East Is Not East

Edward W. Said (1935-2003), a Palestinian-American, has gained his worldwide prestige for his position as a prominent literary critic and an inaugurator in postcolonial studies. Orientalism, his most influential work, examines the development of Western conceptions and representations of the Orient from the middle of the eighteenth century to the present. In this book, from a wholly new perspective, Said, as an Arab rooted in the soil of Middle East, with his sensitive insight, severely challenges the traditionally Western Orientalism through the perspective of his experience in America. For him, Orientalism presented in various Western works is not a real representation of the Orient in history, but a culture image by the West and a man-made discourse. That is to say, Said insists that scholarly Orientalism needs to be seen in the context of Western perceptions of the Orient dating back to Classical times and in relation to the Western domination of the Orient through colonialism and imperialism as well as neocolonialism. In this way, he brought politics into literary studies. Therefore, for Said, the main method of the Occident over the Orient by Orientalism is to make the Orient become its"Other".Orientalism is seen as a set of academic disciplines concerned with the study of the Orient; as a style of thought based on an existential difference between the Orient and the Occident. More importantly, this book marks a major shift from the purely literary study to politics and culture. Moreover, it inaugurates a new insight in mainstream literary criticism and inspires later work by others in the fields of literary, critical and cultural theory, especially in postcolonial studies. This paper is divided into five parts.Part One is a general introduction to the thesis, which includes the general introductions to postcolonialism, brief account of Edward W. Said's life, and relevant literature reviews. Besides these, this paper will also briefly introduce its author's motives for singling out Edward W. Said and Orientalism, and the main aspects that this paper aims to express as well as the current significance of such a study.Part Two is an analysis on the birth of Orientalism, mainly focusing on Said's change of thought that results from his personal experiences, people around him,especially Michael Foucault and historical events.Part Three, putting focus on the text of Orientalism, illustrates in detail Orientalism as a discourse, the relationship between the knowledge and power within the discourse, the critiques of Orientalism and Said's purpose in writing Orientalism. As a man of two cultures, Said becomes an increasingly controversial figure for his radical words on Western politics, such as colonialism, imperialism and Orientalism. The most relevant criticisms and studies of his works focus on his two identities. The critics who approve of him speak highly of his role in postcolonial studies. Some see him to be a pro-imperialist, for he has a Western education; some think he is an anti-Westerner and anti-imperialist for he is by nature an Oriental. After reading and analyzing Said and Orientalism, the author of this paper can see him neither anti-imperialist nor pro-imperialist. Said, as a contemporary intellectual, speaks truth to power. Moreover, while disclosing the harmful nature of Orientalism and cultural imperialism, he means to put up a bridge for the communication of East and West.Part Four is the extension of Part Three. On the basis of the study of Orientalism, this part applies Orientalism to the literary text Robinson Crusoe and Disney's film Mulan. More importantly, in order to show better the nature and harmful consequences of Orientalism, this part associates it with reality.Firstly, Orientalism represents in Daniel Defoe's Robinson Crusoe. From Western stereotyped binary opposition of civilization and savagery depicted in the novel, and Robinson's cultural reform on"Friday", this paper shows the colonist's hegemony over the colonized and the lost of national culture of the colonized. Secondly, Orientalism represents in films, by taking the example of Disney's film Mulan. In its process of representing the"Other", Disney film Mulan Orientalizes and Americanizes the traditional Chinese culture contained in ancient Chinese Ballad"Ode of Mulan". It remolds the identity of Chinese culture by American individualism. Finally, in the form of Western cultural imperialism, Orientalism will be prevalent and, therefore, harmful.Part Five is the conclusion of the thesis. Through the detailed analysis of Orientalism, we can understand better the nature of Orientalism and its harmfulness as well as Said's aim in writing about it. More importantly, as China gradually opens to the world and as diverse cultures rush into China, the study on Orientalism has a greatly realistic significance to the development of Chinese culture and economy.