A critical look at Orientalism as envisaged in James Justinian Morier’s Haji Baba of Ispahan

Abstract

This paper examines James Justinian Morier’s The Adventures of Haji Baba of Ispahan in order to reveal various horizons of meaning as a result of four different readings of the novel.  The entertaining effect is surveyed through the first reading. The satirical hue which tints the events and characters is disclosed through the second reading.  The third reading looks at the objectives underlying the entertaining  and satirical-corrective texture of the narrative via employing Edward W. Said’s critical theory of ‘Orientalist discourse’.  And, finally, the fourth reading is an examination of the ambivalent attitude of the writer towards the cultural, ideological and social deportment of the Persians.  The last reading has a focus upon the inadequacy of Said’s monolithic opinion on Colonial discourse’s look towards the East.