Troyanov, Iliya. Collector of Worlds: a Novel of Sir Richard Francis Burton. Translated by William Hobson. Ecco, 2010.
Reason read: Sir Richard Burton died in October. Read in his memory.
The fictional account of Sir Richard Francis Burton reads like a cinematic masterpiece. Burton’s personality comes alive. He was obsessed with disguises and liked to pose as a Muslim. One of his aliases was Mirza Abdullah from Persia. Against all odds, to survive Burton needed to blend in as a native. He was described a difficult and mysterious yet brilliant. He was a master of various languages. His concubine, Kundalini, wanted to marry him. She told him stories during sex. Troyanov takes three of Burton’s best known periods of life: as a British officer in India, Burton’s pilgrimage to Mecca, and everyone’s favorite game – where does the Nile originate? By fictionalizing Burton’s life Troyanov was able to make sweeping statements about nineteenth century culture in colonized countries. The varying literary writing styles help to separate Burton’s adventures.
Quote I loved, “She left behind a smile as small as the folded-down corner of a page in a book” (p 57). Here is another that, strangely enough, reminds me of my childhood, “Richard Francis Burton died early in the morning before you could tell a black thread from a white” (p 444). Here’s the weird parallel – when I was really young my sister had a poster of two horses, one white and one black. We would sleep together on Christmas Eve and were not allowed to get up on Christmas morning until we could see both horses distinctly.
Author fact: There are a few ways to spell Troyanov’s name. For LibraryThing, I have substituted a J where there is a Y. I am reading three of his books for the Challenge.
Book trivia: not all the foreign words are included in the glossary. I couldn’t find abbasids, bubukhanna, bazzaz, kaaba, or devadusi.
Music: “For He’s a Jolly Good Fellow.”
BookLust Twist: from Book Lust To Go in the chapter called “Star Trekkers” (p 221).
~*LunaSea*~ 