Edward W. Said played a unique role in the contemporary Palestinian national movement. It is difficult to imagine it being reproduced by another individual Palestinian, a judgement that reflects... Show moreEdward W. Said played a unique role in the contemporary Palestinian national movement. It is difficult to imagine it being reproduced by another individual Palestinian, a judgement that reflects both Said's extraordinary qualities and the fundamental transformation of the environment in which he operated during the past three decades. Show less
In a series of interviews with David Barsamian when Eqbal Ahmad was asked to comment on Edward Said's intellectual contributions, he summed it up as follows: 'I think the singular achievement of... Show moreIn a series of interviews with David Barsamian when Eqbal Ahmad was asked to comment on Edward Said's intellectual contributions, he summed it up as follows: 'I think the singular achievement of Said, as a literary critic, beginning with Orientalism, has been to put imperialism at the center of Western civilization... He put therefore the whole issue of Western expansion, domination and imperialism as central forces in defining the nature of civilization itself.' Reflecting, in turn, on why he dedicated his book Culture and Imperialism to Eqbal Ahmad, Edward Said wrote that 'it was because in his activity, life and thinking Eqbal embodied not just the politics of empire but that whole fabric of experience expressed in human life itself, rather than in economic rules and reductive formulas. Show less
Edward Said was thoroughly secular; his secularism was not anti-religious as much as a-religious. His interest in Vico is indicative of his own position. Giambattista Vico, in his New Science (1725... Show moreEdward Said was thoroughly secular; his secularism was not anti-religious as much as a-religious. His interest in Vico is indicative of his own position. Giambattista Vico, in his New Science (1725), separated the domain of the divine from the domain of the human, concentrating on the latter in his analysis and using the terminology and concepts of his time. He was interested in the history of the gentiles, a history made by people and not the history ordained by God. Likewise Said was interested in human endeavor and history, in all that was made by human beings, not by supernatural forces, and thus in what can be changed by human beings. For Said, it is futile to discuss God's ways partly because he had no taste for it, and partly because what can anyone say to someone who tells you God is on his side? How can one have dialogue and exchange with such 'holiness' and 'fundamentalism'? Once you are one of the elect, or once you are convinced that your people are the 'chosen people' -and chosen by no less than God Himself- then there is no room for human intervention, no place for human agency or endeavor. Show less
