Richard L. W. Clarke LITS3304 Notes 13 1 EDWARD SAID ORIENTALISM: WESTERN CONCEPTIONS OF THE ORIENT (1978) Said, Edward. Orientalism: Western Representations of the Orient. London: Routledge and Kegan Paul, 1978. Introduction I II Said contends that the...
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Richard L. W. Clarke LITS3304 Notes 13 1 EDWARD SAID ORIENTALISM: WESTERN CONCEPTIONS OF THE ORIENT (1978) Said, Edward. Orientalism: Western Representations of the Orient. London: Routledge and Kegan Paul, 1978. Introduction I II Said contends that the Orient, as much as the Occident, “is not an inert fact of nature" (4). It is, rather, an "idea that has a history and a tradition of thought, imagery and vocabulary that has given it reality and presence for the West" (5). All this is not to say that the Orient is “essentially an idea, or creation with no corresponding reality” (5). However, what Said is interested in is the Orient as a “regular constellation of ideas” (5). Acknowledging that “ideas, cultures and histories cannot seriously be understood without . . . their configurations of power being studied” (5), Said underscores that the discursive construction of the East is possible because the relationship between Occident and Orient is an asymmetrical one, a "relationship of pow
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