Romantic-era artists literally inhabited their Orientalist fantasies in daily life

Evidence

William Beckford, the eccentric author of Vathek, took his fascination with the medieval so seriously that he became delusional, building a medieval retreat that included the highest spire in England (which collapsed while he was away in London), a 12-mile wall, and a pack of wild dogs reminiscent of the pack of wolves that surround Dracula’s castle. On one occasion an “uninvited visitor (the cousin of the painter W. P. Firth) was treated graciously by Beckford, then informed of the dogs that evening as he was ushered out the door. He spent the night in a tree.” Beckford incorporated Orientalism into his medieval lifestyle, calling himself “the caliph” and referring to his estate, Fonthill, as “Bagdad,” and identifying with his title character, Vathek. In his writing, Beckford was inspired by the darker imagery associated with Orientalism. — Sophia Rose Arjana, Muslims in the Western Imagination, 436

Categorization

• CANDY: Beckford building a 12-mile wall, calling his estate Bagdad and himself the caliph, then leaving a guest to sleep in a tree on his way out, is a wonderful dinner-party anecdote about Orientalist delusion.