Edward Said : The Charisma of Criticism

273 Pages·2010·3.344 MB·English

by  H. Aram Veeser

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Edward Said
The Charisma of Criticism
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b This insightful critical biography shows us an Edward Said we did not
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know. H. Aram Veeser brings forth not the Said of tabloid culture, or
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e Said the remote philosopher, but the actual man, embedded in the pol-
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itics of the Middle East but soaked in the values of the West and strug-
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0 gling to advance the best European ideas. Veeser shows the organic ties
7 connecting his life, politics, and criticism.
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4: Drawing on what he learned over 35 years as Said’s student and
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t skeptical admirer, Veeser uses never-before-published interviews, debate
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] transcripts, and photographs to discover a Said who had few inhibitions
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t and loathed conventional routine. He stood for originality, loved unique
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r ideas, wore marvelous clothes, and fought with molten fury. For twenty
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v years he embraced and rejected, at the same time, not only the West,
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U but also literary theory and the PLO. At last, his disgust with business-
g as-usual politics and criticism marooned him on the sidelines of both.
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i The candid tale of Said’s rise from elite academic precincts to the
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a world stage transforms not only our understanding of Said—the man
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and the myth—but also our perception of how intellectuals can make
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y their way in the world.
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e H. Aram Veeser is Associate Professor at The City College of New
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a York. He is co-author of Painting Between the Lines (2001), and editor
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nl of The New Historicism (1989), The New Historicism Reader (1994),
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Confessions of the Critics (1996), and The Stanley Fish Reader (1999).
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D Besides his work as a writer and critic, Veeser pursues outside interests
that range from drawing and painting to motorcycling and competitive
rowing.
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Edward Said
The Charisma of Criticism
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First published 2010
2 by Routledge
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0 270 Madison Avenue, New York, NY 10016
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r Simultaneously published in the UK
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b by Routledge
m 2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN
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c Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business
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9 This edition published in the Taylor & Francis e-Library, 2010.
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7 To purchase your own copy of this or any of Taylor & Francis or Routledge’s
2 collection of thousands of eBooks please go to www.eBookstore.tandf.co.uk.
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1 © 2010 Taylor & Francis
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a
] All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced
y or utilized in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means,
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s now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording,
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e or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in
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ni writing from the publishers.
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g Trademark Notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or
n registered trademarks, and are used only for identification and
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j explanation without intent to infringe.
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a
N Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
y [ Veeser, H. Aram (Harold Aram), 1950–
b Edward Said : the charisma of criticism / Harold Aram Veeser.
d p. cm.
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d Includes bibliographical references and index.
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o 1. Said, Edward W. 2. Critics–United States–Biography. 3. Intellectuals–
nl United States–Biography. 4. Scholars–United States–Biography.
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5. Palestinian Americans–Biography. I. Title.
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D CB18.S25V44 2009
801'.95092–dc22 2009032554
ISBN 0-203-84619-2 Master e-book ISBN
ISBN10: 0-415-90264-9 (hbk)
ISBN10: 0-203-84619-2 (ebk)
ISBN13: 978-0-415-90264-9 (hbk)
ISBN13: 978-0-203-84619-3 (ebk)
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b For Cyrus
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Contents
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b Abbreviations ix
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e Foreword x
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0 A Note on the Title of this Book xii
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: 1. The Charisma of Edward Said 1
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t Discursion 1 (“That Bastard, Said”) 20
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y 2. Beginning Again 23
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r Discursion 2 (“Your Name Is Aram”) 36
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n 3. Emergence 40
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g Discursion 3 (“Before He Was An Arab”) 57
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a 4. Academostardom 61
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[ Discursion 4 (“Smart Jewish Boys”) 81
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d 5. Secular Criticism 83
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d Discursion 5 (The Way He Taught Then) 103
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w 6. Rhetoric and Image 106
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D Discursion 6 (Ambition) 113
7. On Stage 116
Discursion 7 (“Up to the Standard”) 136
8. Later Visions 139
Discursion 8 (Abu- Machiavelli) 156
9. Marquee Intellectual 158
Discursion 9 (“I’m Very Upset”) 172
viii • Contents
10. Political Roughhouse 175
Discursion 10 (“Partial Credit”) 191
11. Dropping the PLO 194
Discursion 11 (“Wonderful Cheeses”) 202
12. Said in History 204
Notes 221
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1 Bibliography of Works Cited 246
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r Index 255
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Abbreviations
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b B Beginnings (1975)
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e CI Culture and Imperialism (1993)
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D JC Joseph Conrad and the Fiction of Autobiography
9 (1966)
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7 Late On Late Style: Music and Literature Against the Grain
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4 (2006)
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at ME Musical Elaborations (1991)
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y O Orientalism (1978)
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rs OofP Out of Place: A Memoir (1999)
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v PolD The Politics of Dispossession (1995)
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U QP The Question of Palestine (1979)
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n RI Representations of the Intellectual (1994)
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n RoE Reflections on Exile and Other Essays (2000)
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Sky After the Last Sky (1986)
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y WTC The World, the Text, and the Critic (1983)
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