Postcolonialism, Psychoanalysis and Burton: Power Play of Empire (Routledge Research in Postcolonial Literatures)

222 Pages·2008·3.95 MB·English

by  Ben Grant

Postcolonialism, Psychoanalysis
and Burton
ROUTLEDGE RESEARCH IN
POSTCOLONIAL LITERATURES
Edited in collaboration with the Centre for Colonial and Postcolonial Studies, University of Kent,
this series presents a wide range of research into postcolonial literatures by spec ialists in the fi eld.
Volumes will concentrate on writers and writing originating in previously (or presently) colonized
areas, and will include material from non-anglophone as well as anglo phone colonies and litera-
tures. Series editors: Donna Landry and Caroline Rooney.
1 Magical Realism in West African Fiction: Seeing with a Third Eye by Brenda Cooper
2 The Postcolonial Jane Austen edited by You-Me Park and Rajeswari Sunder Rajan
3 Contemporary Caribbean Women’s Poetry: Making Style by Denisede Caires Narain
4 African Literature, Animism and Politics by Caroline Rooney
5 Caribbean–English Passages: Intertextuality in a Postcolonial Tradition by Tobias Döring
6 Islands in History and Representation edited by Rod Edmond and Vanessa Smith
7 Civility and Empire: Literature and Culture in British India, 1822–1922 by Anindyo Roy
8 Women Writing the West Indies, 1804–1939: ‘A Hot Place, Belonging To Us’ by Evelyn O’Callaghan
9 Postcolonial Pacific Writing: Representations of the body by Michelle Keown
10 Writing Woman, Writing Place: Contemporary Australian and South African Fiction by Sue Kossew
11 Literary Radicalism in India: Gender, Nation and the Transition to Independence by Priyamvada
Gopal
12 Postcolonial Conrad: Paradoxes of Empire by Terry Collits
13 American Pacificism: Oceania in the U.S. Imagination by Paul Lyons
14 Decolonizing Culture in the Pacific: Reading History and Trauma in Contemporary Fiction by Susan
Y. Najita
15 Writing Sri Lanka: Literature, Resistance and the Politics of Place by Minoli Salgado
16 Literature of the Indian Diaspora: Theorizing the Diasporic Imaginary by Vijay Mishra
17 Secularism in the Postcolonial Indian Novel: National and Cosmopolitan Narratives in English by
Neelam Srivastava
18 English Writing and India, 1600–1920: Colonizing Aesthetics by Pramod K. Nayar
19 Decolonising Gender: Literature, Enlightenment and the Feminine Real by Caroline Rooney
20 Postcolonial Theory and Autobiography by David Huddart
21 Contemporary Arab Women Writers by Anastasia Valassopoulos
22 Postcolonialism, Psychoanalysis and Burton: Power Play of Empire by Ben Grant
Postcolonialism,
Psychoanalysis
and Burton
Power Play of Empire
Ben Grant
NEW YORK AND LONDON
First published 2009
by Routledge
270 Madison Avenue, NewYork, NY 10016
Simultaneously published in the UK
by Routledge
2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, OX14 4RN
Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business
This edition published in the Taylor & Francis e-Library, 2008.
“To purchase your own copy of this or any of Taylor & Francis or Routledge’s
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© 2009 Ben Grant
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or
reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical,
or other means, now know nor hereafter invented, including
photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or
retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Grant, Ben, 1973–
Postcolonialism, psychoanalysis and Burton : power play of empire / by Ben Grant.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-0-415-45086-7
1. Burton, Richard Francis, Sir, 1821–1890. 2. Burton, Richard Francis, Sir, 1821–1890—Crit-
icism and interpretation. 3. Voyages and travels—Great Britain—History. 4. Explorers—Great
Britain. 5. Travelers’ writings, English—History and criticism. I. Title.
G246.B8G73 2009
910.92—dc22
[B]
2008009708
ISBN 0-203-89155-4 Master e-book ISBN
ISBN10: 0-415-45086-1 (hbk)
ISBN10: 0-203-89155-4 (ebk)
ISBN13: 978-0-415-45086-7 (hbk)
ISBN13: 978-0-203-89155-1 (ebk)
Contents
List of Figures vii
List of Abbreviations ix
Acknowledgments xi
Introduction 1
1 No Doubt We’re Underway: With Our Man
in Scinde, and Elsewhere 9
2 Translating / ‘The’ Kama Sutra 36
3 En-crypt-ing: Burton / Abdullah 56
4 Playing With Words: The Negro Question,
from ‘Race’ to ‘Geographical Morality’ 89
5 Outside the City Walls: Gorillas and Cannibals 117
6 Ending Up—Lost in the Nights 146
Notes 169
Bibliography 193
Index 203

Figures
1.1 ‘Zanzibar, from the terrace of H.B.M.’s Consulate’
(Richard F. Burton, Zanzibar: City, Island, and Coast
[London: Tinsley Brothers, 1872], I.256) 9
3.1 Abdullah’s signature (Richard F. Burton, Personal Narrative
of a Pilgrimage to Al-Madinah & Meccah, ed. Isabel Burton
[London: Tylston and Edwards, 1893], I.432). 57
3.2 ‘An Arab Shaykh in his travelling dress’ (Richard F. Burton,
Personal Narrative of a Pilgrimage to Al-Madinah & Meccah, ed.
Isabel Burton [London: Tylston and Edwards, 1893], I.235). 74
3.3 Burton’s tomb, among others (photograph taken
by the author). 87
5.1 Marching towards futurity (Thomas Henry Huxley, Man’s
Place in Nature and Other Anthropological Essays [New York: D.
Appleton and Company, 1896], 76). 123
5.2 Leering at you face on (Thomas Henry Huxley,
Man’s Place in Nature and Other Anthropological Essays [New
York: D. Appleton and Company, 1896], 18). 123
5.3 ‘Am I A Man and A Brother?’ (Anon., ‘Monkeyana,’
Punch XL, 18 May 1861, 206). 126

Abbreviations
For ease of reference, I have given abbreviated references for published
books of Richard F. Burton to which I refer frequently. Full references can
be found in the bibliography. Where the book is in more than one volume,
the volume number is given in roman numerals, except in the case of Nights
and Suppl. Nights, which are in arabic numerals. Other works of Burton’s are
fully referenced in footnotes.
The abbreviations are as follows, in alphabetical order:
Abeokuta Abeokuta and the Camaroons Mountains. An Exploration
Dahome A Mission to Gelele, King of Dahome
Falconry Falconry in the Valley of the Indus
First Footsteps First Footsteps in East Africa or, An Exploration of Harar
Goa Goa and the Blue Mountains; or, Six Months of Sick Leave
Gorilla-Land Two Trips to Gorilla-Land and the Cataracts of the Congo
Kasîdah The Kasîdah of Hâjî Abdû El-Yezdî
Lake Regions The Lake Regions of Central Africa
Nights A Plain and Literal Translation of the Arabian Nights’
Entertainments
Pilgrimage Personal Narrative of a Pilgrimage to Al-Madinah & Meccah
Scinde Scinde; or, The Unhappy Valley
Sind R. Sind Revisited
Suppl. Nights Supplemental Nights to the Book of the Thousand Nights
and a Night
Wanderings Wanderings in West Africa
Zanzibar Zanzibar: City, Island, and Coast