"American Orientalism" by Douglass Little. Discussion of the First Chapter (eBook)

Essay from the year 2019 in the subject English Language and Literature Studies - Culture and Applied Geography, grade: 14, , language: English, abstract: It is inescapable to write about American Orientalism without crossing over Orientalism itself for the reason that if there was no Edward Said, the works of Douglass little will not come into being. Said is of great importance as a literary critic as well as a cultural theorist in the sense that what is known now as post-colonialism is highly indebted to Said’s early works including Orientalism. Many critics agree with the fact that post-colonial theorists such as Homi K. Bhabha and Gayatri Spivak could not replace Edward Said.

Above all, he was the first one who set up the foundations of the colonial discourse along with Frantz Fanon. Thus, he has a major influence in the emergence of other post-colonial thinkers. However, this does not mean that Said’s works are holy texts. That is, they have no shortcomings. To name a few, some critics claim that Said’s works are ahistorical meaning that it is impossible that all these orientalists starting from the poet Dante would have the same colonial discursive assumptions. Second, some of the major criticism directed to Orientalism is neglecting the question of agency and resistance by the colonized itself.