Edward
Said uses the concept of contrapuntal reading to mean looking at a given text in a different
way than the standard interpretation. This type of reading often involves taking a different
perspective than the author or, in a work of , one or more of the characters.
Contrapuntal, the adjectival form of counterpoint, draws on that musical technique.
It involves a conjunction of voices without an effort to make them harmonize. Rather, each voice
is distinct and equally weighted. It is generally associated with postcolonial interpretations
of texts written during the age of imperialism or about a Western power in relation to its
colonies.
One example from Saids work is an analysis of Jane Austens
Mansfield Park. Austen mentions that the Bertrams, an English family, owe
their wealth to the income from Caribbean sugar plantations. The lives of the well-to-do English
people about whom Austen generally writes are intimately connected with slavery, a fact that
largely goes unmentioned in regard to her work.
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