The question was put by eminent academic Jason Thompson in the prologue to his massive 900-page biography of Edward William Lane (1801-1876), published this year by the American University in Cairo (AUC) Press. He raised it in the context of his discussion of Edward Said's charge in his seminal 1978 book Orientalism that Lane was one of the progenitors of Orientalism, which argument he pursues in the epilogue. Thompson noted at that time both Lane's critics and generations of scholar who cited him were equally ignorant about Lane himself, his sources and methodology. “What was needed was a new study of Lane, one based not just on theoretical considerations that his critics raised or on the uncritical faith with which so many had used his work, but also informed historical research.” With access to archival sources of biographical information that became available in the 1980s and 1990s and facilitated his monumental task, Thompson embarked on this narrative biography. He came well equipped, having edited Lane's Description of Egypt (AUC Press, 2000) and An Account of the Manners and Customs of the Modern Egyptians (AUC Press, 2003), which he describes as “one of the most influential and widely cited works in the history of Middle East studies”. It has never been out of print since its first publication in 1836, nor has Lane's definitive Arabic-English Lexicon, which was published between 1863 and 1893, having been completed after Lane's death. Lane intended to study mathematics, at which he excelled, at Cambridge, but disgusted by his undergraduate brother' fast living and heavy drinking, he rejected university and also abstained from alcohol all his life. His clergyman and school headmaster father died in an accident when he was 12 years old and Lane always said that his mother, Sophia Lane, was one of the most important formative influences in his life. She was a niece of the celebrated 18th century painter Thomas Gainsborough. Lane was apprenticed to a master engraver in 1819, in lieu of going up to Cambridge, and deployed his own artistic skills to good effect in illustrating his books. Contemporary exhibitions of Egyptian antiquities in London ignited his imagination and he sailed for Alexandria in 1825, en route to Cairo, his momentous destination. Aided by a Scottish acquaintance and convert to Islam, Osman Effendi, he dressed and lived “as one of the Turkish elite” instead of standing out as “an alien Western European”. He immersed himself in the Egyptian society that would be the subject of Modern Egyptians and soon acquired wide circle of friends and acquaintances. In 1826 he fulfilled one of his original ambitions in coming to Egypt to examine it antiquities and made his first long voyage up the Nile to the Second Cataract in Nubia, beyond Wadi Halfa. His second voyage the following year was made with Robert Hay, a wealthy Scot and fellow Egyptologist, who was to play a recurring role in Lane's life. Description of Egypt was intended to be published before Modern Egyptians but problems, including with patrons and publishers, prevented it from ever reaching print in Lane's lifetime and for long after. However, Modern Egyptians, published in 1836, was an instant and lasting success, which Thompson attributes to many factors. Given the previous paucity of knowledge about Lane, his biography not surprisingly reveals unsuspected facets of his life, such as not only was there a Mrs Lane but her story was also intriguing. Anastasia Nafeeseh Lane was a young Greek orphan who had been acquired by Lane as a slave, out of compassion, when she was only eight years old. Laterm, she went with Lane to England, when he was working on his books, and stayed with his mother until they were married when she was 20 years old and he 40. While admittedly not a lightweight travelling companion, at this time of year when recommendations are made for holiday reading, I can think of no better book for anyone living and/or interested in Egypt than this biography. An extraordinarily rich book, it needs time and leisure to savour. Thompson has done exemplary justice to his subject in answering his own question, “Who was Lane?” Edward William Lane, 1801-1876: The Life of the Pioneering Egyptologist and Orientalist By Jason Thompson The American University in Cairo Press 747 pages LE200
