Babylon Under Western Eyes

Andrew Scheil is the Donald V. Hawkins Associate Professor of English at the University of Minnesota.

• IntroductionPart I: Babylon as Political MetaphorChapter One: The Political Image of Babylon in AntiquityChapter Two: Political Babylon in Late Antiquity and the Early Middle AgesChapter Three: Political Babylon from the Great Schism to the PresentPart II: Babylon as Degenerate ArchetypeChapter Four: The Medieval Genealogy of Babylonian Degeneracy: The Cursed RaceChapter Five: The Post-Medieval Genealogy of Babylonian Degeneracy and the Cursed Race ArchetypePart III: Babylon as Sublime ToposChapter Six: City of RuinsChapter Seven: Babylon and the Coordinates of RomanceConclusion

‘A superb work of multidisciplinary scholarship, Scheil’s study will be of interest in a variety of academic disciplines, as it masterfully weaves together textual and historical analysis… Highly recommended.’- M.Roberts (Choice, vol 54:03:2016) ‘Scheil has done a tremendous job of winnowing a near-endless supply of material down to essential cultural grains… An ambitious, often challenging, and almost always entertaining and engaging monograph.’- Jay Rubenstein (The Medieval Review, December 2016) ‘Babylon under Western Eyes is a fascinating study of an important word that has shaped western culture in powerful ways.’- Alice Ogden Bellis (Modern Philology vol 115:01:2017) "This book is a major achievement and will contribute a great deal to critical conversations in the areas of medievalism and race studies as well as to growing scholarship on genre fiction."- Carl Kears. King's College London (University of Toronto Quarterly, vol 87 3, Summer 2018) "In Babylon under Western Eyes, Andrew Scheil has created a remarkable piece of literary criticism: by following his subject across a range of languages, eras, disciplines, and genres, he traces the history of a metaphor that is simultaneously grounded in historical thinking and that exceeds the sum of its historical parts."- Mary Kate Hurley, Ohio University (Speculum)