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Underground > Books, Criticism & Writing >

East is East

Kit-Cat Club

14:49 / 21.09.01

I thought it might be a good plan to construct a list of books on Islamic cultures - and to include books on the more general East/West culture clash - to bolster our (i.e. my) understanding of the current sitch, &c.

Not Greenmantle, please.

One book that looks as if it might be very good is My Name is Red by Orhan Pamuk (review here)

Said's Orientalism is a key text, of course... any more for any more?

grant

16:52 / 24.09.01

The Rubiyat of Omar Khayyam???

Kit-Cat Club

12:05 / 25.09.01

Perhaps Cannadine's Ornamentalism, which is about the British attitude to Empire (with special reference to the sub-continent) might illuminate the background to some of the situation in Pakistan and Kashmir...

I suppose we should add Rushdie, too.

grant

17:15 / 25.09.01

I haven't read this, but hear it's good:

T.E. Lawrence's autobiography, Seven Pillars of Wisdom.

I have also not yet read (although it's on my stack): Edward Rice's biography of Richard Francis Burton
There's also a few good recommendations on that amazon page under "customers who bought this also bought...," including some mentioned above and Burton's own memoir of his pilgrimage to Mecca.
(Burton, old-school explorer and empire builder, was the first non-Arab to enter Mecca.)

Of course, these aren't Afghanistan-specific. I can't even remember if Marco Polo's Travels had anything to say about that particular corner of the world.

[ 25-09-2001: Message edited by: grant ]

Kit-Cat Club

15:09 / 26.09.01

I would guess that he probably did... the route must have gone through either the subcontinent or Russia. I would think that Marco Polo is probably slightly more reliable than John Mandeville, too...

I am thinking that I might go to the bookshop for Eastern studies on Charing Cross Road, and ask the assistant if he could give me some tips for books that haven't been written from an occidental viewpoint... I want to read something that isn't subject to a Western construction of 'Eastern-ness'.

[ 26-09-2001: Message edited by: Macavity ]

grant

17:28 / 26.09.01

I'm sure Granta had some good autobiographical/in-depth reporting stuff, but the more I think about it, the more likely it was about life north India.
Which is similar, yes, but not quite the same.
They've also done some great stuff on Indonesia. Eastern, Muslim, yeah, but not entirely relevant either.

"Eastern Studies" on this side of the pond is overwhelmingly Chinese/Tibetan/Japanese/Vietnamese.

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