Edward Said
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AI overview
Edward Said was a Palestinian-American scholar and literary critic who became one of the most influential intellectuals of the late 20th century. He is best known for his groundbreaking work on how Western culture has historically misrepresented and dominated the East, a concept that fundamentally changed how scholars understand the relationship between power, knowledge, and culture.
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Person · Open Library
- Born
- 1935
- Died
- 2003
- Works
- 152
Top works
- al-Naqd wa-al-mujtamaʻ
- The letters of Joseph Conrad
- Ḥarb al-ʻālamayn al-ūlá
- La Posmodernidad
- Orientalism
via Open Library + Wikidata
Film & TV
Acting · Jerusalem, British Mandate of Palestine
Known for
- Echoing Voices: From the Words of Edward W. Said — Self2025
- The man who predicted the future of the Arabs — himself2019
- Edward Said: Out of Place — Self2018
- Ethos — Self2011
- Out of Place: Memories of Edward Said — Self2006
- Knowledge Is the Beginning — Self2005
- Edward Said: The Last Interview2004
- Selves and Others: A Portrait of Edward Said
Works in European collections
1 object attributed to Edward Said, held across European museums, libraries & archives · via Europeana
Article
Edward Wadie Said (1 November 1935 – 24 September 2003) was a Palestinian and American academic, literary critic, and political activist. As a professor of literature at Columbia University, he was among the founders of post-colonial studies. As a cultural critic, Said is best known for his book Orientalism (1978), a foundational text which critiques the cultural representations that are the bases of Orientalism—how the Western world perceives the Orient. His model of textual analysis transformed the academic discourse of researchers in literary theory, literary criticism, and Middle Eastern studies.
Born in Jerusalem, Mandatory Palestine, in 1935, Said was a United States citizen by way of his father, who had served in the United States Army during World War I. After the 1948 Palestine war, he relocated the family to Egypt, where they had previously lived, and then to the United States. Said enrolled at the secondary school Victoria College while in Egypt and Northfield Mount Hermon School after arriving in the United States. He graduated from Princeton University in 1957 and received a doctorate in English literature from Harvard University in 1964. His principal influences were Antonio Gramsci, Frantz Fanon, Aimé Césaire, Michel Foucault, and Theodor W. Adorno.
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1935 births2003 deaths20th-century American male writers20th-century American non-fiction writers20th-century American philosophers21st-century American male writers21st-century American non-fiction writersAcademics from JerusalemAmerican activistsAmerican agnosticsAmerican Book Award winnersAmerican humanists