Disarming Words

Empire and the Seductions of Translation in Egypt

Fiction & Literature, Literary Theory & Criticism, Nonfiction, History
Cover of the book Disarming Words by Shaden M. Tageldin, University of California Press
View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart
Author: Shaden M. Tageldin ISBN: 9780520950047
Publisher: University of California Press Publication: June 12, 2011
Imprint: University of California Press Language: English
Author: Shaden M. Tageldin
ISBN: 9780520950047
Publisher: University of California Press
Publication: June 12, 2011
Imprint: University of California Press
Language: English

In a book that radically challenges conventional understandings of the dynamics of cultural imperialism, Shaden M. Tageldin unravels the complex relationship between translation and seduction in the colonial context. She examines the afterlives of two occupations of Egypt—by the French in 1798 and by the British in 1882—in a rich comparative analysis of acts, fictions, and theories that translated the European into the Egyptian, the Arab, or the Muslim. Tageldin finds that the encounter with European Orientalism often invited colonized Egyptians to imagine themselves "equal" to or even "masters" of their colonizers, and thus, paradoxically, to translate themselves toward—virtually into—the European. Moving beyond the domination/resistance binary that continues to govern understandings of colonial history, Tageldin redefines cultural imperialism as a politics of translational seduction, a politics that lures the colonized to seek power through empire rather than against it, thereby repressing its inherent inequalities. She considers, among others, the interplays of Napoleon and Hasan al-'Attar; Rifa'a al-Tahtawi, Silvestre de Sacy, and Joseph Agoub; Cromer, 'Ali Mubarak, Muhammad al-Siba'i, and Thomas Carlyle; Ibrahim 'Abd al-Qadir al-Mazini, Muhammad Husayn Haykal, and Ahmad Hasan al-Zayyat; and Salama Musa, G. Elliot Smith, Naguib Mahfouz, and Lawrence Durrell. In conversation with new work on translation, comparative literature, imperialism, and nationalism, Tageldin engages postcolonial and poststructuralist theorists from Frantz Fanon, Edward Said, and Gayatri Spivak to Jean Baudrillard, Walter Benjamin, Emile Benveniste, and Jacques Derrida.

View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart

In a book that radically challenges conventional understandings of the dynamics of cultural imperialism, Shaden M. Tageldin unravels the complex relationship between translation and seduction in the colonial context. She examines the afterlives of two occupations of Egypt—by the French in 1798 and by the British in 1882—in a rich comparative analysis of acts, fictions, and theories that translated the European into the Egyptian, the Arab, or the Muslim. Tageldin finds that the encounter with European Orientalism often invited colonized Egyptians to imagine themselves "equal" to or even "masters" of their colonizers, and thus, paradoxically, to translate themselves toward—virtually into—the European. Moving beyond the domination/resistance binary that continues to govern understandings of colonial history, Tageldin redefines cultural imperialism as a politics of translational seduction, a politics that lures the colonized to seek power through empire rather than against it, thereby repressing its inherent inequalities. She considers, among others, the interplays of Napoleon and Hasan al-'Attar; Rifa'a al-Tahtawi, Silvestre de Sacy, and Joseph Agoub; Cromer, 'Ali Mubarak, Muhammad al-Siba'i, and Thomas Carlyle; Ibrahim 'Abd al-Qadir al-Mazini, Muhammad Husayn Haykal, and Ahmad Hasan al-Zayyat; and Salama Musa, G. Elliot Smith, Naguib Mahfouz, and Lawrence Durrell. In conversation with new work on translation, comparative literature, imperialism, and nationalism, Tageldin engages postcolonial and poststructuralist theorists from Frantz Fanon, Edward Said, and Gayatri Spivak to Jean Baudrillard, Walter Benjamin, Emile Benveniste, and Jacques Derrida.

More books from University of California Press

Cover of the book Russian Music at Home and Abroad by Shaden M. Tageldin
Cover of the book In Search of Safety by Shaden M. Tageldin
Cover of the book Guerrilla USA by Shaden M. Tageldin
Cover of the book Hiroshima Traces by Shaden M. Tageldin
Cover of the book Drama Kings by Shaden M. Tageldin
Cover of the book Crisis of Empire by Shaden M. Tageldin
Cover of the book Theater in a Crowded Fire by Shaden M. Tageldin
Cover of the book The Ethics of Sightseeing by Shaden M. Tageldin
Cover of the book From Jeremiad to Jihad by Shaden M. Tageldin
Cover of the book The God Problem by Shaden M. Tageldin
Cover of the book Blood for Thought by Shaden M. Tageldin
Cover of the book Seeking Good Debate by Shaden M. Tageldin
Cover of the book Restless Souls by Shaden M. Tageldin
Cover of the book The Last Great Strike by Shaden M. Tageldin
Cover of the book Education in America by Shaden M. Tageldin
We use our own "cookies" and third party cookies to improve services and to see statistical information. By using this website, you agree to our Privacy Policy