The Dervish Bowl

The Many Lives of Arminius Vambéry

Anabel Loyd

• Publisher: Haus Publishing
• Year: 2024
• ISBN:
  9781913368982
• Edition: 0
• Topic: History
• Subtopic: Historical Biographies
• Index: History

A narrative of the life of Arminius Vámbéry. Who was Arminius Vámbéry? A poverty-stricken, Jewish autodidact; a linguist, traveler, and writer—or a sometime Zionist, inspiration for Dracula's nemesis, and British secret agent? Vámbéry wrote his own story many times over, and it was these often highly embroidered accounts of journeys through Persia and Central Asia that saw him acclaimed in Victorian England as an intrepid explorer and daring adventurer. Against the backdrop of the "Great Game, " in which Russia and Britain jostled for territory, influence, and control of the borders and gateways to India and its wealth, Vámbéry played the roles of hero and double-dealer, of fascinated witness and imperialist charlatan. The Dervish Bowl is the story of these competing narratives and a compelling investigation of both the ever-changing persona Vámbéry created for himself and the man who emerges from his private correspondence and the accounts of both his friends and his enemies, many of whom were themselves major players in the geopolitical adventures of the volatile nineteenth century—a time when Britain's ambitions for her empire were at their height, yet nothing and no one was quite as they seemed.
 

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half Title
• Title
• Copyright
• Contents
• Acknowledgements
• Introduction
• 1. The Lame Boy
• 2. Constantinople
• 3. Reshid Effendi
• 4. The Many Lives Begin
• 5. Persia
• 6. The False Dervish
• 7. Khiva
• 8. Bukhara
• 9. The Turning Point
• 10. Going Home – From Mashhad to Tehran
• 11. The Dervish in London
• 12. The Prophet in His Own Land
• 13. The Russian Menace
• 14. Royal Favour
• 15. The Sultan
• 16. A Jewish Homeland
• 17. The British Pensioner
• 18. The Last Act
• List of Illustrations
• Bibliography
• Further Reading
• Index