What Is ‘Orientalism’?

Edward Said’s definition of the term

Photo of Iran by mostafa meraji from Pixabay

In 1978, the Palestinian-American scholar Edward Said wrote a book called Orientalism. It’s insightful and clearly expressed, though its length may put off some potential readers. It’s an important book for me because I’ve been interested in “Western” literary representations of “Eastern” eunuchs, and what Said has written explains a lot of that.