James Kenneth Ridley (1736–1765) was an English author educated at

University College, Oxford University College, formally The Master and Fellows of the College of the Great Hall of the University commonly called University College in the University of Oxford and colloquially referred to as "Univ", is a Colleges of the University of Oxf ...

. He served as a chaplain with the British Army. He is best known for a volume of imitation Orientalia.

Writings

Ridley wrote two novels: ''The History of James Lovegrove, Esquire'' (

1761 Events January–March * January 14 – Third Battle of Panipat: In India, the armies of the Durrani Empire from Afghanistan, led by Ahmad Shah Durrani and his coalition decisively defeat the Maratha Confederacy, killing over 1 ...

) and ''The Schemer, or the Universal Satirist, by that Great Philosopher Helter van Scelter'' (

1763 Events January–March * January 27 – The seat of colonial administration in the Viceroyalty of Brazil is moved from Salvador to Rio de Janeiro. * February 1 – The colonial authorities in the Province of North Carolin ...

). However, he is mainly remembered for his

Oriental The Orient is a term referring to the East in relation to Europe, traditionally comprising anything belonging to the Eastern world. It is the antonym of the term ''Occident'', which refers to the Western world. In English, it is largely a meto ...

pastiche '' The Tales of the Genii'', a set of stories based on those of the ''

Arabian Nights ''One Thousand and One Nights'' (, ), is a collection of Middle Eastern folktales compiled in the Arabic language during the Islamic Golden Age. It is often known in English as ''The Arabian Nights'', from the first English-language edition () ...

''. That work, published in two volumes in

1764 Events January–June * January 7 – The Siculicidium is carried out as hundreds of the Székely minority in Transylvania are massacred by the Austrian Army at Madéfalva. * January 19 – John Wilkes is expelled from th ...

, was issued under the pseudonym "Sir Charles Morell", supposedly British Ambassador at Bombay. Ridley's ''Tales'' were allegedly composed by an

imam Imam (; , '; : , ') is an Islamic leadership position. For Sunni Islam, Sunni Muslims, Imam is most commonly used as the title of a prayer leader of a mosque. In this context, imams may lead Salah, Islamic prayers, serve as community leaders, ...

named Horam and translated from a Persian manuscript, but in actuality, they were products of Ridley's imagination. They belong to a genre of imitation, Orientalia, popular in the 18th century. In its own time and after, Ridley's book was compared to

Samuel Johnson Samuel Johnson ( – 13 December 1784), often called Dr Johnson, was an English writer who made lasting contributions as a poet, playwright, essayist, moralist, literary critic, sermonist, biographer, editor, and lexicographer. The ''Oxford ...

's '' Rasselas''. It retained its popularity and had gone through seven editions by 1861. Translations into German and French also appeared.

References

* *Backscheider, Paula R., and Catherine Ingrassia, eds. ''A Companion to the Eighteenth-Century English Novel and Culture''. London, Blackwell, 2005 * Ballaster, Rosalind. ''Fables of the East: Selected Tales 1662–1785''. Oxford, Oxford University Press, 2005 1736 births 1765 deaths Alumni of University College, Oxford 18th-century English writers 18th-century English male writers 18th-century English novelists English chaplains English male novelists {{UK-novelist-stub