White Sheiks: Orientalism in England, America, and Italy (78142)

Session Information: Comparative Literature and Cultural Studies
Session Chair: Tejash Kumar Singh

Saturday, 25 May 2024 16:45
Session: Session 5
Room: Room 707
Presentation Type: Oral Presentation

All presentation times are UTC + 9 (Asia/Tokyo)

The oral presentation I would like to give at the ACCS2024, that will be held in Tokyo in May 23-27, 2024, is meant to analyze the extraordinary popularity that the figure of the white sheik has had in both European and American culture. My starting point will be a novel, The Sheik, written by Edith Hull and published in England in 1919. This novel generated a highly contagious “sheik fever,” considering that the eponymous film (1921), turning the Italian Rodolfo Valentino into a global star, and countless others produced both in America and in Europe (from the 20’s to the 90’s) are based on this novel. Because of this exceptional proliferation of “white sheiks” in both continents, I believe it is important to examine and compare their significance and the different forms of Orientalism they express, taking into account recent theoretical works on Western Orientalism, enriching and complicating Edward Said’s vision. This topic, furthermore, provides the occasion for the students to comprehend the interconnectedness of cultures and their dialogic nature. Although I have already conducted a lot of research on this subject,I would like to propose it as the content of a course taught in collaboration with colleagues from the Italian, the English, and the American Studies departments.

Authors:
Patrizia Palumbo, Columbia University, United States


About the Presenter(s)
Dr. Patrizia Palumbo is a Senior Lecturer at the Department of Italian of Columbia University in the United States.

See this presentation on the full scheduleSaturday Schedule



Conference Comments & Feedback

Place a comment using your LinkedIn profile

Comments

Share on activity feed

Powered by WP LinkPress

Share this Presentation

Posted by Clive Staples Lewis

Last updated: 2023-02-23 23:45:00