Passage 099 · 1978
"Orientalism"
Main effectThrough hedged copulative identification, past perfect emphasizing historical duration, and accumulating appositive series of romanticized qualities, Said creates syntax of ideological critique—grammar that exposes how "the Orient" is Western fantasy projected onto geography.
Device index
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Tropes
Understatement through negation.
Schemes
Omission of conjunctions between final items.
Repetition of initial consonant sounds.
Syntax
"The Orient was...a European invention"—subject-copula-complement with definite articles. Syntax makes ontological claim.
"almost"—adverb modifying complement. Syntax softens while maintaining critique of constructed nature.
"had been since antiquity"—past perfect with temporal phrase. Syntax emphasizes longstanding construction.
"a place of romance, exotic beings, haunting memories and landscapes, remarkable experiences"—noun phrase followed by genitive series. Syntax accumulates Orientalist projections.
"romance, exotic...haunting...remarkable"—four adjectives/nouns modified by evaluative terms. Syntax performs the romanticizing it critiques.
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Copulative Construction
"The Orient was...a European invention"—subject-copula-complement with definite articles. Syntax makes ontological claim.
Hedging Adverb
"almost"—adverb modifying complement. Syntax softens while maintaining critique of constructed nature.
Past Perfect Duration
"had been since antiquity"—past perfect with temporal phrase. Syntax emphasizes longstanding construction.
Appositive Series
"a place of romance, exotic beings, haunting memories and landscapes, remarkable experiences"—noun phrase followed by genitive series. Syntax accumulates Orientalist projections.
Adjectival Accumulation
"romance, exotic...haunting...remarkable"—four adjectives/nouns modified by evaluative terms. Syntax performs the romanticizing it critiques.
Stylistic Effect
Through hedged copulative identification, past perfect emphasizing historical duration, and accumulating appositive series of romanticized qualities, Said creates syntax of ideological critique—grammar that exposes how "the Orient" is Western fantasy projected onto geography.