Hermit of Peking

Hermit of Peking: The Hidden Life of Sir Edmund Backhouse is a 1976 book by Hugh Trevor-Roper. It is about Sir Edmund Backhouse, 2nd Baronet.

It was first published as A Hidden Life: The Enigma of Sir Edmund Backhouse in the United Kingdom in 1976.[1] That same year, it was published in Canada by Macmillan Company of Canada under the original British title.[2] It was first published in the United States in 1977 by Alfred A. Knopf, as Hermit of Peking: The Hidden Life of Sir Edmund Backhouse.[3] Penguin Books published a revised version in the United kingdom in 1978. It was re-published as Hermit of Peking in 1993 by Eland Books, a British publisher.[1]

The work alleges that Backhouse had created Diary of Ching-shan and falsely presented it as an authentic Chinese document. Fred W. Drake of the University of Massachusetts, Amherst stated that until the release of the book, Backhouse had a "scholarly reputation" and had avoided punishment for "illicit activities".[4]

Background

In 1973,[5] Reinhard Hoeppli, a doctor from Switzerland who knew Backhouse in China,[6] asked Trevor-Roper to give a book of memoirs by Backhouse to the Bodleian Library. Trevor-Roper became interested in Backhouse's life through the work and set to learn more about him.[5] Drake stated that the book had been given to Trevor-Roper "under somewhat mysterious circumstances".[4] The author intended to check whether the work was accurate, and if it could be published.[7]

Contents

The author shows parallels between the course of this work, and A. J. A. Symons' The Quest for Corvo.[8] Trevor-Roper stated a belief that Backhouse found inspiration in Frederick Rolfe's (a.k.a. Corvo) letters, which had a sexual character.[9] Reviewer William Matthews stated that Trevor-Roper had implied that there was "no documentary evidence for this connection", and that Matthews drew an inference that this was Trevor-Roper's conclusion.[10]

Reception

Paul Theroux of The New York Times compared the book to detective fiction, and that the work's author, at the end, "removes the veil from the aged humbug."[11]

Drake stated that the book overall is "enormously entertaining" and "reads more like a detective story than a biography".[4] Drake stated uncertainty on whether Backhouse himself had created the forgery, arguing the case was "circumstantial" and adding that "the question remains whether Backhouse" had forged a document in classical Chinese.[4]

Molly Young, of The New York Times, stated that the work "is a merrily entertaining biography of a con artist" and that, based on the book, "Backhouse’s life would make a terrific video game."[12]

Anne Birrell, a reviewer, wrote that "Sinology is indebted to" the author.[13]

In a journal article, Matthews praised the book as "briskly and well written", "extremely funny", and overall "good historical detective work".[6] Matthews praised the "restraint" of the author, so that the author's "contempt" for Backhouse did not interfere with writing the book well.[14] Matthews criticized the attitude in the book's list of men who had engaged in same-sex activity - aspects in Backhouse's memoirs and the Corvo letters - who had then become devout Christians. Matthews stated that the list "is delivered with a sneer and is a rare low point in a fine, unique book."[15]

Alastair Morrison, the son of George Ernest Morrison, wrote a critical review, arguing that the book wrongfully portrayed Hoeplli "as a simpleton", and that there were some errors in the referencing notes; Morrison also criticized remarks about George Morrison present in this book, accusing them of being "unresearched, unsubstantiated, unreferenced", and out of character with what others say about George Morrison.[16]

References

Notes

  1. ^ a b Birrell, p. 451.
  2. ^ Morrison, p. 281.
  3. ^ Clubb, p. 840.
  4. ^ a b c d Drake, p. 253.
  5. ^ a b Clubb, p. 841.
  6. ^ a b Matthews, p. 718. "Hoeppli claims that[...]Then he showed them to Trevor-Roper."
  7. ^ Matthews, p. 714.
  8. ^ Conrad, Peter (1976). "A Hidden Life: The Enigma of Sir Edmund Backhouse, Bart Hugh Trevor-Roper Princes and Artists: Patronage and Ideology at Four Habsburg Courts 1517-1633 Hugh Trevor-Roper Memoirs of Duveen Brothers: Seventy Years in the Art World Edward Fowles (Book Review)". The Spectator. Vol. 237, no. 7740. London. p. 20.
  9. ^ Matthews, p. 719-720.
  10. ^ Matthews, p. 720.
  11. ^ Theroux, Paul (1977-04-24). "The English Mandarin Con Man". The New York Times. Retrieved 2025-04-19.
  12. ^ Young, Molly (2023-11-04). "A Scholarly Scoundrel and a Monkish Detective". The New York Times. Retrieved 2025-04-19.
  13. ^ Birrell, p. 453.
  14. ^ Matthews, p. 720.
  15. ^ Matthews, p. 719.
  16. ^ Morrison, p. 283.

Further reading

  • "Biography -- Hermit of Peking: The hidden life of Sir Edmund Backhouse by Hugh Trevor-Roper". Times literary supplement. Vol. 1994, no. 4739. 1969. p. 28.
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