Mathew, thanks for this fascinating post. We went to see the mausoleum a few years ago when we were in London. It's very neat, though of course we couldn't get inside. I also appreciate your very balanced take on Burton and Lady Isabel, including her decision to destroy many of his papers. While it would obviously be interesting to see those, people sometimes talk as though humanity had a "right" to the personal papers (and secrets) of famous people, which has always seemed untenable to me.
What could have been the attraction of Trieste? Burton, Rilke (Duino), Joyce. Svevo found it provincial (or at least that's how it comes across in Conscience of Zeno).
I haven't been there--would love to go sometime--but I don't think it seems hard to understand. Beautiful location, long history as trading center, cosmopolitan city with lots of ethnic and linguistic diversity--seems like a perfect place for a restless intellectual. (Even if Burton's stay, seeing Mathew's note below, was professional.)
It was a diplomatic posting. I think it was somewhere quiet the Foreign Office could safely put him where he wouldn’t cause any trouble. The DNB says he complained about it, but it gave him plenty of time to write and travel.
What a fascinating post!
Thank you!
Isabel always seemed like an utterly amazing wife to me. Shame she married a titanic narcissist.
Tbh I don't know enough about their lives to have an overall opinion. I can't say I warm to either of them. What would you recommend I read?
Absolutely incredible! Amazing that you were able to see this.
Mathew, thanks for this fascinating post. We went to see the mausoleum a few years ago when we were in London. It's very neat, though of course we couldn't get inside. I also appreciate your very balanced take on Burton and Lady Isabel, including her decision to destroy many of his papers. While it would obviously be interesting to see those, people sometimes talk as though humanity had a "right" to the personal papers (and secrets) of famous people, which has always seemed untenable to me.
Fascinating!
What could have been the attraction of Trieste? Burton, Rilke (Duino), Joyce. Svevo found it provincial (or at least that's how it comes across in Conscience of Zeno).
I haven't been there--would love to go sometime--but I don't think it seems hard to understand. Beautiful location, long history as trading center, cosmopolitan city with lots of ethnic and linguistic diversity--seems like a perfect place for a restless intellectual. (Even if Burton's stay, seeing Mathew's note below, was professional.)
It was a diplomatic posting. I think it was somewhere quiet the Foreign Office could safely put him where he wouldn’t cause any trouble. The DNB says he complained about it, but it gave him plenty of time to write and travel.