Laurence Oliphant

Born in Cape Town in 1829, Laurence Oliphant was a British author, traveller, and public figure whose life ranged far beyond the literary world. Reliable reference sources describe him as a traveller and mystic as well as a writer, and note that his background included diplomacy and a period as a Member of Parliament.

His writing grew directly out of that life. He published travel books based on journeys in places including Russia and Asia, and his satirical novel Piccadilly was the work for which he was best known during his lifetime. Modern summaries of his career also note the religious and political ideas that occupied his later years, including his support for Jewish settlement in Palestine.

Oliphant died in Twickenham, England, in 1888. He remains an intriguing nineteenth-century figure because his books sit at the crossroads of travel writing, fiction, politics, and spiritual experiment.