Literary Interdisciplinary Research

Critical Analysis of Gertrude Bell's the Desert and the Sown Based on Edward Said's s Orientalism Theory

Document Type : Original Article

Author

Mohammad Amin Mozaheb

Assistant Professor in English language, , Language Center, Imam Sadegh University. Tehran.Iran

10.30465/lir.2021.34212.1246
Abstract
Gertrude Bell, a British tourist, diplomat, and travel writer, spent many years of her life in the Middle Eastern countries such as Iran, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Jordan and Palestine. Not only was she a literary figure, for writing several travelogues and translating selected sonnets of Hafiz into English, but also her writings served as a cover and excuse for further activities in favor of the British government. In this regard, her travelogue The Desert and the Sown (1907) is of importance. Not only did this travelogue become very popular in Europe, but also it can be argued that it guaranteed the situation of the occupation of Palestine and the British imperialist and interventionist policies in the coming decades of the twentieth century in the Middle East. Therefore, this study examines and analyzes the aforementioned travelogue through Edward Said’s theory of Orientalism and new historicist practice in order to analyze and evaluate its Oriental discourse which consists of otherization of Arabs and cultural superiority of the Westerners over the Easterners. According to the Edward Said's orientalism critical perspective we conclude that Bell was not neutral when she faces with middle east and eastern culture. As a result, it seems that she was a political woman more than a sole writer and she tries to colonize the eastern countries.

Keywords

Gertrude Bell
Orientalism
Domination Discourse
Otherization
Edward Said
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