Re: Edward Said (fwd again)

[jenyan1 <jenyan1@xxxxxxx>]

On Thu, 11 Oct 2001, Carrol Cox wrote:
>
> jenyan1 wrote:
> >
> >      Islam is inside from the
> >      start, as even Dante, great enemy of Mohammed, had to
> >      concede when he placed the Prophet at the very heart of
> >      his Inferno.
>
> Dante admission went further. He put the Saladin in his limbo of
> virtuous pagans, along with Aristotle, Homer, Virgil, etc etc etc. As
> many have pointed out, "The West" or "Western Civilization" is a
> relatively modern concept. If you look up "west" and "western" in the
> OED it becomes hard to demonstrate conclusively that "The West" existed
> before the 19th century. In any case, it is better to see Dante as
> manifesting the "Medieval Christian" world rather than  "The West." And
> that world had rather more respect for enemies (e.g., the Saladin) than
> does modern bourgeois (imperialist) democracy.
>
> Carrol
>
Carrol,
You were quoting E.W. Said. Bernal and Amin make a similar observation to
yours.
JE


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