Decadent Orientalisms: The Decay of Colonial Modernity - Paperback

by David Fieni (Author)

Decadent Orientalisms presents a sustained critique of the ways Orientalism and decadence have formed a joint discursive mode of the imperial imagination. Attentive to historical and literary configurations of language, race, religion, and power, Fieni shows the importance of understanding Western discourses of Eastern decline and obsolescence together with Arab and Islamic responses in which the language of decadence returns as a characteristic of the West.

Taking seriously Edward Said's claim that Orientalism is a "style of having power," Fieni works historically through the aesthetic and ideological effects of Orientalist style, showing how it is at once comparative, descriptive, and performative. Orientalism, the book argues, relies upon decadence as the figure through which its positivist scientific claims become redistributed as speech acts--"truths" that establish dominance. Rather than attending to Orientalism as a repertoire of clichés and stereotypes, Decadent Orientalisms considers the systemic epistemological consequences of the diffuse, yet coherent network of institutions that have constituted Orientalism's power.

Back Jacket

"David Fieni's Decadent Orientalisms makes several important and timely contributions to the fields of postcolonial, French and Francophone studies, and Middle East studies. Thoroughly researched and written in a vivid, engaging, and accessible style, the book will be of interest to students and scholars working in a range of fields."--Olivia C. Harrison, University of Southern California

"Rather than a one-sided account of orientalism or counter-orientalism, Decadent Orientalisms provides a rich model of comparativism. The book will be an important contribution to ongoing debates about comparative and world literature as well as to nineteenth- and twentieth-century Arabic and French literary studies."--Madeleine Dobie, Columbia University

Decadent Orientalisms presents a sustained critique of the ways Orientalism and decadence have formed a joint discursive mode of the imperial imagination. Attentive to historical and literary configurations of language, race, religion, and power, Fieni shows the importance of understanding Western discourses of Eastern decline and obsolescence together with Arab and Islamic responses in which the language of decadence returns as a characteristic of the West.

Taking seriously Edward Said's claim that Orientalism is a "style of having power," Fieni works historically through the aesthetic and ideological effects of Orientalist style, showing how it is at once comparative, descriptive, and performative. Orientalism, the book argues, relies upon decadence as the figure through which its positivist scientific claims become redistributed as speech acts--"truths" that establish dominance. Rather than attending to Orientalism as a repertoire of clichés and stereotypes, Decadent Orientalisms considers the systemic epistemological consequences of the diffuse, yet coherent network of institutions that have constituted Orientalism's power.

David Fieni is Assistant Professor of French at the State University of New York, Oneonta. He is the translator of Laurent Dubreuil's Empire of Language: Toward a Critique of (Post)colonial Expression (Cornell).

Author Biography

David Fieni is Assistant Professor of French at the State University of New York, Oneonta. He is the translator of Laurent Dubreuil's Empire of Language: Toward a Critique of (Post)colonial Expression (Cornell).