Choice Reviews Online · 2012 · 222 citations · 0 references
HumanitiesCultural StudiesLiteratureIntellectual HistoryEnlightenment LiteratureEnlightenment PhilosophyEnlightenment ThoughtSouth Asian StudiesEnlightenment CultureEnlightenment NovelOrientalist Critique
Oriental tales, pseudo‑ethnographies, sexual fantasies, and political satires captivated eighteenth‑century Europe, engaging both ordinary readers and intellectuals such as Voltaire, Montesquieu, Diderot, Defoe, Swift, and Goldsmith. Naming this body of fiction Enlightenment Orientalism, he poses urgent questions that uncover the interdependence of Oriental tales and domestic fiction, challenging standard narratives about the rise of the novel. Aravamudan demonstrates that Enlightenment Orientalism critically challenged irrational European practices while bridging civilizational differences, offering a sophisticated reinterpretation of the novel’s history that positions the work as a landmark in eighteenth‑century studies.
Srinivas Aravamudan here reveals how Oriental tales, pseudo-ethnographies, sexual fantasies, and political satires took Europe by storm during the eighteenth century. Naming this body of fiction Enlightenment Orientalism, he poses a range of urgent questions that uncovers the interdependence of Oriental tales and domestic fiction, thereby challenging standard scholarly narratives about the rise of the novel. More than mere exoticism, Oriental tales fascinated ordinary readers as well as intellectuals, taking the fancy of philosophers such as Voltaire, Montesquieu, and Diderot in France, and writers such as Defoe, Swift, and Goldsmith in Britain. Aravamudan shows that Enlightenment Orientalism was a significant movement that criticized irrational European practices even while sympathetically bridging differences among civilizations. A sophisticated reinterpretation of the history of the novel, Enlightenment Orientalism is sure to be welcomed as a landmark work in eighteenth-century studies.