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Makale Özeti:
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The hypothesis of Orientalism, as propounded by Edward Said, says that
the East is the construction of the West. For ages the Occident has projected the
Orient as dark, savage and primitive –something as the Other. This paper would
offer an argument on how the works of Emerson, the poet-prophet of America, can
be read as a counter-critique of Orientalism. The paper would include some of his
works that embody the quintessence of Indian philosophy. As a transcendentalist,
Emerson’s whole endeavour was to elevate the spiritual landscape of the American
psyche immersed in the quagmire of materialism. He felt that Indian philosophy can
be a panacea to the ills of the West. Emerson has unhesitatingly and profusely made
use of the ideas of the Bhagbat Gita, the Upanishads, the Vedas and so on in his
works. Thus, the Orient that was colonized and subalternized as dark and nonenlightened
is apotheosized by Emerson as a perennial source of light and
enlightenment for the so-called self-proclaimed civilized Colonizers. Here, Emerson
appears to be felicitating decolonization. Thus, this paper will be an attempt to view
Emerson as a writer of Reverse-Orientalism.
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