It is remarkable how many literary studies of so-called barbarians have appeared over the past couple of decades. Representations of Gypsies, cannibals, Aboriginals, wolfboys, noble savages: these, along with reflections on monsters, Mormons, cross-dressers and hairy Irish ape-men, have all flowed from Post-Modernism's enduring love-affair with otherness. One wonders what the Tuareg would think, if they ever got wind of it, about being classified with werewolves and fallen women. A flourishing industry in the study of travel writing can be traced to much the same sources. Criticism is becoming a minor offshoot of science fiction, even if it presents the exotic and outlandish only to upbraid such notions as imperialist. 'We are obsessed with "barbarians",' Claude Rawson remarks in this erudite, passionate book; but by 'we' he seems to be thinking of literary critics, not grapepickers or hairdressers.

LRB 23 August 2001 | PDF Download