THE OTHER PLACE AND THE LOOKING EGO: A READING OF ANIS MANSOUR'S TRAVEL DISCOURSE (JAPAN AS A MODEL)

Travel literature is considered one of the richest narrative discourses, as it combines narration, reflection, and knowledge, prompting us to balance and compare—particularly through the description of places that form a space of interaction between the observing self and the other, and between place and identity. Among the most significant modern Arabic travel discourses stands the travel writing of the Egyptian author Anīs Manṣūr, regarded as one of the most prominent figures who enriched travel literature with dense and profound texts—such as his journey to Japan in his books Around the World in 200 Days, The Most Amazing Journeys in History, and You Are in Japan and Other Countries. His travel discourse presents an interconnected and coherent body of work that reveals a central duality: between the observing self and the other place, laden with wonder and strangeness, which urges the self to define itself in the mirror of the other. This study revolves around the follo‌‌‌‌‌wing question: How did Anīs Manṣūr employ the “other place” in his travel discourse to construct the image of the observing self? And what narrative and intellectual techniques did he adopt in representing the relationship between self, place, and the other?