Heart Beguiling Araby

This is a reprint of the original edition published in 1990. The author has set before her two goals: studying the fascination of the English for Arabia and the Arabs; and British diplomacy in the Arab world in the Victorian period with a pointed reference to the writings and mission of Richard Burton (1821-1890), Gifford Palgrave (1826-1888), Wilfrid Scawen Blunt (1840-1922) and Charles M. Doughty (1843-1926). Though the opening part certainly testifies to Tidrick’s familiarity with the emerging subfield of English literary studies – literary Orientalism, her work falls much short of expectation. Only some passing references are made to the Oriental content and context of a few English men of letters namely, Lord Byron, Thomas Carlye, Leigh Hunt, William Jones, Alexander Kinglake, Thomas Moore, A.C. Swinburne, Alfred Tennyson and

W.M. Thackeray and some travellers. It is a pity that many eminent English literary figures have been left out. Nothing is said about the rich, diverse and engaging Oriental material featuring in the creative writings of Joseph Addison, Matthew Arnold, William Beckford, Robert Browning, Geoffrey Chaucer, S.T. Coleridge, John Dryden, Samuel Johnson, Christopher Marlowe, A.E. Poe, Walter Scott, Robert Southey and William Wordsworth. More intriguingly, little is stated about the peculiar historical and socio-religious backdrop of the centuries-long cross-cultural encounter between the English and the Arabs. Regrettably, the author’s attention is focused exclusively on the observations of Carsten Neibuhr and Jean Louis Burckhardt both of whom did pay a glowing tribute to the “noble savages” of the Arabian desert and acclaimed their independence, simplicity, nobility and sense of honour.