8vo. xvii, 652 pp., of German text, including a short summary in English & Arabic (pages 645-652), publisher’s original wrappers, unopened copy, biblio, index, spine detached, otherwise copy clean and in very good condition, Beiruter Texte und Studien, Band 23. Franz Steiner Verlag, Wiesbaden & Beirut, 1980.

Synopsis

This study traces the pictures of Europeans as shown in modern Arabic fiction through the examination of several hundred novels, short stories, and plays dating from about 1860 until the 1970’s. It aims to chart the historical changes of such representations and their constant features. The investigation was geographically limited to works published in Egypt, Lebanon, and Syria during the Ottoman period.
The study finds that only the French, English and Germans have a distinct national character which often echoes European beliefs about themselves and other nations. For example, the Germans are depicted as militarists and fanatic supporters of values like strength, discipline, law and order.