Скачать или смотреть J. THOMPSON Robert Hay and Edward William Lane The Rewards and Frustrations of Friendship

The meeting of Robert Hay and Edward William Lane in Cairo in February 1826 began a friendship that endured until Hay’s death four decades later. Exploring their relationship reveals crucial aspects of Lane’s and Hay’s lives and works. Initially, the well-heeled Hay was helpful to the relatively impecunious Lane by taking him up the Nile on a second voyage to Wadi Halfa, enabling Lane to do additional work for the book he was preparing about ancient and modern Egypt. And it was Hay who purchased the Greek child slave Nefeeseh, who became Lane’s wife. For his part, Lane assisted Hay in different ways in Egypt, then laboured for years to enable Hay to present his rich trove of materials to the public. His efforts were in vain, for the despondent Hay either mismanaged or lost interest in his magnificent collections. Yet, the friendship continued and grew stronger over time, generating a series of letters from Lane — who destroyed those he received from Hay — that is an indispensable source for the careers of both men as Lane went on to achieve some of his most cherished goals while Hay failed in most of his, but left a manuscript legacy of lasting value.

Jason Thompson is a writer and historian who studies the Western encounter with the Middle East, ancient and modern. His books include studies of the Egyptologist Sir Gardner Wilkinson, the orientalist Edward William Lane, a history of Egypt, and a multi-volume history of Egyptology. He received his PhD in history from the University of Chicago and has taught at the University of Maine, Western Kentucky, and the American University in Cairo. Since retiring from teaching to write full-time, he has held visiting professorships at Colby College and Bates College. He currently resides in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia and is preparing a book about Sir Richard Francis Burton.