BOOKS:The Devil Drives

Ten years ago when a friend recommended a biography of Richard Burton, I thought he meant the famous actor. He laughed and handed me Fawn Brodie’s 1984 biography, “The Devil Drives: A Life of Sir Richard Burton.” Wow what a read and I soon discovered a person far more interesting than the Welsh actor. Sir Richard was an extraordinary individual, a 19^th century polyglot who excelled in many things. He was an explorer, a translator, a linguist, a writer, a soldier, an orientalist, ethnologist, a poet, a hypnotist, fencer, a diplomat and an expert on the sexual practices of India and the Middle East of which he indulged in happy abandon. We’re not talking dilettante here. He was extraordinarily accomplished in all his endeavors. He knew 29 languages, translated an unexpurgated translation of, “One Thousand and One Nights,” traveled in disguise to Mecca, traveled to Africa to seek the source of the Nile, and brought an English translation of the Kama Sutra to publication and practiced a forbidden sexuality unheard of in his time. His writings are unusually open and frank about sexuality. His travel notes are especially full of this, with one section givings the measurements of the sexual organs of all males in the various regions where he traveled. Quite a guy! Huh. Was he gay? Most likely bisexual, but historians disagree. Fawn Brodie’s book gives a fascinating account of Burton’s wild life. It is one of the best and a good book to start with if the reader is unfamiliar with Burton. Burton was an amazing individual and he deserves an amazing biography. Brodie’s book accomplishes the task. It reads like the adventure story, a fast paced, meticulously researched, ‘barn burner.,” to use a gratuitous cliché. Rarely does an accomplished historian write this well. However, I did find Brodie’s amateur application of Freudian psychoanalysis of Burton’s behavior a bit annoying. It seems to me a bit of a stretch to place a dead person on the couch. If you want to read a book that encapsulates the spirit of Burton’s zest for life read this book.