oliver’s Reviews > Orientalism > Status Update

(pp. 329) - The last two chapters have been the more illuminating. Bringing the concepts formed throughout the pages of the book towards a contemporary analysis of existing Western social attitudes towards the “Orient”, Islam, Arabs, etc. seems to be what the previous chapters were building towards all this time.

Almost done part 2, taking notes on Said’s elucidation that Western writing assumes a perspective of objectivity or passivity when interacting with other cultures whereas in actuality these perspectives are burdened by subjectivity and bias like any other.

Finished first chapter on the plane to Europe. Particularly fascinated by the Lion analogy.

Was not expecting literary criticism to be such a heavy focus, but not an unwelcome surprise. I appreciated how the preface quotes from Disraeli & Marx were both integrated into the introduction of the book.