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The Whore, the Text, and the Critics: Flaubert’s Kuchiuk Hanem as Postcolonial Fetish

The Whore, the Text, and the Critics: Flaubert’s Kuchiuk Hanem as Postcolonial Fetish <p>Abstract:</p><p>One of the key examples analysed in Edward Said’s <i>Orientalism</i> is Flaubert’s account of his meeting with the <i>almeh</i> Kuchiuk Hanem, a skilled dancer and courtesan, in Egypt in 1850. Frequently revisited by criticism following Said, Kuchiuk has had an extraordinary afterlife in which she is seen as standing for the Orient as a whole, an instance of synecdoche. We, as postcolonial theorists, tend to interpret Kuchiuk-as-text (Flaubert’s notes describing his encounter with her), through the same trope of synecdoche, as standing for nineteenth-century Orientalism as a whole. Yet a close reading of Flaubert’s text reveals his concern to note down specific details and to avoid the generalising logic that would make the individual a representative of her “race.” We, as critics, could learn from such a lesson. All literary genres shape readers’ expectations, and the rules of the particular sub-genre that is the postcolonial theory essay risk predetermining our interpretation of texts.</p> http://www.deepdyve.com/assets/images/DeepDyve-Logo-lg.png Nineteenth-Century French Studies University of Nebraska Press

The Whore, the Text, and the Critics: Flaubert’s Kuchiuk Hanem as Postcolonial Fetish

Yee, Jennifer
Nineteenth-Century French Studies , Volume 50 (3) – Mar 30, 2022
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Publisher
University of Nebraska Press
Copyright
Copyright © University of Nebraska Press
ISSN
1536-0172

Abstract

<p>Abstract:</p><p>One of the key examples analysed in Edward Said’s <i>Orientalism</i> is Flaubert’s account of his meeting with the <i>almeh</i> Kuchiuk Hanem, a skilled dancer and courtesan, in Egypt in 1850. Frequently revisited by criticism following Said, Kuchiuk has had an extraordinary afterlife in which she is seen as standing for the Orient as a whole, an instance of synecdoche. We, as postcolonial theorists, tend to interpret Kuchiuk-as-text (Flaubert’s notes describing his encounter with her), through the same trope of synecdoche, as standing for nineteenth-century Orientalism as a whole. Yet a close reading of Flaubert’s text reveals his concern to note down specific details and to avoid the generalising logic that would make the individual a representative of her “race.” We, as critics, could learn from such a lesson. All literary genres shape readers’ expectations, and the rules of the particular sub-genre that is the postcolonial theory essay risk predetermining our interpretation of texts.</p>

Journal

Nineteenth-Century French Studies – University of Nebraska Press

Published: Mar 30, 2022

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