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Title: A Rage to Live: A Biography of Richard and Isabel Burton by Mary S. Lovell ISBN: 0-393-32039-1 Publisher: W.W. Norton & Company Pub. Date: August, 2000 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $19.95 |
Average Customer Rating: 4.07 (15 reviews)
Rating: 3
Summary: A Rage to Write
Comment: 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.
Rating: 4
Summary: A Rage To Live
Comment: Although this is a highly detailed chronology of Burton's life and writings, it can hardly be called a critical biography. There is little real discussion of Burton's writings; each publication is merely mentioned. Over a hundred years after his death, Burton still has an impressive number of works in print, but to get a sense of his style you'll have to read him, not Lovell. One of the main focuses of the book, as the title implies, is to rehabiliatate Isabel's reputation, which fell into tatters shortly after Burton's death when she was accused of burning important papers, and admitted to burning both of the manuscripts of what was his last major work, The Scented Garden, ostensibly because it discussed homosexuality. Although Lovell tries mightily, she fails to improve Isabel's image--to me at least--beyond that of a woman who determined, correctly, that marriage to Burton would faciliate an active and interesting life for her, who was somewhat obsessive about her husband, and who guarded his memory like a junkyard dog. Still, an interesting read, because his was an interesting life.
Rating: 4
Summary: The final word? No. Illuminating? Definitely.
Comment: 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.
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Title: The Devil Drives: A Life of Sir Richard Burton by Fawn McKay Brodie ISBN: 0393301664 Publisher: W.W. Norton & Company Pub. Date: July, 1984 List Price(USD): $12.95 |
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Title: Captain Sir Richard Francis Burton: A Biography by Edward Rice ISBN: 030681028X Publisher: DaCapo Press Pub. Date: 05 June, 2001 List Price(USD): $21.00 |
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Title: Personal Narrative of a Pilgrimage to Al Madinah and Mecca (Volume 1) by Richard Burton ISBN: 0486212173 Publisher: Dover Pubns Pub. Date: 01 June, 1964 List Price(USD): $14.95 |
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Title: The Arabian Nights : Tales from a Thousand and One Nights by A.S. Byatt, Richard Burton ISBN: 0375756752 Publisher: Modern Library Pub. Date: 10 April, 2001 List Price(USD): $12.95 |
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Title: The Sisters: The Saga of the Mitford Family by Mary S. Lovell ISBN: 0393324141 Publisher: W.W. Norton & Company Pub. Date: March, 2003 List Price(USD): $18.95 |
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