Rewrite Essay Example

1-Nevertheless, Said made his biggest mark on the literary stage with the publication of Orientalism. He later became a world-famous author. From his perspective, the book offers a critical look at the idea of Oriental Studies in the academe. The most renowned European universities enlightened students in this field for several centuries. It is a field that is sophisticated and encompassing; it offers an eclectic mix of different disciplines such as ethnography, linguistics philology, linguistics and cultural interpretation of Oriental literature through their finding, mending, collection and translation (Moosavinia 2003).
2- Bernard Lewis is an extremely literate adept on matters involving the Middle East. He is regarded as one of the leading Western thinkers and researchers of that region (Abrahmson 2008). Policymakers (including the former Bush administration), The Encyclopedia of Historians and Historical Writing Martin Kramer often sought out his advice (1999). In fact, it was Lewis' Ph.D thesis that directed Kramer. The scholar has enjoyed a sixty-year career and has emerged as "the most influential postwar historian of Islam and the Middle East" ( pp. 719–720). Lewis is also famous for his scholarly repartee with Edward W. Said. The latter, a professor at Columbia University, defined Lewis' work as a prime example of Orientalism in his 1978 book, Orientalism. Said argued that the book was simply political intellectualism directed toward affirmation of the self rather than impartial research, a form of racism, and a means of imperialist domination (Windschuttle 1999). He also questioned the scientific objectivity of a few leading Orientalist scholars (such as Bernard Lewis) with regard to the Arab world. In an interview with Al-Ahram Weekly, Said (2003) suggested that Lewis' knowledge of the Middle East was so subjective that it could not be valid. He claimed that, "Bernard Lewis hasn't set foot in the Middle East, in the Arab world, for at least 40 years. He knows something about Turkey, I'm told, but he knows nothing about the Arab world" (p.93).