Imagining the Middle East.

As long as acknowledgement of inherent stereotypical views of the Middle East continues to elude both Western scholars and policy makers, our perceptions of the area and its peoples will hinder improved relations between the West and the Orient. Edward Said's prominent works in this field (including Orientalism and Culture and Imperialism) not only analyze the issue in and of itself but also stress the need for continued examination of the historical foundations of our collective biases.

Imagining the Middle East, written by Thierry Hentsch of the Universite du Quebec (Montreal), serves this purpose through detailed investigation of Western imagination as reflected back to us by our view of the Orient. Fred A. Reed's English translation of the book received the Canada Council's 1992 Governor Generals' Award -- acclaim the patient reader will deem well-deserved. Hentsch indeed has contributed a thought-provoking and exhaustively researched work to the corpus of Orientalism-related studies. Despite the cumbersome language, which may be the result of the translation and which often deters the reader from the intricacies of Hentsch's reasoning, the book quite impressively chronicles the evolution of Western perceptions of the Middle East and its peoples, from ancient days to the 1991 defeat of Iraq.

Hentsch begins with a discussion of the "mythical frontier" between East and West. This well-written section handles many factions including the fictitious existence of a united, anti-Islamic European front anytime in the several hundred years following Muhammad's death. The lack of solidarity between Byzantine and Western Christians leads Hentsch to conclude on page 18 that, contrary to widespread belief (even in some academic circles), "the Arab expansion of the 7th century does not seem to have been the Christian West's main concern." The only fault with these early pages lies in their brevity; Hentsch's expert handling of the topic leaves one yearning for more.

On occasion throughout the rest of the book, the reader may unfortunately come away with the opposite feeling. Often delving too deeply into analysis of what seem to be rather obscure works, Hentsch makes it clear that his own interest in specific authors takes precedence over concern for his readers. However, his valuable interpretation of Western "imagination" proves worthy of extra effort. For example, the discussion of 17th Century European imagination of the Orient succeeds in emphasizing that the West "validated its own vitality by travelling to an unvarying world which incarnated the past, which was the near and visible presence of the past."

Likewise, Hentsch's analysis of the shift in Western perceptions of Middle Eastern peoples is superb. Pointing out that Europe's colonization of the Orient brought with it depreciation of the region and a belief in Western superiority, Hentsch concentrates upon the drastic change this represents. In this regard, Hentsch argues that the Crusades, although seen in some circles as a foreshadowing of subsequent imperialist endeavors, were notably different than later colonization. Conquering Christians "never looked upon their adversaries with contempt. No sense of cultural or racial superiority flowed from their religious convictions" -- a statement most certainly not applicable to 19th and 20th Century European involvement in the Middle East.

The book concludes with a section describing the 1990-91 Gulf War as a continuance of Western unconscious self-deception. Refreshingly, the discussion centers not on latent Western racism, leading to the devastation of Iraq, but rather on how the West proved so "capable of legitimizing a destructive undertaking wholly out of proportion with its announced objectives, and contrary to its own universally proclaimed standards." In this final section Hentsch also goes out of his way to state his self-perceived distance from the works of Edward Said. Although Imagining the Middle East certainly grants the reader fresh insights into the areas of the "mythical frontier" and shifting Western representations of the Orient over past centuries, Hentsch cannot justifiably disregard Orientalism's influence upon all subsequent studies of Western perceptions of the Middle East, including Imagining the Middle East. This concern aside, Hentsch presents a thorough and valuable account.

David Priess is a graduate student at Duke University.