Edward W.

Said 1935 – 2003

By Jelte Harnmeijer

“… it hardly needs saying that because the Middle East is now so

identified with Great Power politics, oil economies, and the
simple-minded dichotomy of freedom-loving, democratic Israel
and evil, totalitarian, and terroristic Arabs, the chances of
anything like a clear view of what one talks about in talking about
the Near East are depressingly small.” Edward Said,
‘Orientalism’ (1978)

Acclaimed literary critic. Intellectual. Stone-thrower. Anti-

American. Peace activist. Renowned musicologist.
Said’s achievements are as diverse as people’s opinions of him. If
you were one of the lucky ones who made it into UW’s packed
Walker-Ames lecture last spring (even people with tickets coming
from as far as Port Angeles had to be turned back at the door)
you’ll be well aware that controversy surrounded Said’s life and
work.
The line of people waiting outside the Kane Auditorium was
flanked by a row of pro-Israeli (or anti-Palestinian? One forgets.)
demonstrators sporting large posters of a younger Said hurling
stones, we imagine at some innocent US-engineered and -financed
M1 Abraham™ tank on a routine ‘security’ operation. An
aggressive half-page essay by three UW academics appeared in
The Daily, criticizing the University for bestowing the prestigious
invitation to an ‘anti-Semitic’.
Said was born November 1, 1935 in Jerusalem, spending most of
his childhood in Cairo, except for several long stays in Palestine.
He received his university education at Harvard and Princeton. His
was a professor of English and Comparative Literature at
Columbia University at the time of his death.
Said’s 1978 book “Orientalism” made waves, and remains his most
famous work. A thinly-masked criticism of past Anglo-French
imperialism and current US neo-imperialism in the Near- (getting
nearer-) East, it was also a groundbreaking look at western
attitudes towards Islam.
Whatever your views on the Middle East crisis (err, I mean crises),
and American involvement therein, it’s hard to deny that Said has
had tremendous influence on both sides of the line. His pro-unity
stance on Israel is perhaps too easily mistaken for anti-Zionism.
Said was, and is, an inspiration to critical thought and analysis in a
world that desperately needs both. The university’s decision to
invite such an esteemed but controversial speaker at such a volatile
time deserves nothing less than our admiration. Controversy, after
all, is probably the unacknowledged driving force behind
everything from civil liberties to democracy.
Edward Said died of leukemia at the age of 67 on Wednesday the
24th of September.
“If the knowledge of Orientalism has any meaning, it is in being a
reminder of the seductive degradation of knowledge, of any
knowledge, anywhere, at any time. Now perhaps more than
before.” Edward Said, 1978