On The Oriental Images In Thomas De Quincey’s Essays

In the essays of the English writer Thomas De Quincey(hereafter De Quincey),we can see many Oriental images.Most of these images are negative and some even vilify and disparage the Orient.The portrayal of these negative Oriental images reflects De Quincey’s attitude towards the Oriental countries and also reflects a change of the collective imagination to the Orient in British Victorian era.Studying the characteristics of these images and the deeper purposes for their production gives important insights for us to understand the cultural conflicts embodied in imagemaking,understand the mutual observation,representation,and shaping of different nations,and understand the literary exchanges between the Orient and the Occident from a historical perspective.The research topic of this study is the Oriental Images in De Quincey’s essays,with Postcolonial criticism and Comparative Literature Imagology as theoretical basis.The study tries to answer three questions: What are the characteristics of the images of the Orient portrayed by De Quincey? How does De Quincey’s writing on the Orient relate to the deterioration of the collective imagination of the Orient in British Victorian era? How did De Quincey use the Orient to achieve the purpose of British colonial aggression?This study consists of five chapters.Chapter one is the introduction,which introduces this study’s research background,questions,purpose,significance and framework.Chapter two is the literature review,including previous studies on the Oriental images in De Quincey’s essays,previous studies on De Quincey from other perspectives,and previous studies on Comparative Literature Imagology.Chapter three is the theoretical basis.This chapter will introduce two theories.The first is Postcolonial criticism,including Orientalism and ‘the Other’ theory.The second is Comparative Literature Imagology,including the theory of Les imaginaires sociaux(Social Collective Imagination)and Le Stéréotype(Stereotype).Chapter four studies the different Oriental images in De Quincey’s essays.This chapter begins with an analysis of the historical context and the social collective imagination of the Orient in British Victorian era.Then,the paper critically studies the images of China,India,Lebanon,and Malaysia.Last,the paper discusses how De Quincey achieves his aim of justifying British colonialism by portraying the barbaric and backward Orient.Chapter five is the conclusion and discussion,this chapter begin with a brief conclusion of this paper,and the discussion part focuses on two aspects: how to build a platform for the equal interpretation of the Orient and the Occident from a crosscultural perspective and how to break the Western discourse system and tell China’s stories well.The study found that De Quincey’s Orient is stagnant,barbaric,backward,and desperately need salvation.These negative portrayals of the Orient reflect the change of the social collective imagination.De Quincey’s aim is,on the one hand,to disparage the Orient,hence to elevate the status of the British Empire and,on the other,to provide reasons and justification for British colonialism.De Quincey’s imagination of the Orient is a manifestation of his ignorance and prejudice,it is a blind release of his patriotic passion,and an expression of White-centrism and Eurocentrism.In the background of increasingly frequent cross-cultural exchanges in today’s world,it is necessary to construct a platform for the equal interpretation of the Orient and the Occident and to break the White Mythology and Western discourse hegemony.