Silent and supine

Posted by Victoria S Dennis on February 10, 2010 at 22:30

In Reply to: Silent and supine posted by Therese on February 10, 2010 at 09:06:

: What's the origin of the "silent and supine"? I'm trying to translate this into french and I am curious about its origin.

You don't give the context in which you have heard it, which makes it hard to know how to help you. The words do occur in Edward Siad's book 'Orientalism', in which he characterises the European impression of Asia as 'the passive, seminal, feminine, even silent and supine East'. (VSD)