The Pen and The Power: The Role of Literature in Normalising Colonial Discourse

This new post explores how 19th century British literature supported colonial power through storytelling, but also how Olaudah Equiano's narrative offers an alternative to the 'orientalist' clichés spread by British writers.

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In Orientalism, Edward Said dissects how colonial domination was not solely built on political power, but also on the influence of cultural discourse about the East. By decomposing the machinery behind it, he highlights key stereotypes that define orientalist discourse. This essay examines how the framework offered by Said can be used to look at examples from nineteenth-century British literature, revealing how these stereotypes are enforced and normalised, helping readers to perceive the colonial subtext embedded in Victorian literature. Moreover, this essay presents a close reading of Olaudah Equiano’s The Interesting Narrative while paying attention to these stereotypes, inviting readers to realise their total arbitrariness and absurdity, which shows the importance of Said’s discussion in the process of decolonising the mind. Finally, this essay discusses how John McLeod’s critique of Orientalism allows readers to go even beyond what Said discusses, helping the decolonisation of the mind initiated by Said and suggesting the importance of further exploring the mechanisms behind colonial discourse to repudiate it.

1. When Fear Fuels Fiction: How Victorian Literature Normalised Orientalist Stereotypes

Exploring how nineteenth-century literature perpetuated the Oriental stereotypes discussed by Said in Orientalism reveals how literature worked towards normalising colonial discourse about the Orient, highlighting how such discourse reflects Victorians’ fear rather than a reality. As he states, “orientalism is valuable as a sign of European-Atlantic power over the Orient more than it is a veridic discourse” (Said 133). Said makes it quite clear that such discourse is not based on facts and observations, but on expectations from the west that aim at reinforcing the idea that the West is strong, and the East is weak and create a binary opposition between the two (McLeod 49). To do so, orientalist clichés notably rely on literature and “intertextuality” (Said 138) to be spread, following the Gramscian principle that constantly reinforcing certain ideologies or thoughts leads to their normalisation. Indeed, it is what Said implies when he discusses the cultural productivity of hegemonic systems (Said 139), suggesting that this hegemony is achieved through an acceptance by the population rather than through force. If people start to normalise the association of the East with “sensuality” or an “aberrant mentality” (Said 144) then, it is to be linked to the nineteenth-century rise of the novel which confronts Victorian citizens with them on a daily basis. There is, for example, Richard Francis Burton’s 1888 translation of The Book of The Thousand Nights and A Night in which “sensual seduction [and] a romanticised east” (Al-wazedi 27) are depicted. As Said says, the East gives “sexual experiences unobtainable in Europe” (qted. in Al-wazedi 27) and Great Britain because such desires imply an inability to resist to one’s desire which, in a nineteenth-century where capitalism grows, is seen as a weakness but also as a threat for the rational Occident (McLeod 53). Furthermore, as Michael Slater notes in an appendix to A Christmas Carol, even Dickens’ stories contain “numerous allusions to them [the stories of The Arabian Nights]” (Slater 269). Additionally, the same propaganda appears in popular fiction, again reinforcing literature’s role in the machinery of colonial discourse. For instance, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes stories often show the East as an antagonist and strengthens the “binary oppositions” between West and East that orientalist discourse implies (McLeod 49). In “The Speckled Band”, for example, the plot revolves around the murder of a British woman by an impoverished aristocrat. After spending some time in India, Dr Roylott, a well-educated gentleman, loses his “force of character” and ragefully murders his butler, fed up with the “robberies perpetuated in his house” (Doyle 161). As if the Indian atmosphere, tainted with orientalist clichés, is so strong and corrupting that it rubbed off on his English mind. This reflects the assumption that Eastern populations are predisposed to “indulge themselves in the more dubious and criminal aspects of human behaviour” (McLeod 55). Then, Doyle turns Roylott’s “mind degeneration” into a narrative reality as the doctor uses a snake and “Eastern training” (Doyle 182) to murder one of his daughters. If his crime is committed out of Roylott’s unwillingness to see his daughter marry, his journey towards madness remains strongly associated with his time in India. Like a poison then, the “aberrant mentality” (Said 144) of the East invades the British mind, in this case Roylott’s, and then murders British citizens as the doctor kills his daughter with an Indian snake. What Doyle’s example shows is that literature spreads clichés that evidently come from the Victorians’ fear of seeing England, their “sanctuary”, being threatened by English colonies (Moore 275). Similarly, this fear is also connected to the previously discussed sexualisation of the East as it would challenge Victorian moral values. By looking at nineteenth-century literature then, one can identify how the binary opposition of West against East is widespread and normalised via literary works, as they reinforce clichés such as oriental “sensuality” and the Orient’s “aberrant mentality”. Like fiction, however, it remains a creation initiated by the Victorian zeitgeist and in this case, by the fear of its colonies. Consequently, Said’s discussion of the machinery behind colonial discourse enables readers to decode the colonial subtext of nineteenth-century literature, helping them to readily repudiate assumptions of colonial discourse instead of normalising it.

2. Turning the Mirror: Olaudah Equiano’s Narrative

Interestingly, Olaudah Equiano’s The Interesting Narrative shows a reversal of Orientalist clichés. The book demonstrates that oriental stereotypes spread by nineteenth-century British literature are not inherently “oriental”. Indeed, these clichés, used to marginalise the East in colonial discourse, can also be applied to characterise the West, suggesting the absurdity of orientalism and undermining the binary opposition that is central to orientalist ideology. The Interesting Narrative is Equiano’s own autobiography, in which he tells his quest towards the freedom he once had in Nigeria, before being kidnapped and enslaved. Eventually, after years of slavery, he manages to buy back his freedom. If his book is less popular than the ones discussed in the previous paragraph, Equiano’s story is nonetheless as interesting as these to analyse in relation to Said’s framework. Firstly, the “tendency to despotism” (Said 144) mentioned by Said can, from Equiano’s narrative, be associated with the West as well. When Equiano tries to recover his freedom, the “cruelty of the whites” (Equiano 58) marks his narrative as he often discloses that “instruments of torture” are used as a punishment for “the slightest faults” (Equiano 107). Moreover, the authoritarian ruling that despotism implies is also a feature that Equiano implicitly links with the Western world as, Robert King, one of his masters, first refuses the slave’s purchase of his freedom although he earned the money necessary buy it. As of the “backwardness” (Said 144), the first chapters of The Interesting Narrative portray how Equiano sees Western indiviudals as people who “look and act in […] a savage manner” (Equiano 58) and whose backwardness notably comes from their over reliance on violence, also toward “white men themselves” (Equiano 59). Regarding the orientalist “sensuality” (Said 144), the influence of Christianity on Equiano’s life certainly tones it down as, like Sylvester A. Johnson observes, the book contains “a biblical commentary t[hat] shape[s] his interesting narrative” (Johnson 1003). There is, however, an interesting passage in the 5th chapter. Indeed, Equiano laments having seen “white people […] commit acts of violence towards poor, wretched and helpless females” (Equiano 108), underscoring that the dangerous sexuality that scares the Victorians is also to be found within the 18^th-century Western world. One might be tempted to believe that, like for Orientalist stereotypes in the Sherlock Holmes stories, Equiano exaggerates and transforms reality to better convey his impressions. Nevertheless, and although some parts of his book might not narrate true events, this is highly improbable. Given that his book is written and published as a part of the abolitionist movement, he is trying to appeal to a mostly Western, European readership. Indeed, he addresses a European audience and “convince[es] buyers to purchase copies prior to publication” (Whitlock 15). He even seeks queen Charlotte’s “benevolence and humanity” (Equiano 231) at the end of his narrative. Evidently then, it makes no sense for Equiano to provide a caricature of Western characters. Furthermore, the detailed and autobiographical tone of his book does not add up with the idea of an exaggerated characterisation of Western characters. Olaudah Equiano’s example therefore demonstrates that the Western world’s biased vision of the Orient, that Said discusses in Orientalism, can be applied to itself. Having knowledge of these stereotypes, provided by Said, therefore helps to comprehend the one-sided relation the West envisions with the Orient, forgetting that it also displays the “Eastern” behaviours it abhors. The sensuality or aberrant mentality of the East are only a mental construct normalised by a literary landscape that, as The Interesting Narrative shows, nevertheless contains contradictions. Said’s discussion of oriental stereotypes indirectly entices his readers to reflect upon their own western world and allows them to realise the absurdity of oriental colonial discourse as, like Olaudah Equiano’s The Interesting Narrative highlights, what is said of the East can also be said of the West. Having demonstrated how Equiano’s narrative challenges the Occident/Orient dichotomy, the next paragraph of this essay will consider how postcolonialism expert John McLeod builds upon but also complicates Said’s framework.

2. Beyond Said: McLeod’s critique and an Expansion of the Post Colonial Lens

McLeod’s critique of Said’s work further enhances the decolonising of the mind by highlighting the limits and weaknesses of Orientalism, which provides readers with a broader understanding of colonial discourse. As McLeod notes in his introductory section entitled “reading Orientalism”, “colonial discourse and orientalism are not the same thing” (McLeod 47). His observation is an important one as it makes clear to the reader that Said’s work, however influential and important, addresses but a part of the greater colonial discourse machinery. It does not, for example, discuss former British colonies such as Canada but, as it will be demonstrated later, still has some relevance regarding these. McLeod’s remark is especially relevant for later readers of Said, the “intellectual superstar” whose influence expands beyond “academic and scholarly discourse” (Ruthven 2003), might be led to believe that he touches upon the entirety of colonial discourse. In fact, it focuses on Western colonial powers that took power of North African and Middle Eastern regions (McLeod 47), which is already great enough. By highlighting that, McLeod indirectly motivates his readers to think whether some features of Orientalism apply to other regions, creating a lively discussion about colonial discourse that can yield interesting results. To expand a bit on the Canadian example, there has been, in the last decades, a lot of research on post-colonial literature in the country. As writer Margaret Atwood observes, “Canada, as a nation, was [when she writes Survival in 1972] still a colonial victim of the former British master and was on its way to becoming the future victim of the neocolonial hegemony of the United States” (Obidič 8). Interestingly, this “victim/victimizer relationship, correspond[s] to the […] binary opposition introduced by Edward Said” (Obidič 8). This Canadian example suggests the relevance of McLeod’s remark as Obidič’s connection between Canada and Orientalism proves that some of the ideas developed by Said, although geographically limited, can be applied to other contexts. Furthermore, John McLeod gives pieces of advice regarding the understanding of Said’s book, stating that it is better to start by reading extracts or scholarly discussion of it, rather than attempting a singular reading of it (McLeod 48). Thereby, McLeod once again guides his readers towards a better comprehension of the Palestinian American’s work which, as the previous paragraphs discuss, opens doors for a dismissing of assumptions and fixed ideas key to colonial discourse. Nevertheless, McLeod also provides a critique of Said’s book, which brings a greater, more in depth deconstruction of colonial discourse. He notably mentions Said’s omission of women writings regarding colonies. Although Edward Said states that “gender is at the heart of orientalist discourse”, he limits his discussion to how orientalist texts portray women as sensual (McLeod 59). However, as Sara Mills argues, “Said rarely looks at women’s writing in Orientalism” (qted. in McLeod 59). For example, if it is true that Richard Francis Burton’s The Book of The Thousand Nights and A Night sensualises women, counterexamples from nineteenth-century British literature also exist. In Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, the monster comes across Safie, the daughter of an Arab woman and a Turkish man. Interestingly, Safie does not at all comply with the orientalist clichés about women from the Orient. On the contrary, she wants to “marry […] and remain in a country where women [are] allowed to take a rank in society” (Shelley 390), replacing orientalist depravity by her ambitious aspirations of freedom. Shelley’s eastern woman is thus very far from giving the “sexual fantasies unobtainable in Europe” mentioned by Said, and appears as a very modern character who, as Mary Shelley’s mother did by publishing early feminist works like her 1792 work A Vindication of The Right Woman, anticipates later feminist movements. If women apparently have different views than men about Eastern women, it arises from the fact that “[t]hey occupy a dominant position because of  colonialism, but a subordinate position in patriarchy” (McLeod 59). This underscores the importance of intersectionality, as discussed by critical race theory scholar Kimberlé Crenshaw, within the colonial context. As this example shows, even more assumptions about colonial lands can be deconstructed by keeping a critical approach to Said’s discussion. By underscoring Orientalism’s limits and weaknesses, John McLeod further discusses the machinery of colonial discourse. Thereby, he skilfully assists his readers in the process of decolonising the mind as his work highlights other key aspects of colonial discourse, suggesting the importance of paying attention to its machinery to start rejecting it.

4. Conclusion

Essentially, reading nineteenth-century literature with the postcolonial lens offered by Edward Said in Orientalism illuminates how colonial discourse was normalised and perpetuated in Victorian Britain but also how it emanates from a fear of the East rather than a real observation, suggesting the importance of discussing the machinery behind such discourse to resist it. Moreover, using the eastern clichés mentioned by Said to read Olaudah Equiano’s The Interesting Narrative highlights how these clichés are also, within the same British literature, associated with the West, underscoring the absurdity of using Orientalist clichés to characterise the East. Finally, John Mc Leod’s critique of Said’s work expands the discussion around colonial discourse, emphasising the geographical limits of Orientalism and suggesting the importance of intersectionality. Together, Said and McLeod make it clear that understanding the mechanisms of colonial discourse is essential for the decolonisation of the mind.

Works cited:

Al-wazedi, Umme, and Afrin Zeenat. Veil Obsessed: Representations in Literature, Art, and Media. Syracuse University Press, 2024, pp. 1-43.

Dickens, Charles. A Christmas Carol and Other Christmas Writings. Edited by Michael Slater , Penguin Classics, 2010, pp. 269.

Doyle, Arthur Conan. The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes: And, The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes. Edited by Iain Pears and Ed Glinert, Penguin, 2001, pp. 158-182

Equiano, Olaudah. The Interesting Narrative and Other Writings. Edited by Vincent Carretta, Penguin Books, 2003.

Johnson, Sylvester A. “Colonialism, biblical world-making, and Temporalities in Olaudah Equiano’s interesting narrative.” Church History, vol. 77, no. 4, Dec. 2008, pp. 1003–1024, https://doi.org/10.1017/s0009640708001601.

McLeod, John. Beginning Postcolonialism (second edition). Manchester University Press, 2010, pp 44-79.

Moore, Grace. “Colonialism in Victorian Fiction: Recent Studies.” Dickens Studies Annual, 2006, Vol. 37 (2006), pp. 251-286. https://www.jstor.org/stable/pdf/44372164.pdf?casa_token=Em6JlABnqxAAAAAA:r0JDp_DHQoATN6se2H9_z4rmGJwpTFQ871JjL2HbUgIAvEkO52TwSKrhmooH-kzc5WbKOq2ZY2Bonm_NNrkvjPmKvEu8JKINw9LeaUz6Z6jlNX6bF1Q

This post is an adapted version of an essay written as part of an assignment for the EN280 Module at Maynooth University.

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