Romantic Travels to the North African Realms and the Reverse Trip of the Egyptian Traveler to the West
Romantic Travels to the North African Realms and the Reverse Trip of the Egyptian Traveler to the West

Summary/Abstract: Starting from the famous saying Ex oriente lux, the present study tries to argue the possibilities of Western art which is under the influence of the Eastern artistic element, even if the instruments are not always the same. We have to understand that the Western world had a double function: on the one hand it was the civilizing force, which is seen as the European individual’s ability to travel, explore and leave a print upon the lives and people visited, and the second one, that of initiation, to which the European individual is subject to. By being exposed to a new cultural environment, with a totally different philosophical system, with a different life ethics, the European also experienced different emotional reactions, from anxiety, to anger, depression, as part of a cultural shock with consequences upon the entire artistic sensibility of the Romantic period. At the same time, I also conducted a reverse analysis, from the Orient to the Occident, presenting some of the most important travel journals of the Egyptian writers Abd-Al Rahman Al-Jabarti (1754-1825), Rifa’a Rifat Badawi al-Tahtawi (1801-1873), and Ahmad Faris al-Shidyaq (1804-1887). Their opinions on the degree of civilization of the Western man are laudatory, appreciating the cultural models despite their undisguised resentment towards the French occupation.

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