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Book Reviews Book Reviews 207 her. Here she has a very strong argument. In her last chapter on persisting theories about Saracens and especially in her conclusion Scarfe Beckett convincingly shows the absence of a connection between, on the one hand, a concept of the Orient and, on the other hand, anti-Christian Arabs, Ismaelites and Saracens. She also demonstrates the lacking of a differentiation in dislike from other people who lived outside Christian civilization, such as the Northern Vikings and Danes. Nor are the Saracens in Anglo-Saxon England ever associated with notions of material gain. Finally, she points out the problems arising from the picking of examples from a canon, without placing it in its right perspective, by stating: ‘‘If ‘Orientalism’ and ‘imperialism’ are defined vaguely enough to find examples of either in early medieval texts, their definitions are then also vague enough to allow examples from many other periods and places, which undoes the terms’ meaningful correspon- dence with European activity abroad after the seventeenth century. If they are defined strictly according to European activity abroad after the seventeenth century, there are good reasons not to project back the views of that specific period of history on the earlier literature http://www.deepdyve.com/assets/images/DeepDyve-Logo-lg.png Al-Masaq: Journal of the Medieval Mediterranean Taylor & Francis

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Publisher
Taylor & Francis
Copyright
Copyright Taylor & Francis Group, LLC
ISSN
1473-348X
eISSN
0950-3110
DOI
10.1080/09503110600839013
Publisher site
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Abstract

Book Reviews 207 her. Here she has a very strong argument. In her last chapter on persisting theories about Saracens and especially in her conclusion Scarfe Beckett convincingly shows the absence of a connection between, on the one hand, a concept of the Orient and, on the other hand, anti-Christian Arabs, Ismaelites and Saracens. She also demonstrates the lacking of a differentiation in dislike from other people who lived outside Christian civilization, such as the Northern Vikings and Danes. Nor are the Saracens in Anglo-Saxon England ever associated with notions of material gain. Finally, she points out the problems arising from the picking of examples from a canon, without placing it in its right perspective, by stating: ‘‘If ‘Orientalism’ and ‘imperialism’ are defined vaguely enough to find examples of either in early medieval texts, their definitions are then also vague enough to allow examples from many other periods and places, which undoes the terms’ meaningful correspon- dence with European activity abroad after the seventeenth century. If they are defined strictly according to European activity abroad after the seventeenth century, there are good reasons not to project back the views of that specific period of history on the earlier literature

Journal

Al-Masaq: Journal of the Medieval Mediterranean – Taylor & Francis

Published: Sep 1, 2006

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