The Traffic in Obscenity

Sexuality, nationalism and the other: the Arabic literary canon between Orientalism and the Nahḍa discourse at the fin de siècle

“…His translation violently disrupted the British cultural presentation of the Arabian Nightsto such an extent that it was branded 'pornographic'." 115 The term "pornography" itself was first "introduce [d] […] into literary criticism, popular culture, and legislation" in the wake of Burton's publication of the Oriental classic, which also triggered "the first public literary debates" on the matter in England. 116 It is perhaps not surprising that Stanley Lane-Poole's criticism of Burton's edition of the literary classic's numerous translations should famously conclude that: 117 "Galland [is] for the nursery, Lane for the library, Payne for the study, and Burton for the sewers."…”