Richard Burton, T.E. Lawrence and the culture of homoerotic desire : orientalist depictions of Arab sexuality / Feras Alkabani.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Alkabani, Feras, author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Homosexuality and literature--Arab countries--History.

Homosexuality and literature.

Homosexuality--Religious aspects--Arab countries--History.

Homosexuality.

Arabic literature--History and criticism.

Arabic literature.

Burton, Richard Francis, Sir, 1821-1890--Criticism and interpretation.

Burton, Richard Francis.

Lawrence, T. E. (Thomas Edward), 1888-1935--Criticism and interpretation.

Lawrence, T. E.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (304 pages).

Edition:

First edition.

Distribution:

[London, England] : Bloomsbury Publishing, 2021

Place of Publication:

London [England] : I.B. Tauris, 2022

Summary:

"In the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, the Arab-speaking regions of the Ottoman Empire saw a crucial change in attitudes towards sexuality. Notions of 'respectability', 'propriety' and 'sexual morality' were being transformed in literary and cultural discourses, a shift that was related to the gradual rise in anti-Ottoman Arab nationalism. However, contemporary Orientalists such as Sir Richard Burton and T.E. Lawrence were oblivious to certain aspects of this process of cultural reconfiguration. While accounts of male-love poetry ( ghazal al-mudhakkar ) were being gradually expurgated from the Arab literary heritage, elaborate narratives of Oriental homoerotic desire distinctively characterise the encounters of both Burton and Lawrence with the Arab East. By comparing their autobiographical accounts of the Arab Orient with contemporary Arabic literature, Feras Alkabani is able to expose this critical disparity in cross-cultural portrayals of sexual morality and homoerotic desire. Alkabani relates the conflicting agendas of contemporary Orientalists and Arab scholars to the shifts in international imperial power relations and the eventual collapse of the Ottoman Empire. His detailed comparative study reveals the significance of homoerotic desire within Orientalist and Arab literary discourses at a time when the meaning and connotations of poetic male-love were undergoing a critical change in Arab culture and literature. It will prove invaluable for those researching nationalism, imperialism and manifestations of homoerotic desire in the fin-de-siècle Middle East."-- Provided by publisher.

Contents:

Introduction

Chapter 1: Epistemologies of Difference

Chapter 2: Arabian Pleasures: From Text to Experience

Chapter 3: Chivalric Fantasies and Homoerotic Romance in the Desert

Chapter 4: The Homoerotic and the Heroic - Two Perspectives Conclusion

Bibliography

Notes

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references.

Description based on print version record and CIP data provided by publisher.

ISBN:

9781838603656

1838603654

9781838603649

1838603646

9781838603663

1838603662

OCLC:

1290324521