The Plebeianization of Reality

Abstract

Two men are looking at a picture, say the famous portrayal of General Gordon standing erect and unflinching at the head of the outer staircase of his palace in Khartoum, as the hate-filled followers of the Mahdi pause, transfixed by reluctant awe, in the moment before they will inevitably surge up and hack him to death. ‘It was probably nothing at all like that,’ says one of the men, and he is no doubt correct. ‘In any case he wouldn’t have been there if the British hadn’t saddled themselves with Egypt,’ the man continues, ‘and they wouldn’t have saddled themselves with Egypt if they hadn’t had very particular commercial reasons to meddle in other people’s affairs.’ Still all correct, entirely correct, so far as it goes. T wonder whether the Victorians would have idolized him if they had known of his fondness for the brandy bottle, or if they had known what we do about sexual abnormality,’ our critic adds, smiling. ‘You know he could easily have got out of Khartoum in time? The truth is, he had an appointment with his death-wish.’