian. Luckily the bishop has a somewhat more magnanimous interpretation of the term.
There is a glossary at the back of the book, but it seemed that every time I looked for a word, it was missing. Personally I think a writer should think twice before he/she choses a historical character as the inspiration for a novel. It almost never works, especially when the author approaches the task from such an oblique angle. The reader would be better off reading Burton's own accounts or THE DEVIL DRIVES by Fawn
Brodie.
until one realizes he was a man of his times: a very uninformed
Jew-hater, too bigoted and lazy to add Hebrew to his impressive
language skills, and too lazy to talk to the many Rabbis
he went out of his way to avoid, lest his received, strange, illogical,
hateful preconceptions be challenged. Its educational to be reminded
that those who many regard as learned, are anything but... in unexpected ways...
Personally I prefer books written in the first person and this one is not.
Overall I enjoyed the book and will reread it again in the near future.
Top reviews from other countries
The first, which takes up about half the book, covers his life as a soldier in India (1842 to 1859). Thoroughly bored by the routine and by the narrow vision of his fellow officers, he first began learning several of India's native languages, and then took pride in his ability to disguise himself as an Indian so as to be able to mingle with them and get closer to understanding their way of life. Initially, when he was stationed in Baroda, he studied the Hindus; but when he was moved to Muslim Sindh, he became particularly fascinated by Islam. The conqueror of Sindh, General Napier, got Burton to use his skills to gather intelligence for him; but Burton thought the General's wish to impose British values on the natives wrong and counter-productive. This made him unreliable in the opinion of the army and would block any promotion. He left India and the Army.
The second part covers his pilgrimage to Mecca in 1853, disguised as Sheikh Abdullah and having made himself so perfectly familiar with the theory and practice of Islam that nobody penetrated his disguise; and the Muslim world was duly shocked when on his return he published an account of this experience. This part of the story gives a vivid account of such a pilgrimage - the dangers of attacks by plunderers, the fulfilment when the goal has been finally reached, but also the sickness and death that was the fate of so many exhausted pilgrims.
The third part covers Burton's expedition of 1857, together with his colleague and rival, John Hanning Speke, to find the source of the Nile. Again the many ordeals of the expedition are well described: the terrible terrain, frightful diseases, tribute to be paid to the chief of every village through which they passed, encounters with brutal Arab slavers.
The narrative alternates, in part 1 with comments of his Hindu servant; in part 2, rather tediously, with the attempts of Ottoman officials to find out, after Burton had published his account of his journey to Mecca, what his purpose might have been: they suspect it was gathering information for Britain's imperialist purposes; and in part 3, with an African guide who recounts to his friends his memories of the expedition, and who is the most interesting of the three. This device enables Troyanov to show Burton as he might have been seen by others, but I found it somewhat distracting, especially as you have to read some of the dialogue between several characters more than once to make sure who is speaking.
Altogether, I was a little disappointed by this book. Burton's personality did not come out as vividly as I think it might have done; the prose is sometimes striking, but at others it goes, I think, a little over the top (the book has been translated from the German by William Hobson); and the three episodes represent only a fraction (though a large one) of Burton's life. After a decent interval, I may return to him again, this time through a proper biography like Fawn Brodie's The Devil Drives.
lost(in translation) but does evoke the period well,and the sense of Burton
on his adventures,Ive been a collector of Burtons books and biographies
and this is a different but intriguing way to read of his exploits








