The Edward Said Reader (Paperback)

by Edward W. Said (Author), Moustafa Bayoumi (Editor), Andrew Rubin (Author) "Over the years," Said wrote," I have found myself writing about Conrad like a cantus firmus, a steady groundbass to much that I have experienced..." (more)
Key Phrases: secular criticism, last sky, extreme occasion, United States, Mansfield Park, West Bank (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Review
"One of the leading thinkers of the age."--The New York Observer

"Edward Said is the most distingished and cultural critic now writing in America." --Cornel West

"Said is a brilliant and unique amalgam of scholar, aesthete, and political activist...[He] challenges and stimulates our thinking in every area." --Washington Post Book World

"No one studying the relations between the metroploitan West and the decolonizing world can ignore Mr. Said's work." --The New York Times Book Review -- Review

Review
"One of the leading thinkers of the age."--The New York Observer

"Edward Said is the most distingished and cultural critic now writing in America." --Cornel West

"Said is a brilliant and unique amalgam of scholar, aesthete, and political activist...[He] challenges and stimulates our thinking in every area." --Washington Post Book World

"No one studying the relations between the metroploitan West and the decolonizing world can ignore Mr. Said's work." --The New York Times Book Review

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 472 pages
• Publisher: Vintage; 1st American edition (September 12, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0375709363
• ISBN-13: 978-0375709364
• Product Dimensions: 7.8 x 5.2 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #244,146 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Good, but difficult, April 27, 2004

By	Jonas Bender-Nash (New York City) - See all my reviews

This book is a compilation of a number of works from Edward Said's career. It contains excerpts on subjects such as literary criticism, orientalism and the Palestine-Israel "problem." He does a good job at engaging those "critics" that came before him, and either disagreeing or continuing where they left off. His writing style is more like that of a philosopher than a literary critic. This book is not an easy read, and having a background in other philosophical readings is a must. While the book does not explore any one topic deeply, for those readers looking to find Said's opinions and arguments on a number of different subjects it is a good read.

16 of 22 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars news and reviews, January 27, 2002

By	Doug Anderson (Miami Beach, Florida United States) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)

I think the best way to understand Said is to see him as an admirer of culture, especially western literature, but an uneasy admirer. Said was not born in one of the European capitols but in Egypt and so he grew up well aware of the east/west conflict & nowhere was that conflict more apparent than in the Palestine and Israel situation. Perhaps his own background and growing involvement in Middle Eastern affairs led him to begin reading the classic western texts in a more critical way than those that came before him and from western backgrounds. As an easterner Said in his cultural studies was therefore especially attuned to the way the east was representated in the west. Judging by his 1978 study Orientalism he was appalled at what he found.
There were schools of criticism that dealt with economic realities and historic realites before Said but only a few studies had concentrated on racial bias as a determining factor in cultural production(ie:Benita Parry's 1972 Delusions and Discoveries). Saids approach was groundbreaking and it brought to cultural studies a very timely and responsive social relevance. No one can really ignore the impact that Orientalism had. Even though the ideas in the book were all in circulation before Saids book Orientalism brought a new intensity and immediacy to them. To Said cultural artifacts can never be divorced from their political context and so his work often resituates each work he discusses within the political situation from which it arose. This is often very interesting but not without considerable controversy because while Said can be quite a profound thinker he cann also be a highly speculative one as well. Many of his arguments hinge on only partially convincing evidence and so to follow him is sometimes more an act of faith than one of reason.

11 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Adward Said, October 9, 2000

By A Customer

Edward W. Said Adward said is one of the greatests intellectual&critic of our time.he has written a lot about about literature&social studies.the renowned literary and cultural critic is a man with passions . His lectures on "Musical Elaborations" "Performance as an Extreme Occasion" "On the Transgressive Element in Music" "Melody, Affirmation and Solitude"were really appreciated.Moustafa Bayoumi has done a meaningful work.it is a remarkable try to understand adward said. this book conferms that he is one of our era's most formidable, thought provoking and valuable thinker. His works which include Culture and Imperialism, Peace and Its Discontents, and unique study Orientalism will be studied in a new way now with the help of this book.