Islam as Imagined in Eighteenth and Nineteenth Century English Literature

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Islam as Imagined in Eighteenth and Nineteenth Century English Literature is written by Clinton Bennett and published by Taylor & Francis. It's available with International Standard Book Number or ISBN identification 1000787907 (ISBN 10) and 9781000787900 (ISBN 13).

Since medieval times, English literature has often demonized Muslims. The term ‘Islamophobia’ is recent, but the phenomenon is old. This survey of literature focusing on the modern period up to 1914 identifies negative ideas about Islam in novels and plays. Some works are iconic, some more obscure. However, the book highlights writers who challenged stereotypes and tended to see Muslims as equally capable of virtue and vice as Christians and others. The book deals with the role of the imagination in depicting others and how this serves authors’ agendas. The conclusion brings the book’s thesis into dialogue with the debate in the USA today between supporters of multiculturalism and its critics. Anyone interested in how stereotypes are formed, perpetuated and can be challenged will profit from this book. It is aimed at a non-specialist readership.