Wed 7 May 2008
I Read It in the TLS
Posted by gstarrett under Books You Should Read , Humor and Satire , Literature , Orientalism , Teaching Resources
A very positive review of Daniel Martin Varisco’s recent book Reading Orientalism: Said and the Unsaid (University of Washington Press 2007), appears in this week’s issue of the prestigious Times Literary Supplement. In his examination of the evidence and logic of Edward Said’s argument in his classic book Orientalism, first published in 1978, Varisco provides an evenhanded exploration of the subject, thirty years on.
Aside from minor quibbles concerning Varisco’s tendency to pun (a common trait, regretfully, among scholars associated with the University of Chicago’s Anthropology Department), Robert Irwin, the Middle East editor of the TLS, praises the book’s careful research and insight. “Varisco’s book,” he concludes, referring in part to its magnificently detailed and informative footnotes, “makes for exhilarating reading.”
Given the tendency of right-wing pundits to claim that contemporary academe has fallen for Said hook, line, and sinker, what is one to make of a thoughtful and sensitive critique from within? Could it be that the field of contemporary Middle East Studies is no more homogenous and globally misguided than the field Said himself identified as “Orientalism”?
May 8th, 2008 at 1:54 am
Personally, I look to Zia Sardar’s book on Orientalism, which both reaffirms the concept and broadens it, at the same time as offering a critique of Said’s work, not least the fact that Said’s ideas were largely purloined from other less high-profile academics - without acknowledgement
May 8th, 2008 at 10:24 am
Common perhaps at Chicago, but not generally associated with Penn, where I did my graduate work. The puns, however, are part of the plot: to examine a profoundly polemical issue through a satirical lens. I count Swift and Twain as my literary bedfellows and wish to introduce them to the wider stuffy crowd of discipline-drugged academics. For the common folk, do note that there is an affordable paperback version of my book, although I personally much prefer you go for the more lucrative hardback.
Dan Varisco
May 8th, 2008 at 10:31 am
Such a pity that websites such as Tabsir are so riddled with factual errors!! You must strive to recruit better bloggers.
May 9th, 2008 at 4:27 pm
Hi Gregory,
well, the comments section is surely the place where you can eventually correct, and offer wisdom, when you spot such ‘factual errors’.
Gabriele