Tuesday, January 31, 2006

I'm reading Snow on the Desert, a biography of Captain Sir Richard Francis Burton, the famous Victorian swordsman, rogue, linguist, sexologist and spy, who sneaked into Mecca disguised as a Moslem, translated the 1001 Nights and the Kama Sutra and found Lake Victoria. He spoke perhaps 25 languages fluently, plus 15 more dialects. He even went to Salt Lake City before there was a film festival nearby.

There are at least 5 superb movies that can be made out of his life, and ample source material: biographies, and his own travelogues and translations. Check him out. I promise to buy a ticket.

10:35 AM

1 Comments:

Sir Richard Burton is also the lead character in Phillip Jose Farmer's RIVERWORLD series of books. In the series, he and other examples of man from various periods throughout history are resurrected on a planet in another galaxy. The books are a great blend of historical and science fiction as Burton meets Mark Twain, Alice (from the Lewis Carroll books) Caesar, et al...

By  Cunningham, at 11:59 AM  

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