Hey everyone I have been doing some reading about Orientalism ( I have just started out reading about this topic so I may be way off - so be kind please !!! If am way off I would like to hear about it....) I am particulary intrested in the Orientalism in travel stories. It looks to me that alot of the popular light hearted, ammusing travel stories come from this perspective. My question is what is the alternative offered up ? Obviously it is to depict what (or who) ever you are writing about wihout making cultrally based assumptions and so on...but is this really possible ???
1
anonymous
Read Reza Hammami and Martina Rieker. Feminist Orientalism and Orientalist Marxism and Mai Ghoussoub’s ‘Feminism.
They should sufficiently bore the pants off you.
3
tokyochik
hi thanks for your suggestion...i am not particulary interested in reading light hearted stuff...i am more interested in understanding the connection between popular travel literature and Orientalism....the stuff you suggested will def be worth a look...
4
seattlecon
Two writers from the 1920's and 30's; Earl Biggars who wrote the Charlie Chan stories and Sax Rohmer's Fu Manchu stories could provide a benchmark of sorts. Both dealt with Asian characters and relied on locales in the 'exotic East' for a big part of their popular appeal.
I suspect most people would sniff at them for being hopelessly PC but they might be worth checking out.
Pro tip
Lonely Planet
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