Comments on: French Tales

By: Tweets that mention French Tales -- Topsy.com

Tweets that mention French Tales -- Topsy.com — Thu, 04 Feb 2010 19:29:02 +0000

[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by sepoy, Jonathan Dresner. Jonathan Dresner said: #hc84 @sepoy highlights South Asian content in European Opera, with video! 19-20c http://bit.ly/5EDbxx [...]

By: Frog in a Well - The Japan History Group Blog

Frog in a Well - The Japan History Group Blog — Tue, 02 Feb 2010 04:16:45 +0000

[...] from a Pakistani anglophone pictorial weekly, including a bad history book of some interest. Also South Asian content in European Opera, with [...]

By: Rehmah

Rehmah — Wed, 27 Jan 2010 04:19:28 +0000

Hi Manan,
Thanks for posting this. I first discovered Le Roi de Lahore when I read The Phantom of the Opera. Have wanted to ‘see’ it since.

By: Sud

Sud — Thu, 21 Jan 2010 21:12:46 +0000

Well, even dated concepts can be true. We still can’t let go of Socrates. The golden age of opera also coincides with the golden age of Orientalist scholarship, so the connections are not that far fetched. But conceptually, the 19th/20th European interest in the east is as ‘orientalizing’ as say Chinese Tang era depictions of their exotic invaders from the north. I guess the distinction matters more when you are the invader or the invaded, or even worse, the thing/nation/people being defined and those doing the actual defining. Does Chamberlain and Churchill drawing lines on blank maps have anything to do with it? Well, if they have a clear idea of what an Iraqi should be like, and how a Jordanian should be like, then they can (and did) invent countries with the sense of certainty that they had. Do you know what a Jordanian looks like? Can you tell him apart from an Iraqi? This is where Orientalist representation steps in, fills the blanks for the masters of the universe, and then keep the natives busy for more than half a century trying to figure out who they really are.

By: links for 2010-01-20 « Rumblegumption

links for 2010-01-20 « Rumblegumption — Thu, 21 Jan 2010 00:40:03 +0000

[...] French Tales [...]

By: omar

omar — Wed, 20 Jan 2010 22:11:50 +0000

Thank you Manan, always interesting.
Sud, out of curiosity, is this “orientalim” theme still as popular as it was in the nineties or do you feel it has crested? I am not an academic, just curious. It seems to me that the anti-imperialist project still needs its propaganda, but do students still buy this particular brand of propaganda or is it time to look for a new theme? Maybe time to say good bye to the late great Edward bhai? or does that sound too heretical?
Btw, Meyerbeer’s titles remind me of another “native informant” : check out Nasim Hijazi…even his pen name is Hijazi!

By: Sud

Sud — Tue, 19 Jan 2010 16:51:08 +0000

Ah, Orientalism and the Opera, go hand in hand like peanut butter and jelly, don’t they? Of course, in German opera there is also Meyerbeer, who was the jewish rival of Wagner and the focus of his many anti-semitic diatribes. But we’re still fortunate to have such classics from Meyerbeer such as “The Crusades in Egypt”, “The Exile of Granada”, and simply “The African Woman”. That last one is a saucy affair with an African/Indian Queen who saves Vasco de Gama only to be enslaved by him. You just can’t make this stuff up.