Re:Richard F. Burton: On the English adventurer and writer
by ggm on Monday February 09, 2026 @09:53PM
(#46954769)
I think like many people I fell in love with the first biography of Burton I read, "the Devil Drives" by Fawn M. Brodie[0] from 1967, which I read in a penguin/allen-lane paperback edition 4 decades ago. I found it well rounded and informing.
The thing is, I enjoyed it so much I've been reluctant to read any more recent work, because I don't particularly NEED my illusions shattered. But I have no doubt more could (and has) been said.
Lord Byron got the soubriquet "mad, bad and dangerous to know" and I think it might have applied to Burton more.
I have often wondered what made Philip Jose Farmer chose him as an eponymous hero in SciFi, and what it says about PJF.
The thing is, I enjoyed it so much I've been reluctant to read any more recent work, because I don't particularly NEED my illusions shattered. But I have no doubt more could (and has) been said.
Lord Byron got the soubriquet "mad, bad and dangerous to know" and I think it might have applied to Burton more.
I have often wondered what made Philip Jose Farmer chose him as an eponymous hero in SciFi, and what it says about PJF.
https://archive.org/details/devildriveslifeo0000brod_k9h9