Orientalism in English Literature

The book under review is a gist of the long winding inter-cultural literary bond between the West and the East. Like flashes of light in dark clouds on the horizon, Kidwai also cites the glimpses of hope in this ‘unfortunate negative portrayal of Islam/Muslims in most of the English texts’ (p. xv), something that Edward Said has missed. True to the definition of “Tradition” (TS Eliot), this work indicates the way today’s writers carry the past along in their bones. The section “Articles and Notes” simply reiterates the general attitude of Western writers towards Islam. Surely, the miraculous rise of Islam that rubs shoulders with the Western centres of culture and power after the crushing defeat of the Byzantines at Yarmuk, the Crusades and the establishment of the Ottomans in Turkey, were factors that sent shudders across Christendom....