The Pre-Raphaelites and Orientalism : Language and Cognition in Remediations of the East Paperback / softback

by Eleonora Sasso

Part of the Edinburgh Critical Studies in Victorian Culture series

Paperback / softback

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Description

Investigates the latent and manifest traces of the East in Pre-Raphaelite literature and culture The Pre-Raphaelites and Orientalism: Language and Cognition in Remediations of the East redefines the task of interpreting the East in the late nineteenth century.

Weaving together literary, linguistic and cognitive analyses of Pre-Raphaelite paintings, illustrations and writings, socio-cultural investigations of the Orient, and rhetorical considerations about Arabian forms of writing, the terms of critical debate surrounding the East are redefined.

It takes as a starting point Edward Said's Orientalism (1978) in order to investigate the latent and manifest traces of the East in Pre-Raphaelite literature and culture.

As the book demonstrates, the Pre-Raphaelites and their associates appeared to be the most eligible representatives of a profoundly conservative manifestation of the Orient, of its mystic aura, criminal underworld, and feminine sensuality, or to put it into Arabic terms, of its aja'ib (marvels), mutalibun (treasure-hunters) and hur al-ayn (femmes fatales). Key Features: Looks at how selected examples of Pre-Raphaelite writings acted as major vehicles for raising awareness of cultural diversityRedefines the task of interpreting the East in the late nineteenth century taking as a starting point Edward Said's Orientalism (1978)By investigating the pervasive influence of The Arabian Nights on Pre-Raphaelite texts, this study aims at bringing together Western and Eastern forms of writing;Outlines the reasons why the writings by John Ruskin, D.G.

Rossetti, Christina Rossetti, William Morris, Algernon Swinburne, Aubrey Beardsley, and Ford Madox Ford play such a prominent role in the Oriental debate