ABSTRACT
The publication of Thalaba the Destroyer in 1801 marked a shift in Robert Southey's career as a writer. The poem was his initial attempt in an ambitious project to depict all the mythologies of the world in epic form. This chapter examines Thalaba the Destroyer within the context of other orientalist texts, in order to reveal the ways in which it conforms to, but also reacts against, this strand of literature to which it contributes. This will highlight the paradoxical relationship that Southey had with his oriental material, valuing the information it contained for his own 'Arabian romance', but more often than not denigrating the beliefs and customs contained within as they compared unfavourably, in his eyes, to western examples. The selections Southey made for his review provide a potted discussion of imperialism, incorporating sovereign authority and responsibility, topics that he was also concerned to discuss in Thalaba.
