Abstract
Richard Francis Burton (1821–1890) fashioned himself as the archetypical cosmopolite: linguistic genius, intrepid explorer, polymath translator. The pilgrim to Mecca, traveler to Salt Lake City, and explorer of the Mountains of the Moon in Central Africa was a countercultural hero, an outspoken critic of Victorian prudery and the civilizing pretensions of the British empire. Translation, he believed, was key to the cosmopolitan and the imperial enterprise; and his infamously foreignizing The 1001 Nights would appeal to authors from Joyce to Pamuk and Rushdie. This chapter charts the trajectory of a literary career that remains a touchstone for theorists of cosmopolitanism, world literature, and translation. It asks if the work can be disentangled from the life, Burton's cosmopolitanism from his prejudice.
Original language | English (US) |
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Title of host publication | A Companion to World Literature |
Editors | Ken Seingeurie |
Place of Publication | London |
Publisher | Wiley-Blackwell |
Number of pages | 12 |
ISBN (Electronic) | 9781118635193 |
ISBN (Print) | 9781118993187 |
DOIs | |
State | Published - Jan 10 2020 |
Keywords
- British Empire
- India
- Indian Ocean
- homosexuality
- Globalization
- Empire
- Empire model
- Prejudice
- Race
- Racism
- Translation