Moginie

Book excerpt: This is the memoir of Daniel Moginié, a Swiss adventurer, first published in French in Lausanne in 1754 under the title l'Illustre Paisan. Further editions soon appeared in London, Frankfurt and Berne. As a young man Daniel travels to the Netherlands Indies and from there to Persia where he participates in the civil unrest, successively helping the Afghans, the reigning Shah and the usurper Nadir Shah. On Nadir's behalf he fights the Turks and undertakes a mission to Constantinople. Falling from favour he escapes to his former friends in Kandahar and then to India where he serves the Moghul Muhammad Shah. Daniel survives as a titled supporter of the Moghul and marries one of his daughters. When illness overtakes him he longs for reunion with his younger brother François. A sub-plot has it that the Moginié family derives from a line of west Asian kings, who settled in Switzerland after losing power. Daniel also seeks to regain the family status and fortune in the land of his forebears. The two Moginié brothers undoubtedly existed, but much of the book was probably the work of the political writer J-H. Maubert de Gouvest. His convenient plagiarisms show us the east through European eyes before the rise of colonialism and orientalism in the nineteenth century. The condition of Persia and Turkey directly affected Europe because of their borders with the Austrian and Russian empires. The tale is both an adventure and a review of a powerful and important region, its politics, trade and military potential. As the same time it is also a detective story in which the mysteries have not yet been resolved. Did Daniel write the memoir? Was it ghosted by Maubert or entirely written by him? If Maubert wrote it all, did Daniel even reach India? Did François collect his legacy? Who is the author of the notice in the Gentleman's Magazine in 1750? What part was played by the Chollets, father and son? Was François the subject of a hoax or the originator of one (or neither)? Were the Moginie ancestors kings or cowherds? One day the pieces may fit together to form a complete picture. Daniel's brother François/Francis was the founder of an English branch of the family, now established in Australia and New Zealand.