Actual travel experience leaves Orientalist preconceptions entirely undisturbed

Evidence

Many of the attitudes he repeats are canonical, of course, but it is interesting how little the experience of actually seeing the Orient affected his opinions. Like many other travelers he is more interested in remaking himself and the Orient (dead and dry—a mental mummy) than he is in seeing what there is to be seen. Every being he encounters merely corroborates his belief that Easterners are best dealt with when intimidated, and what better instrument of intimidation than a sovereign Western ego? En route to Suez across the desert, alone, he glories in his self-sufficiency and power: “I was here in this African desert, and I myself, and no other, had charge of my life.” It is for the comparatively useless purpose of letting Kinglake take hold of himself that the Orient serves him. — Edward W. Said, Orientalism, 493

Categorization

• XREF: Directly supports the scaffold point that Orientalism is self-referential and circular: the Orient confirms pre-existing beliefs; connects to ‘self-formation’ theme and later Islamophobia readings on representations outstripping reality. — connects to: Travel yields little the traveler did not already possess perceptively — Freeman Tilden, Interpreting Our Heritage, 661
• corroborated: 2 independent passages support this claim — Edward W. Said, Orientalism, 493