A Trip to the Orient by G?rard De Nerval : The Egyptian Woman as an Example

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The literature of travel is considered as an art form by many nations. During the 18th and 19th centuries there were an abundance of visits to the Middle East by Western travelers, some of whom were famous and influential. These visits engendered a variety of published documentation in Oriental literary and cultural values. The West had become interested in the Eastern World, specifically the Middle East, following the French Revolution and subsequent to the translation of the Holy Quran and of classical Arabic texts in literature, science, and philosophy such as 1001 nights and Calileh va Demneh. Napoléon Bonaparte's 1798 invasion of Egypt had hugely increased interaction on numerous levels between the two civilizations. A number of travelers have significantly contributed to the image of the Orient in general and of Arabs in particular, some of which are inaccurate, stereotypical or exaggerated. Edward Saeed considered these trips and their reporting as constituting "an authoritarian discourse." Such journeys to the Orient and their reporting have increased in number and frequency and have increasingly acquired political, social, military, ideological, scientific, and even imaginative aspects and impact. Gerard de Nerval's novel, "A Trip to the Orient" was a summary of his travel to Egypt. The author recorded each detailed event that occurred in what he perceived to be this exotic world. It was a wonderful example of implicit eloquence mixed with legendary imagination.