XPost: alt.books.cs-lewis, rec.arts.books.tolkien   
   From: theswain@operamail.com   
      
   Opus the Penguin wrote:   
   > Öjevind Lång (bredband.net@ojevind.lang) wrote:   
   >   
   >>skrev i meddelandet:   
   >>Öjevind Lång wrote:   
   >>   
   >>>"Derek Broughton" wrote:   
   >>   
   >>[snip]   
   >>   
   >>   
   >>>>I think it is sadly likely to be the case.   
   >>   
   >>>So far, neither of you have actually said anything to defend this   
   >>   
   >>position.  I would be interested to see you try.   
   >>   
   >>OK, here goes. The Calormenes speak like people in "The Arabian   
   >>Nights". ("O, father of my happiness, your wisdom is like a   
   >>fountain in the burning desert" - that kind of thing.) They sport   
   >>slippers, beards and curved scimitars, and the women wear wide   
   >>trousers. The names seem vaguely "oriental" - Arsheesh, Shasta,   
   >>Lasaraleen, Tashbaan. Pauline Baynes, who was no fool, obviously   
   >>perceived them as West Asian, considering how she chose to depict   
   >>them - apparently without Lewis objecting.   
   >>   
   >   
   >   
   > But that has more to do with Arabians than with Islam, right? I   
   > understand the criticism that Calormen is a racist and prejudicial   
   > portrayal of pre-Islamic Arabic culture. (I don't really agree with   
   > it.) But I think it takes a further imaginative leap to connect that   
   > with criticism of muslims.   
   >   
      
   As pointed out up thread, it is interesting that the majority of the   
   stories in the Arabian Nights actually pre-date the Arabs being in the   
   area and are in fact Persian in origin, not Arabic at all.   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)