Richard Francis Burton - in Popular Culture

In Popular Culture

  • Harrison, William (1984). Burton and Speke. New York: St. Martin's Press. ISBN 0-312-10873-7., a novel of the two friends/rivals
  • In the short story The Aleph by Argentinian writer Jorge Luis Borges, a manuscript by Burton is discovered in a library. The manuscript contains a description of a mirror in which the whole universe is reflected.
  • The Collector of Worlds by Iliya Troyanov, is a fictional reconstruction of three periods of Burton's life, focusing on his time in India, his pilgrimage to Medina and Mecca, and his explorations with Speke.
  • The Riverworld series, by Philip José Farmer, has a fictional and resurrected Burton as a primary character.
  • Mountains of the Moon (1990) (starring Patrick Bergin as Burton) related the story of the Burton-Speke exploration and the subsequent controversy over the source of the Nile. This was based on the 1984 novel Burton and Speke by William Harrison.
  • Burton is the main character in the steampunk trilogy "Burton and Swinburne": The Strange Affair of Spring-Heeled Jack; "The Curious Case of the Clockwork Man"; and "Expedition to the Mountains of the Moon" by Mark Hodder.

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