94

This article examines Schwab’s reception in the English-speaking world, based on the preface that Edward Said published for the English translation of The Oriental Renaissance in 1984. As the author of a virulent critique of orientalism, Said’s enthusiastic reading of Schwab—an apologist for the orientalist renaissance—seems paradoxical. I contend that the rapprochement between Said and Schwab had less to do with orientalism than the question of humanism, which was “integral” for Schwab and “democratic” for Said. If we take into account Said’s academic background in the 1970s and 1980s, his intellectual commitment to philological criticism, the concept of affiliation, and the question of democratic humanism, the connection seems far less incongruous. This article aims to study the Said-Schwab connection in a broader context than that of Orientalism.