Orientalism in literature refers to the Western portrayal and interpretation of Eastern cultures, particularly during the colonial era. This artistic and intellectual movement depicted the East as exotic, mysterious, and often inferior to the West, shaping perceptions through literature, art, and popular culture.

1. ORIENTALISM
Prepared by – Manpreet Kaur
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M.A ENGLISH
LOVELY PROFESSIONAL UNIVERSITY
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2. EDWARD SAID
• Born in Jerusalem: 1935
• Raised in Palestine: Influenced by experiences of displacement and
colonialism
• Education in the United States: Studied at Princeton and Harvard
• Professorship: Taught English and Comparative Literature at Columbia
University
• Intellectual Influences: Shaped by Antonio Gramsci's ideas on cultural
hegemony and Michel Foucault's theories of power and discourse
• "Orientalism" (1978): Critique of Western representations of the Middle East
• "Culture and Imperialism" (1993): Examined the relationship between culture
and colonialism
• "The Question of Palestine" (1979): Advocated for Palestinian rights and
critiqued U.S. foreign policy in the Middle East

3. ORIENTALISM ?
• A study of how western colonial powers of Britain and France represented north
African & middle eastern lands in late 19th and early 20th centuries.
• Orient: to discover the position of yourself in relation to your surroundings
• To make someone familiar with new place
• Orient collective noun refers to far eastern lands
• The Orient was romanticized and exoticized in novels, paintings, and other creative works,
reinforcing Western perceptions of superiority.

4. OCCIDENT AND ORIENT
• Said focuses on his in this work on the interplay between the "Occident" and
the "Orient".
• Occident West. Orient East.
• The Occident in his term for the West (England, France and the United
States)
• The Orient is the term for the romantic and misunderstood Middle East and
Far East

5. Stereotypes of the Orient
• 1. The Orient is timeless
• 2. The Orient is strange
• 3. Orientalism makes assumptions about race
• 4. Orientalism makes assumptions about gender
• 5. Orient is feminine
• 6. The oriental is degenerate

6. The Orient is Timeless
• Orientalism assumed an unchanging orient trapped in antiquity far behind
the modern developments of the 'enlightened' west considered 'primitive or
backwards'
• It is a westerner travelling to Oriental lands was not just moving in space
from one location to the another, potentially they were also travelling back in
time to an earlier world.
• Timeless place, changeless and static, out off from the progress of Western
history.
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7. The Orient is Strange
• The Orient is not just different; it is oddly different - unusual, fantastic and
bizzare.
• Orient was rational, sensible and familiar.
• Orient was irrational, extraordinary and abnormal

8. Orientalism makes assumptions about Race
• Assumptions about inherent racial characteristics of Orientals.
• Arab Violent
• Indian = Lazy
• Chinese = Inscrutable
• Racializing categories like 'Arabian' and 'Indian' were defined within the general
negative representational typical of Orientalism, and provided Orientalism with a
set of generalized types.
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9. THANK YOU
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