Word: backhousian
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Dates: during 1977-1977
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...whether they would be a suitable addition to the collection of manuscripts which the scholar left to Oxford. These memoirs, which recount Backhouse's sexual encounters with some of the most prominent figures of his time, are so obscene, that Trevor-Roper, upon reading them, first had the characteristic Backhousian reaction of preferring to run away from the problem rather than face it. But instead Trevor-Roper plunged deeper into the mystery and emerged with a biography of Backhouse based neither on what others have said about him nor on Backhouse's own exaggerated recollections of his life...
...strengths and weaknesses of the book are those of the Backhousian method. Rather than patiently penetrating the mysteries of history step by painstaking step, as would a professional Sinologue, both the historian and the historian he is writing about prefer to assault the gloom head on, neglecting details and looking only for the general pattern that emerges. For Backhouse this meant creating new details each time he needed to give credence to an already created story. For Trevor-Roper this means emphasizing certain old details in order to give credence to a new story...
...long as Trevor-Roper remains within the realm of these Backhousian mysteries, his truth about the method to the madness of the hermit of Peking rings true. In this context, the author's contention that Backhouse spent his life imaginatively substituting himself for those who were intimate with Verlaine, Lord Rosebery, the Empress Dowager, and other sources of power, is convincing...
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