Since our library does not have these works, let's place a request with
interlibrary loan to procure them. Ifyou are unfamiliar with interlibrary loan, a method for borrowing works from other
libraries, please visit our
interlibrary loan module for a brief tutorial.
The first work to arrive takes about a week and comes from a library in El
Paso, Texas:
A Diary of the Gladstone Government (Wm. Blackwood Sons) The first page proves that our efforts in procuring this outside source have paid
off.
A closer inspection reveals some familiar faces, compare the cartoons at the
beginning of this module to the characters you see below, as well as to the names in thequotations in the Red Book.
Joe. Chamberlain, W.E. Gladstone, H. Labouchere, Lord Roseberg
("A Diary of the Gladstone Government" )Lord Rudolph (?), Lord Granville, C. Bradlaugh, J. Bright, Joe. Chamberlain ("A Diary of the Gladstone Government" )W.E. Gladstone, H. Labouchere, Lord Roseberg, Sir W. W. Harcourt, Lord Derby (?) ("A Diary of the Gladstone Government" ) Now that we can identify some of the characters in the cartoons, we have a shot at
understanding the message the Red Book attempts to communicate. For instance, the gentleman holdingthe card saying "W. E. Gladstone" looks suspiciously like the man at the head of the line in
Figure 3, "Mummy Governmernt." Gladstone is quoted throughout the "Red Book," so thesimilarity is probably not coincidental. We can compare this image of Gladstone's and his colleagues
with cartoons from the "Red Book" to identify other figures.
A Diary of the Gladstone Government appears to be a satirical account of
Gladstone's Government from 1880-1885 by the very creators of the "Egyptian RedBook." Before we can really understand the full story behind the "Red Book," however, we need to take a look at who
some of these people really were.
Researching biography using "the oxford dictionary of national biography"
If you need to learn more about a prominent person, turn to a biographical
dictionary. For instance,
The Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (DNB)
is, according to its publisher the Oxford University Press, "the first point of reference for anyone interested inthe lives of the peoples of the British Isles and their connections overseas, from the
earliest times to the end of the year 2000. It is the product of research instituted at theUniversity of Oxford and funded by the British Academy and by Oxford University Press. It is
the achievement of 10,000 contributors and advisers staff in Oxford. The Oxford DNB aims toprovide full, accurate, concise, and readable articles on noteworthy people in all walks of
life. No living person is included: the Dictionary's articles are confined to people whodied before 31 December 2000." I'd say that that about covers it. There are also similar
biographical guides profiling people from other countries, including the US, Japan, andGermany, but right now we're interested in the British. Although we could get the DNB
online , let's
take a look at it inthe stacks.
The DNB is organized alphabetically, so finding our characters is relatively
easy. Let's start with William Gladstone, prime minister of England and author. In the scholarly DNB we find a verydifferent representation of Gladstone from the contemporary satires.
William Ewart Gladstone (1809-1898), by Sir John Everett Millais (Oxford
Dictionary of National Biography) The entry for Gladstone spans over twenty-five pages, 383-409, covering many
different areas of his life and career, including his education, early political career, andpolitical service during different periods. The entries are divided by heading and are
chronological so we can easily browse for what we are most interested in. Now let's look atGen. [Charles]Gordon, the protagonist of the "Red Book."
Charles George Gordon (1833–1885), by Sir John F. D. Donnelly (Oxford
Dictionary of National Biography) We find that over half of Gordon's entry deals with his time in the Sudan.
Gladstone's Government plays heavily in this text. Without our research into other satiricdepictions of nineteenth-century Britain and into the biographies of important figures
included in them, we would have more dificulty uncovering the story behind "The Egyptian RedBook," which is explained in the
Getting the Whole Story From the Egyptian Red book module. This goes to show how
the different aspects and methods of any research project can complement one another, addingto the overall yield of your research.
Combining the resources you discover in your research
At this point we have the means to identify each of the characters in the
cartoons contained in the Egyptian Red Book and the sources of the many quotes throughout.We are beginning to unravel the story, its context and the critique represented by the
caricatures.
Now, when you find a name that is unfamiliar in the "Red Book," you can locate
it in the DNB. When you see an unfamiliar face in any one of the cartoons, you can look fora similar depiction in the other works published by William Blackwood.
The sources that you come to in your research will probably be related inone way or another. Learning to correlate these sources and use them to explore others makes
each more valuable than it would be alone.
Receive real-time job alerts and never miss the right job again
Source:
OpenStax, Studying political satire: "the egyptian red book". OpenStax CNX. Sep 19, 2006 Download for free at http://cnx.org/content/col10290/1.6
Google Play and the Google Play logo are trademarks of Google Inc.
Notification Switch
Would you like to follow the 'Studying political satire: "the egyptian red book"' conversation and receive update notifications?
