WRITER PROFILE

Theo Dorgan interviews Edward Said at the time of the publication of 'Out of Place - A Memoir'. Said is one of the foremost political and literary critics of our times whose work has led to him being the victim of vicious attack and death threats.

'Imprint' is delighted to have the rare opportunity to offer this very intimate and revealing interview to our viewers where Said talks openly about his family and the effects they had on him as a person and writer. At once assured and emotional, he looks back on his fraught relationship with his parents, which he has struggled to understand over the years.

He explores with Theo the origins of his work as a cultural and political critic and essayist and talks passionately about Palestine and its troubled place in the Middle East. This interview offers one of the most cogent and compelling forays into the life of the intellectual in modern times and is essential viewing.

He was born in Jerusalem in 1935, the son of a Palestinian Christian businessman, his family left Jerusalem for Cairo after the founding of Israel in 1947. He was educated at a New England boarding school, received his B.A. from Princeton, and his M.A. and Ph.D. from Harvard.

Said takes an international, eclectic approach in his acclaimed literary and cultural criticism. His work has been translated into 26 languages including his most influential book, 'Orientalism' (1978) and 'Culture and Imperialism' (1993).

Beyond cultural criticism, Said's writing is inspired by his passionate advocacy of the Palestinian cause while criticising its leadership. He is the author of several books in this vein.


Biographical Details

Edward Said was born in 1935 in Jerusalem, Palestine. In the 1947 partition of Palestine, he and his family became refugees and moved to Cairo where they lived with relatives.

He went to St. George's, an American school and then later to Victoria College. He was expelled from Victoria College in 1951 and his parents sent him to Mount Hermon Preparatory School in Massachusetts (Ahluwalia and Ashcroft 1).

His father was strict about discipline in both work and study. His hobbies as a young man were reading novels and listening to classical music (Ahluwalia and Ashcroft 1). He learned to speak several languages and to play the piano.

As a young man, he attended the Juilliard School of Music and became quiet skilled at playing the piano (Ashcroft and Ahluwalia 2). He graduated form Princeton University where he received his Masters Degree and then attended Harvard University where he received his Ph.D. His dissertation was on Joseph Conrad. He then took a position in Columbia University as an Assistant Professor of Comparative Literature.

When the Arab-Israeli war broke out in 1967, he began to review his career in Comparative Literature. He began thinking of his own identity as a Palestinian. At this time his life changed and he began to get involved with his cultural origins which he had suppressed as a child and diverted into his professional career.

He became intensely involved in literary scholarship and Palestinian rights. He has been known to argue that intellectual romantics have distorted the West's view of the Middle East and Islamic world (Ahluwalia and Ashcroft 2). He also believes that the American view of Arabs is conditioned almost by a hostile media (Search Results). He was once a member of the Palestine National Council and a leader in the Palestinian cause (Search Results).


Here is a list of some of Edward's work

Beginnings (1975)

National, Colonialism, and Literature, Orientalism (1978)

The Question of Palestine (1979)

Literature and Society (1980)

Orientalme (1980)

Covering Islam (1981)

The World, the Text, and the Critic (1983)

After the Last Sky (1986)

Blaming Victims (1988)

Criticism In Society, Culture and Imperialism

Musical Elaborations (1991)

The Pen and the Sword (1994)

Representations of the Intellectual (1994)

The Politics of Depression (1994)

Out of Place (1999)

Reflections on Exile (2000)


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Running Time: 30mins
Year Made: 2000
Price: €20 - PAL (European), €30 - NTSC (US) plus P&P