The Anti-Oriental Narrative of Vambery in Travels in Central Asia

Abstract

A reader of Travels in Central Asia by Vambery expects a reliable and authentic picture of the history of orient; however, what he/she receives is nothing but a biased and prejudiced narrative mingled with misguided epistemological understanding on the one hand and a high opinion of the West on the other hand. The application of Edward Said’s notions of Orientalism as the theoretical framework in the present study made it possible to identify and highlight such misleading narrations in which the author betrays his reader by imposing anti-orient views in keeping with mere bigotry. Bereft of minimal understanding of the differences between the East and the West, Vambery openly casts doubt concerning the historically established values of the orient against the occident from a variety of vantage points. Vambery recruits a Hungarian anti-orient to prioritize the occident against the orient and employs what Edward Said introduces as distorted knowledge, reductive images and disputatious polemics to accomplish his goal. This study concerns itself with presenting an unbiased reading where both the orient and occident are equally respected rather than prioritized.

Keywords

• Orientalism
• Narration
• Central Asia
• Travel Writing
• Vambery