He attempts to show how Western journalists, fiction writers, and scholars helped to build up a prevalent and hostile image of the Eastern cultures as inferior, stagnant, and degenerate. Said’s central concern in Orientalism is the multiple relationships between the act of writing and cultural politics, language, and power. His theories and methods have tremendously influenced American academic circles especially with regard to literary theory and cultural studies. Said examines these works with reference to the social, political, and economic contexts from which they emerged.Įdward Said, in his book, adopts a continental interdisciplinary approach to literary criticism, using the principles of phenomenology, existentialism and French structuralism to trace out the connections between literature and politics. The book won him universal recognition for innovative and provocative explorations of the interrelationship between texts-literary and otherwise. In Orientalism, Said examines Western representations (fiction and nonfiction) of the Middle Eastern societies and cultures. It has been influential in about half a dozen established disciplines, especially literary studies (English, comparative literature), history, anthropology, sociology, area studies (mainly Middle East studies) and comparative religion. Edward Said’s Orientalism: IntroductionĮdward Said’s Orientalism is his most celebrated work that hit the stalls in 1978.

Orientalism by Edward Said: In a Nutshell 1. Edward Said’s Major Claims In Orientalism Edward Said’s Handling of the ‘Concept of Orientalism’ in his book, Orientalism Chapter II: Oriental Structures and Restructures Edward Said’s Definition of ‘Orientalism’ as a Discourse The Concept of ‘Other’ and ‘Alter Ego’ in Said’s Orientalism Explanation of Key Terms used in Edward Said’s Orientalism

Orientalism by Edward W. Said