(Not) Reading Orientalism

Since its publication in the late 1970s, Orientalism has been subject to a wide variety of not always friendly interpretations, prompting Edward Said to offer one or two additions, correctives, and sideswipes of his own. This essay looks—highly selectively, as it must—at recent patterns of reception for Orientalism, arguing that the book has been "re-Orientalized" by its readers, and might even be considered to be Orientalist itself. The essay will focus on provocative crossdisciplinary readings by Aijaz Ahmad, Meyda Yegenoglu, and David Cannadine, as well as on even more provocative responses to his own work, and to responses by others, from Said himself. It will consider the divergent claims made by appreciators and detractors of Orientalism, claims sometimes apparently made less on the strength of what has been than what hasn't been read.