The master’s thesis examines Orientalism in Slovenian travel writing of the 19th and early 20th centuries, with a focus on descriptions of Egypt and Alexandria. Drawing on Said’s theory of Orientalism, the study analyzes how Slovenian travelers—despite their specific position as a minority nation within the Habsburg Monarchy—reproduced dominant Western European discourses that portrayed the Orient as a culturally, morally, and civilizationally different space.
At the center of the analysis are travel accounts by eight authors: Frančišek Lampe, Luka Jeran, Anton Jehart, Franc Šegula Serafin, Bogumil Vošnjak, Ivan Knific, Mihael Vernet, and Josip Zidanšek. Through a close reading of their works, recurring motifs emerge: the timelessness and stagnation of Egypt, the exoticism and otherness of its inhabitants, negative perceptions of Islam, and at the same time a deep admiration for ancient monuments, especially the pyramids and the Sphinx. Particular attention is given to the ambivalence of orientalist discourse, in which contempt and admiration, rejection and fascination intertwine.
The analysis shows that Slovenian travel writers were not merely passive transmitters of Western stereotypes, but actively co-created the image of the Orient for Slovenian readers.
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