Richard Francis Burton

Sir Richard Francis Burton (March 19, 1821 – October 19, 1890), British consul, explorer, translator, writer and Orientalist known for his often-unprecedented exploits of travel and exploration as well as his extraordinary knowledge of languages and cultures.

Diplomatic service and scholarship

In 1861, he formally entered the foreign service as consul at Fernando Po, the modern island of Bioko in Equatorial Guinea, and later served in Santos, Damascus, and Trieste. He wrote books on all these locations. His sojourn in Santos led to a book on Brazilian highlanders, whereas his service in Damascus resulted in Unexplored Syria (1872). Consulate at Damascus would have seemed an ideal post, except that his quarrelsome nature led to a transfer to Trieste. At first bitterly disappointed with this appointment to the sedate Austrian territory, Burton came to enjoy the city and spent there the last 18 years of his life.

Related Topics:
1861 - Equatorial Guinea - Santos - Damascus - Trieste

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His numerous books of this period are filled with facts and sardonic asides aimed at his enemies, but had little popular success. As the Britannica put it, "Burton had not the charm of style or imagination which gives immortality to a book of travel."

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In 1863 Burton co-founded the Anthropological Society of London with Dr. James Hunt.

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In Burton's own words, the main aim of the society (through the publication of the periodical Anthropologia) was "to supply travellers with an organ that would rescue their observations from the outer darkness of manuscript and print their curious information on social and sexual matters". On February 5, 1886 he was knighted a KCMG by Queen Victoria.

Related Topics:
February 5 - 1886 - KCMG - Queen Victoria

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By far the most celebrated of all his books is his translation of the Arabian Nights, published under his title of The Thousand Nights and a Night in 16 volumes, (1885-1888).

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As a monument to his Arabic learning and his encyclopaedic knowledge of Eastern life this translation was his greatest achievement. His scholarship and translation have been criticized, but the work reveals a profound acquaintance with the vocabulary and customs of the Muslims, not only the classical idiom but the vulgar slang, not only their philosophy, but their secret sexual lives as well. Burton's "anthropological notes", both earlier in India, and in the Arabian Nights, were considered pornography at the time they were published.

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His translation of The Perfumed Garden was burned by his widow, Isabel Arundel Gordon, because she believed it would be harmful to his reputation.

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Other works of note included the first lengthy English-language discourse on Sotadic zone and homosexuality; a collection of Hindu tales, Vikram and the Vampire (1870); and his uncompleted history of swordsmanship, The Book of the Sword (1884). He also translated The Lusiads, the Portuguese national epic by Luis de Camoens, in 1880 and wrote a sympathetic biography of the poet and adventurer the next year. The book The Jew, the Gipsy and el Islam, published in 1898, contains a compendium of anti-Semitic myths.

Related Topics:
Sotadic zone - Homosexuality - Swordsmanship - Portuguese - Luis de Camoens - 1880 - Biography - 1898 - Anti-Semitic

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His widow wrote a biography of her husband which is the record of a lifetime of devotion. Another monument is the grandiose Arab tent of stone and marble which she built for his tomb at Mortlake in southwest London. On the other hand, she burnt his 40-year collection of diaries and journals, fearful that public revelation of Burton's lifelong interest in bizarre sexual practices would lead to vicious rumours about his personal inclinations. In the words of the 1997 Britannca, "the loss to history and anthropology was monumental; the loss to Burton's biographers, irreparable".

Related Topics:
Tomb - Mortlake - London

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