The Great Game

[Dave Monroe]

The Great Game

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Great_Game

On Mon, May 9, 2011 at 9:35 AM, Dave Monroe <against.the.dave at gmail.com> wrote:

> What a Great Game to Play
>
> ussia and France jointly attacking India…? seems unlikely. But, in the
> 19th century, this was a real possibility. Now: between the last
> Russian out-post and the last British out-post there were 2000 miles
> of uncharted, lawless, and boundary-less tracts, over which a land
> invasion, it was envisioned, could take place. It was Central Asia
> that they were looking at: tempting and dangerous: an area ripe for
> adventure. Scores of young officers of both armies — British and
> Russian — made clandestine journey into these areas to gather
> intelligence: topography, vegetation, states which could align with
> their countries, commercial prospects, and any other facet that could
> contribute to an advancing army. They went as traders, dried-fruit
> vendors, horse traders, gun runners, pilgrims, adventurers, every
> guise was tried. Some succeeded and came back to the base; others lie
> buried under some mound, or lie in some ditch, somewhere in central
> Asia; as for the rest: well… RIP.
>
> What a Great Game to play…
>
> The ones who returned wrote detailed reports, followed by popular
> books; some of them were best-sellers in their day. Below is a list of
> the books that are available on the Great Game. Original reports and
> narratives by the officers themselves still live on…
>
> [...]
>
> http://www.asianeds.com/the-great-game.asp
>
> "The Great Game"
>
> The Great Game was a term used to describe the rivalry and strategic
> conflict between the British Empire and the Tsarist Russian Empire for
> supremacy in Central Asia. The term was later popularized by Rudyard
> Kipling in his novel, Kim. The classic Great Game period is generally
> regarded as running from approximately 1813 to the Anglo-Russian
> Convention of 1907. Also the name of Padzhitnoff's airship.
>
> I believe the great game stands for Espionage in the Age of Gentlemen,
> the substance of Pynchon's Under the Rose.
>
> http://pynchonwiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=ATD_219-242#Page_227
>
> Cricket in Against the Day
>
> http://pynchonwiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=Cricket_in_Against_the_Day
>