Orientalism - Softcover

Said, Edward W.

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0141187425 ISBN 13: 9780141187426

Publisher: Penguin Books, 2003

Synopsis

The seminal work that has redefined our understanding of colonialism and empire, with a preface by the author

'Stimulating, elegant and pugnacious' Observer
'Magisterial' Terry Eagleton

In this highly-acclaimed work, Edward Said surveys the history and nature of Western attitudes towards the East, considering orientalism as a powerful European ideological creation - a way for writers, philosophers and colonial administrators to deal with the 'otherness' of eastern culture, customs and beliefs. He traces this view through the writings of Homer, Nerval and Flaubert, Disraeli and Kipling, whose imaginative depictions have greatly contributed to the West's romantic and exotic picture of the Orient. Drawing on his own experiences as an Arab Palestinian living in the West, Said examines how these ideas can be a reflection of European imperialism and racism.
'Beautifully patterned and passionately argued'
New Statesman

'Very exciting ... his case is not merely persuasive, but conclusive'
John Leonard, New York Times

About this title

Review:

"The theme is the way in which intellectual traditions are created and trans-mitted... Orientalism is the example Mr. Said uses, and by it he means something precise. The scholar who studies the Orient (and specifically the Muslim Orient), the imaginitive writer who takes it as his subject, and the institutions which have been concerned with teaching it, settling it, ruling it, all have a certain representation or idea of the Orient defined as being other than the Occident, mysterious, unchanging and ultimately inferior." --Albert Hourani, New York Review of Books

"Intellectual history on a high order . . . and very exciting." --The New York Times

"Powerful and disturbing. . . . The theme is the way in which intellectual traditions are created and transmitted." --The New York Review of Books

"Stimulating, elegant yet pugnacious. . . . Said observes the West observing the Arabs, and he does not like what he finds." --The Observer

"An important book. . . . Never has there been as sustained and as persuasive a case against Orientalism as Said's." --Jerusalem Post

From the Back Cover:

In this highly-acclaimed work, Edward Said surveys the history and nature of Western attitudes towards the East, considering orientalism as a powerful European ideological creation - a way for writers, philosophers and colonial administrators to deal with the 'otherness' of eastern culture, customs and beliefs. He traces this view through the writings of Homer, Nerval and Flaubert, Disraeli and Kipling, whose imaginative depictions have greatly contributed to the West's romantic and exotic picture of the Orient. Drawing on his own experiences as an Arab Palestinian living in the West, Said examines how these ideas can be a reflection of European imperialism and racism.

About this edition

• Publisher: Penguin Books
• Publication date: 2003
• ISBN 10: 0141187425
• ISBN 13: 9780141187426
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 396