The Tangled Web: A Life of Sir Richard Burton [Illustrated] [Paperback]

 

 

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I purchased Jon R. Godsall's (Godsall) Burton biography The Tangled Web not long after it was released. I was interested to see what Mr. Godsall had to say since I had heard he had spent 20 years researching and writing it. I didn't finish it until early November 2009, which was about one year after its receipt.

It took me forever to finish the book. I found it poorly written, hard to follow, tedious and uninspiring. I found the first 2/3s of it to be arguably the worse written book in my reading experience. The book presents all the indicia of a scholarly book. It has 6 pages in small print of acknowledgments and 111 pages of footnotes. Unfortunately, the book in large part read like an adolescent wrote it. The analysis turned out to be even more abysmal. By way of example, Godsall has a major theme that Burton took liberties with his leave and that members within the clerical staff of the British Foreign Office were disgruntled with the favoritism shown to Burton. No surprise here nor is this new information. But Godsall seems to relish revisiting this trivia throughout much of the book, and he loves citing or quoting minutiae from British Foreign Service records sniping about Burton. It got to the point that I started to try to ascertain when Godsall would again hop up on his soapbox to rail against Burton's absences from his consular posts. Not once does Godsall recognize the obvious: had not Burton taken those liberties that much of his personal work after marrying Isabel in 1861 would not have occurred, hence the need to write Burton biographies might not exist. Now, had Burton not played fast and loose with taking leave from his various consular posts then Godsall might have avoided 20 years of his self-professed obsession trying to understand or explain Burton.

What I found startling is why this book was written. What drove Godsall to become obsessed with Richard Burton? It was the most interesting question I gleamed from the read. Godsall on page xviii apologizes to his three daughters for his Burton obsession and how it negatively impacted their lives. I began the read with this gripping point in mind. I wondered why he was obsessed with Sir Richard Francis Burton. I never came to affirmative conclusion.

It quickly became apparent that despite contrary claims Godsall for some hard to fathom reason has an animus against Richard Burton. Once I recognized that point, I understood why he chose the Tangled Web title. I would bet the object of the 20-year exercise was to look for or manufacture inconsistencies, come to adverse conclusions, show Burton in a bad light as often as possible, and thereby document his "Tangled Web" theme. In my view, many of the superficial or unfounded conclusions Godsall states are driven by his bias to support his desire to portray Burton as a liar.

I don't want to give the impression that Godsall's 425 pages of Life of Sir Richard Burton, exclusive of footnotes, actually contains much analysis of Burton. It does not. He has it seems paraphrased significant portions of earlier Burton biographies by Byron Farwell and Mary Lovell.

On page xxxi, Godsall professes his purpose is to "give a truer picture and, at the same time, a more rigorous and balanced appraisal of the man and his exploits" The appraisal is not rigorous unless one's means by that small minded, tedious and superficial. As for being balanced, most of the comments about Burton or his wife Isabel in my opinion are imbued with venom. Godsall asserts in the book that he has "taken a more critical look at the claims made for Burton. His claim of taking a critical look at Burton is a joke. Godsall's idea of critical analysis is writing snide and/or thread bare comments about Burton and Isabel.

Godsall claims it is debatable that Burton was in the front ranks of Explorers and then has to acknowledge Burton's significant honors by the Royal Geographical Society for his exploring accomplishments. He later goes after the claim that Burton did not deserve entry into that group of British scientists "who pushed back the frontiers of man's knowledge of man in an exposition of enthusiastic discovery". Yet, Godsall failed to state that social scientists and medical researchers still to this day consult Burton ethnographic studies, due to his ability to critically observe and document the details of his experiences and subjects. The Huntington Library in San Marino, California is visited multiple times per year by researchers to access Burton's library and his considerable manuscripts for these vary research endeavors.

In my opinion, the Tangled Web adds nothing of substantial value to the study of Richard Burton, except for detailing research sources, and the end result is a book that from the standpoint of the reader is truly a tangled web of narrative. The author in my opinion sees Burton in simple terms of black and white. Because of this lack of insight and sophistication, the conclusions are often flawed and/or superficial.

To produce a detailed critique of The Tangled Web could take probably 15 to 30 pages and probably many more; and this is not the proper forum for that exercise.

If you are interested in the book, purchase it. At the end of the read, if you get that far, it will make an excellent paperweight, in my opinion.

Richard Paschal

More wonderful information about Burton and almost everyone that ever touched his life in any way. Yet, when anyone's life is lit with too much glare, does it not always dim their greatness? According to Godsall, Captain Sir Richard Francis Burton was more of a great Public Relations man for himself, than truly great in any of the many fields he excelled in. Now I cannot speak for anyone else, but I certainly do not speak 29 languages so fluently that those who were raised on whichever language could not tell his difference. Nor have I had 34+ books published--with relative popularity during my lifetime, nor have a ever studied a foreign culture to the point of being able to completely disguise myself as one of them--down to every mannerism and speech inflection, appearance, carriage, all social etiquettes--not just once and in one culture, but several times and in several different cultures. To me, even after reading Godsall's impressively researched book, Burton will always be one of the three greatest men on earth. Aside from much downplaying of Burton's impressive accomplishments, I think Jon R. Godsall is still very much impressed with him too!

I really wanted to enjoy this book.I found Burton at the same time as the author,ie. via a BBC series "the Search for the Nile".However I found the book very very disappointing. Yes there is lots of detailed information,but the reality is that it is all information and no flow.How many submitted sick notes for leave of absence can you take !
I am no wiser about who or what Burton was than before I started

Final point. The physical book itself. It is a huge slab very awkward to handle.The print goes very close to the edge,so that until you get halfway through,it is difficult to read

As I said I did want to enjoy it- oh well

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5.0 out of 5 stars Sir Richard Burtpn

The book was better than the description led me to believe, was in good condition and arrived when promised.
I was delighted by my choice of book and supplier

Published on 21 Sep 2009 by S. M. Finlay

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