Babylon Under Western Eyes

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

‘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)

• 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