Reactions to the Victoriental issue of the Gatehouse Gazette have been pretty fierce in the wake of its release earlier this month. The opinions of those provoked by it may best be summarized by Ay-leen who noted that using the phrase “Victorientalism” to imply a “positive, transcultural blend” of cultures is “misguided.” Others have been less nuanced in their renunciations of our supposed position.

To understand the indignation, part of the issue’s editorial deserves reiteration. In it, I opined that steampunk allows the “incorrigible aficionados of Oriental romance [...] to reject the chains of reality and all the racism and guilt” associated with the imperial experience. Indeed, I asked, “Isn’t this, after all, steampunk’s very premise? To delve into a past that never really was.”

The concept of “Victorientalism” is only part steampunk however; it borrows heavily from nineteenth century Orientalism—the full spectrum of art, literature and academic studies of “the East” as perpetrated by Westerners during the heydays of empire.

Modern day scholars of area studies are forever indebted, and forever haunted, by the condemnations of Edward Said who wrote Orientalism in 1978 as a passionate charge against what he described as the invariably racist attitude of Westerns toward the people who formerly inhabited their colonies. According to Said, nineteenth and early twentieth century artists, authors as well as historians and researchers shared a paradigm that stressed Western superiority and engendered all of Asia as the unequivocal representation of otherness. Every European therefore, blasted Said, “in what he could say about the Orient, was consequently a racist, an imperialist, and almost totally ethnocentric.“

In a review of Robert Irwin’s For Lust of Knowing (published in the United States as Dangerous Knowledge, 2006), American scholar Martin Seth Kramer described how Said set out to substantiate his indictment. He “cherry-picked evidence,” said Kramer, “ignored whatever contradicted his thesis, and filled the gaps with conspiracy theories.” Irwin’s work, on the other hand, provides a much more complete, and a much more neutral study. Orientalism may be premised on a terribly flawed approach, and many past Orientalist studies may lack terribly in both facts and analysis, but the concept is not steeped in bigotry, nor was its purpose ever to facilitate the colonial subjugation of non-Western peoples. Irwin amply, indeed, exhaustively, proves the sincerity of nineteenth century Orientalists and how much they were smitten with the East and its cultures. Many of them failed at impartial study, but they were no Great White Hunters.

Jaymee Goh makes a good point when she determines that Orientalism is “really about what Europe thinks about the East,” which means; “it’s all about Europe, not about Asia.” This is precisely so and it is from this perspective that part of Issue #11 of the Gatehouse Gazette was written: to redeem, if only for a moment, if only in the space between our computer screens and our imagination, the inaccurate, the imperfect and the improper but the oh so romantic and beguiling fantasy that was Asia before we actually knew it.

Is this disdainful and snobbish and patronizing? Perhaps. But then, isn’t all of steampunk? We blissfully reminiscence about imperial grandeur, shuffling aside the slavery, the segregation, the tyranny and the bloodshed that were also part of it. We are only too willing to recreate, in our writings and in our costuming, the tastes and sensibilities of the Victorian upper class, ignoring, very often, the misery of the poor and the desolation of the oppressed. Is it obnoxious? Probably. Is it offensive? No. Because steampunk is fiction, not research.

As much as the average steampunk enthusiast doesn’t pretend to fully nor faithfully reconstruct the past, Victorientalism makes no claim at objective study of Asian cultures. Ay-leen believes that there would be no problem, “if the political and social effects of Orientalism were dead and gone,” but should we feel embarrassed for telling certain stories and enjoying a distorted nostalgia because there are still plenty of xenophobic imbeciles out there who might think we’re serious? Surely not!

For many centuries, the interaction between East and West has been a fabulous dwell for art and storytelling. From the days of medieval merchantmen to the era of the great white hunters of imperialism, to our modern day fascination with Japanese cyberculture and the much debated rise of China, the East has lingered in Westerners’ minds as an irreplaceable image of otherness.

Unlike our present day of interconnectedness, globalization and what-not, up until the nineteenth century, the Orient was very much a place of mystery, inhabited by people alien to Europeans’ experience, an exotic, cruel, and barbaric refuge for Western imagination. Critics of Orientalism have done much to cast shame upon our often patronizing and bizarre representations of Eastern life and tradition, but fortunately for those incorrigible aficionados of Oriental romance, steampunk allows us to reject the chains of reality and all the racism and guilt associated with it, to explore anew this imagined world of sultans and saber-rattling Islamic conquerors; harems and white slavery; samurai, dragons and dark, bustling bazaars frequented by the strangest sort of folk. Isn’t this, after all, steampunk’s very premise? To delve into a past that never really was. The Orientalists’ world may never have existed but its history is so powerful that up to this very, Westerners are smitten with it. With this issue, the Gatehouse Gazette is no exception.

As the yet undiscovered realms of Asia are so vastly different, so Victoriental steampunk must differ depending on where it takes place. The deserts of Arabia and the forbidden mountain ranges of Afghanistan may evoke visions of ancient citadels and fata morgana and deserted monasteries atop barren peaks; the jungles of India and Indochina invite adventurers to search for booby trapped remnants of lost civilizations while temples and palaces of spectacular wealth loom beyond, in the lands of Cathay.

In this issue, we, too, travel throughout all of the Eastern World, from Meiji Era Japan to Colonial India to Chinese magic in nineteenth century London.

There is non-Victoriental content on offer as well however, including an interview with Hugh Ashton, author of Beneath Gray Skies, an alternate history novel that is reviewed in this issue. There are your regular columns and a contribution from Sir Arthur Weirdy-Beardy, our correspondent in London.

Welcome to The Gatehouse today, dear visitor! As you will have noticed, our posting schedule has come under pressure lately with less updates than you may have come to expect from us. Sadly, real life is getting in the way of more important things and while we won’t close shop altogether, we can’t offer daily postings anymore for the time being.

The upcoming issue of our magazine, the Gatehouse Gazette has been delayed due to similar circumstances. Do not despair though; we will have a beautiful new edition ready for you by next week!

As this is still a proper Bulletin, we do of course have a number of links for you.

Step into the past at Time Warp Living, a bustling new community frequented by vintage enthusiasts. Carmen Johnson has discussions, photos and video on offer along with plenty more good stuff to keep you entertained for hours!

Those interested in steampunk period building styles ought to visit St Croix Architecture which contains “the most extensive collection of original, hand-colored, antique nineteenth century architectural plans and prints in the world.” Moreover, the site features original gelatines, lithographs and photogravures.

At our forums, the Smoking Lounge, members are talking about strange ships, steampunk in the home, The Wolfman, Project Arbiter and the death of Charlie Wilson, former US Congressman from Texas. Know that we always welcome new blood at the Lounge, so hesitate no more and sign up today!

The masterpieces of Brazilian architect Marcio Kogan are magnificent, streamlined monuments to mid-century architecture and design. Reviews often mention Ludwig Mies van der Rohe and Frank Lloyd Wright though Kogan himself notes the influence of Ingmar Bergman, Federico Fellini and Andy Warhol on his work.

The Paraty House, pictured here, is located on one of the hundreds of islands near the colonial town of Paraty, close to Rio de Janeiro. “Its elegance,” notes The Cool Hunter, “comes from the seamless link between indoors and out, from the use of native wood, stone and vegetation, and from the minimalist, sweeping vistas that make so many of Kogan’s houses appear as if they were either taking off or recently landed.”

Click here for more pictures at The Cool Hunter.