For the unfortunate waif who finds himself in Turkey for the first time in his life, there is no part of Europe more difficult to make a start in, unless some kind friend such as the consul or an old European resident takes him by the hand. Not only does he not understand a word that is said, but the manners of the people are so utterly strange to him that though longing for help he fears to trust anyone (Barkey, Bulgaria, 17.). Such is the reaction of an educated Englishman to a reality which has nothing to do with the morals, work ethic and personal conduct of Victorian England. It illustrates how the contrast between the native and the foreign sometimes turns into a conflict between the familiar reality and a hostile, incomprehensible world.
How does one cope with the resulting bewilderment? Thomas Bleicher gives a possible answer to that. In a study about the genre theory he distinguishes between two possibilities: "Ideologisierung", i.e., ' die ahistorische Verwendung von Images als nationalen Entitäten, die tendenziöse Behauptung von völkischen Hierarchien, aber auch die bewußte Konstruktion von antithetischen Modellen, die ästhetische Komposition mehrerer Spannungspole' , and "Entideologisierung" - ' die Verdeutlichung von Differenzen und Affinitäten in binären Systemvergleich (besonderes durch die Erweiterung der Vergleichsbasis und durch die Hinzufügung eines dritten, vierten Vergleichsobjekts) und somit die Schaffung der Voraussetzung für eine echte Selbsterkenntnis und für eine ehrliche Fremderfahrung' (Bleicher, 6-7.).
In Barkley' s case several nations of different origin but historically and geographically part of the same area, the Orient, are compared and the results are checked against the author' s own value system. But the outcome does not quite correspond to either of the archetypal reactions Bleicher describes. Elements of both responses can be found in the attitude of the Englishman. On one hand, he claims not to have been affected by the current state of the Eastern Question at the time of writing. At the beginning of Bulgaria before the War he writes: ' I fear that I shall hardly please those … who, on the one hand denounce the Bulgar as ugly, stupid, debased, and ungrateful, or, other, those who wish to find in him all the virtues of a highly civilised race' (Barkley, Bulgaria, x.). No prejudice can be found in his attitude. Barkley even tries to treat divergent opinions impartially excusing himself with problems of intercultural communication ('I did not quite agree with him, but I daresay he was right and I was wrong - it was, after all a matter of opinion' (Barkley, Bulgaria, 17.)).
On the other hand, no "Entideologisierung" is visible, nor is there evidence for a deeper self-knowledge and the widening of the cultural horizon that one should expect from an open-minded person encountering a different culture. Barkley always, explicitly or implicitly, refuses to believe that the dominant population, the Turks, could surpass the English in anything. In the final and somewhat more reflective chapters of Bulgaria before the War, Barkley' s (western)-eurocentric feelings displayed at the beginning of the book remain unchanged:
I asked him if he could not see that Europeans were more to be admired than the Orientals, for their energy and cleverness?
And on getting an impertinent answer he reflects:
while not quite allowing that he beats us at diplomacy (though really I am not quite sure he does not), and utterly denying that he can fight any two Europeans, and further, knowing him to be a savage, yet I have known him do deeds that would do honour to the greatest hero in Europe, and display virtues that any Christian might be proud of. (Barkley, Bulgaria, 290-91.)
In the quotation above contradictory components bring together in one sentence two stereotypical extremes like the invective ' savage' and the praise ' hero' . Barkley' s accounts seem to be subjective and objective at one and the same time. They put together factual information and personal interpretation in varying proportions.
Barkley, Henry C. Between the Danube and the Black Sea or Five Years in Bulgaria . London: Murray, 1877.
Barkley, Henry C. Bulgaria before the War during Seven Years' Experience of European Turkey and Its Inhabitants. London: Murray, 1877.
Bleicher, Thomas. "Einleitung: Literarisches Reisen als Literaturwissenschaftliches Ziel." Reiseliteratur, 3 (1981): 3-10.
Last modified 2001