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Seminar paper from the year 2014 in the subject Didactics for the subject English - Literature, Works, grade: 2,0, RWTH Aachen University (Anglistik), course: HS Gothic Novel, language: English, abstract: The purpose of this present survey is to investigate features of Edward Saids concept of Orientalism in William Beckfords Vathek. It intends to examine how far Beckfords novel reflects the standardization and cultural stereotyping that have helped to intensify the grasp of the imaginative demonology of the mysterious East (Said, 2003:26). Therefore I will at first present an introduction of Saids concept of Orientalism, in order to be able to distinguish features of Orientalism in Beckfords novel in the main body of my term paper. The main focus will be on: Violence and evilness, homoeroticism, sensuality and religion. The most important sources for my term paper are evidently Edward Saids book Orientalism, which has been first published in 1978, and William Beckfords novel Vathek(1786), which was originally written in French and translated into English by Reverent Samuel Henley (Khrisat, 2001: 192). Even though many scholars seem to have studied Saids notion of Orientalism in the scope of literary works, like for example Eric Meyer and Bernard Lewis, there seem to exist few researches which are merely based on Orientalism in Vathek. However, the most important resource for this paper is Muna Al-Alwanas survey about Orientalism in Beckfords novel, next to Jeffrey Casss study, who has investigated Vathek in respect to Orientalism and Homoeroticism. The most important resource for this paper is Muna Al-Alwanas survey.

Seminar paper from the year 2014 in the subject English - Literature, Works, grade: 2,0, RWTH Aachen University (Anglistik), course: HS Gothic Novel, language: English, abstract: The purpose of this present survey is to investigate features of Edward Saids concept of Orientalism in William Beckfords Vathek. It intends to examine how far ...