Worldliness and Edward Said

         Having taken an international communications class last year, I am familiar with Edward Said and his theory of Orientalism, a subject my professor chose to focus on due to its continued relevance in all aspects of the media. Thus, when I signed up for World Literature: East & West I was excited of having the opportunity to look at how orientalism has been applied across the world in literature. I am intrigued to see the falsified images of the Middle East that have overtime become accepted as facts and also hope to experience different portrayals of the Middle East, from nations less influenced by these Western creations.

            While reading Edward Said by Ashcroft and Ahluwalia the idea of worldliness stuck out to me as a theory of Edward Said’s that I was unfamiliar with and I was intrigued to think how much worldliness will be important to each novel we read throughout this semester. It is easy to forget what is behind a story; each author has an agenda, a message they would like to spread, that is simply expressed through the story that is told and the narrative that shapes it (22). These texts have an original intended audience, but literature is altered as it spreads across the globe since each reader brings something new to the story; thus as students in a World Literature class it is important to recognize our own impact on the worldliness of each text.

            Since relationships are continually hostile between the West and certain countries in the Middle East, Edward Said’s controversial theories regarding fictitious understandings of the Eastern world are more important than ever before. The media continually fuels a firestorm of propaganda about the Middle East that people continually believe is true. Thus, by reading an introductory guide to Edward Said I feel we as students are learning how to overcome pre-conceived notions we have about the Middle East that we can apply not just to literature, but to the news reports we encounter on a daily basis.