Abstract
This essay will compare the writings of two American authors who both lived in Iran at different times and for different reasons. The similarities and divergences that emerge from this comparative study will reveal a more comprehensive explanation of Edward Said's notion of Orientalism. In Orientalism published in 1978, Said defines it as « a subtle and persistent Eurocentric prejudice against Arab-Islamic peoples and their culture ». Put in a different way, Western cultural representations of Oriental people contribute to a mythification of the non-western other and its land. The scholar research especially is accused of promoting European colonialism, and to maintain the idea that West and East are ontologically and epistemologically different.
