“THE East is a career,” wrote Disraeli in his novel “Tancred”.
Lately, the Western devotion to that compass-point has fallen into intellectual disrepute. Critics such as Edward Said (who took Disraeli’s axiom as an epigraph to his influential study, “Orientalism”) have indicted scholars and travellers as the outriders of a predatory imperialism in Asia and the Middle East.
“Compass”, Mathias Enard’s epic wrangle over the meanings of a passion for the East, won the Prix Goncourt in 2015, has been long-listed for the Man Booker International prize, and has just been published in English. The novel offers both a celebration and interrogation of the
Orientalist
imagination.
With its torrential erudition, Mr Enard’s insomniac
monologue
has inspired
plaudits
—and perplexity. “Desire for the Orient”, admits Mr Enard’s narrator, after citing Flaubert’s erotic
escapades
in Egypt, “is also a
carnal
desire.”
“东方是一种职业，”迪斯雷利在他的小说《坦克雷德》中这样写道。
（期待您的翻译，明天会有针对这句话的长难句解析哟~）
《指南针》，马迪亚斯·埃纳尔这部关于东方文明的热情内涵的史诗级争论在2015年赢得了龚古尔奖，它被布克国际文学奖长期提名，并刚刚出版了英文版。这本小说对东方学家的想象既有颂扬又有质询。埃纳尔先生的这本学识渊博的失眠独白令人喝彩同时又让人困惑。书中的叙事人在引用福楼拜的在埃及情色冒险后，称“对东方的渴望也是情欲。
