Review | Historian William Dalrymple leads tributes to his translator Bruce Wannell – explorer, linguist and adventurer
Written by siblings, colleagues, neighbours and fellow travellers, William Dalrymple among them, this collection remembers the life and times of an extraordinary man and scholar
Tales from the Life of Bruce Wannell edited by Barnaby Rogerson and Rose Baring, Sickle Moon
In Tales from the Life of Bruce Wannell – a Festschrift compiled by siblings, colleagues, neighbours and fellow travellers – Dalrymple relates his long and occasionally ruffled association with the man who was his translator, “probably my best friend in the world” and frequent long-term houseguest.
“He transformed the books I wrote, which would have been completely different without him,” writes Dalrymple, who will be speaking at the Hong Kong International Literary Festival on November 7 about his latest work, The Anarchy.
“It was not just translation – Bruce’s knowledge of the most arcane corners of the Muslim world was unparalleled and a single Persian word could lead him to write a footnote that would make far-reaching connections.”