T.E. Lawrence
Since the “Orient” as Said is defining it encompasses the Middle East and even to North Africa and is not limited to the perspective of Asia with which it was once used synonymous, it should come as no surprise to find that “Lawrence of Arabia” is a major figure in the book. Although conventional view is that Lawrence came to view himself as more Arab than English, the author counters this conviction by suggesting that, to the contrary, Lawrence writes of the Arabs from the perspective of an external observer: the White Man.
Richard Burton
Not the famous British actor who married Elizabeth Taylor twice, of course, but one of those few individuals who “career” is often categorized with the word “adventurer.” Perhaps if Richard Burton had played Lawrence of Arabia and Peter O’Toole had played Richard Burton, Burton would be more famous today than Lawrence. Certainly, he accomplished: translating a version of The Arabian Nights, becoming the first white man to ever set sight on Lake Tanganyika, undertaking a search for the source of the Nile, and, according to Said, creating a literary body of work on the subject of the Orient mostly notable for conveying the sense of his own magnificent domination.
Gustave Flaubert
Flaubert is the French novelist most famous for writing Madame Bovary, but the author here dwells upon the lesser known (at least by today’s standards) works literature which Said identifies as being instrumental in developing the French attitude during their long-term colonial occupation of much of North Africa.
François-René de Chateaubriand
Chateaubriand was a fiery writer, philosopher and overall self-serving egomaniac and, of course, the man for whom the fancy steak dish is named after. He is also identified by the author of the very first significant published writing to propose that the Crusades were not an example of mindless aggressive conquest suiting no explicable purpose, but were, in fact, a heroic mission to bring to the Orient what it lacked: a fundamental understanding of the ideological concept of freedom and liberty. So beloved was this revisionist approach to the Crusades that it quickly took root in the entire European zeitgeist of the 19th century and was instrumental in leading to the recommitment to the plan. Of course, in this case the plan was not crusading but colonizing and occupying.
