Misunderstandings between the East and the West have become so common today that the clash between the two civilizations has become a cliché. In recent history, many wars and conflicts have broken out due to Western misperceptions of the East and vice versa. For the European mind, the Maghreb, Persia, the Levant, Arabia, Anatolia and adjacent lands constitute a single entity evoking poetic visions of the Orient. While it is true that there are some commonalities between these regions, the diversity and richness of several cultures better describe the Orient. Edward Said's “Introduction” to Orientalism helps readers understand the foundations of Rhonda Vander Sluis's companions—prejudices and stereotypes—in her search for identity in Turkey. More than anything else, in his “Introduction” to Orientalism, Edward Said attempts to educate his readers. on the flaws he sees in the European notion of orientalism. He identifies generalization as the root cause of differences and misunderstandings between Europe and the Orient. According to Said, orientalism is both an academic and poetic model (Said 2, 3). Europe created Orientalism politically, socially and militarily, thus every European traveler and poet who wrote about the Orient is tainted by this construct. Travelers such as François-René Chateaubriand and Gérard de Nerval are credited with helping to create the Orient as a European concept explaining North Africa, the Holy Lands, Persia, Turkey, and the contiguous kingdoms. These romantics saw Turkey as an idyllic land, “wanting first to go to Troy, out of poetic piety”1 because they were enamored of the poetic splendor of the Orient (Chateaubriand). Although it is possible to write a "rougher polemic...... middle of paper ......net/chateaubriandmemoiredoutretombe.txt>.Said, Edward. Orientalism. New York: Pantheon Books, 1978. Vander Sluis, Rhonda. “Failed missionary.” Tales from the Expatriate Harem: Foreign Women in Modern Turkey. Ed. Anastasia M. Ashman and Jennifer Eaton Gökeman. Emeryville, CA: Seal Press, 2006. 274-82. Hikmet, Nazιm, “Autobiography”. An anthology of Turkish literature. Ed. Kemal Silay. Bloomington, IN: Cem Publishing. 2006. 325-6. Kinzer, Stephen. Crescent and star: Turkey between two worlds. New York: Farrar, Strauss and Giroux. 2001. Pamuk, Orhan. Istanbul: memories and city. New York: Vintage Books. 2006.Silay, Kemal, “Nazιm Hikmet Ran”. An anthology of Turkish literature. Ed. Kemal Silay. Bloomington, IN: Cem Publishing. 2006. 325-6. Wood, Allen, “Alienation.” The Oxford Companion to Philosophy. Oxford: Oxford University Press. 1995.