ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses the new genre of pseudo-Oriental literature. Purporting to be written by Oriental visitors to Europe, these works commented on what their alleged authors observed around them, and often compared this unfavorably with their own customs. For example, they remarked on how elected politicians promoted their personal interests over those of their constituents, and how Christians spent more time discussing religion than practicing it. On the one hand, these writers used their imagined Orient as a foil to critique their own societies which may or may not have accurately represented either space. On the other hand, they admitted that Europeans could learn some lessons from non-Europeans including Muslims.
