Pioneered by the scholar Edward Said, Orientalism is the idea that Western societies historically inverted ideas about the West (Western Europe and North America) and projected those ideas onto “the Orient” (especially the Middle East and North Africa, but also including South and East Asia). This is because, I suggest, Martin used history not just as a force of creation or inspiration, but for grounding his universe in the realities of the human experience. Martin said so himself in an interview with January Magazine in 2001: “What I try to do is give it a little more of the feel of historical fiction than some of those other books had before it which have, I suppose, a more fantasy or fantastic feel.” Given this statement-and because history is integral to his worldbuilding-I argue that Martin reproduces some basic Orientalist tropes in ASOIAF. People praise ASOIAF because the series feels real, authentic, and relatable. This book series, not HBO’s global television phenomenon, is the subject of this article. Martin published A Game of Thrones, the first book in his A Song of Ice and Fire ( ASOIAF) series. “ Game of Thrones Paperback Book,” Wiyre Media, Creative Commons License CC BY 2.0. By: Nick Sprenger, Doctoral Candidate, Rutgers University
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