Humanism and Democratic Criticism

Reconfirming his preeminent role as a public intellectual, the late Edward Said attempted to save the legacy of humanism from multiple challenges in this series of lectures delivered shortly before his death. Of course, under Said's treatment, humanism doesn't remain static, with Said insisting on the need of humanism to recognize the "Other" as a source for critical reevaluation of the "Self." Said considers the relationship of humanism to other fields of intellectual endeavor, discusses the duties of the humanist in the post-September 11th world, and explores the contributions of philology in promoting a trained openness to texts that can be "the royal road to humanistic understanding." Also included is an appended coda, discussing "The Public Role of Writers and Intellectuals." Annotation c2004 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

Born in Jerusalem in 1935, Edward W. Said was one of the world's most celebrated, outspoken, and influential public intellectuals until his death on September 24, 2003. He is the author of more than twenty books that have been translated into thirty-six languages, including Beginnings (1975); The Question of Palestine (1979); the internationally acclaimed Orientalism (1979); Covering Islam (1980); The World, the Text, and the Critic (1983); After the Last Sky (1986); Musical Elaborations (1991); Culture and Imperialism (1993); Out of Place: A Memoir (1999); Reflections on Exile and Other Essays (2001); Power, Politics, and Culture (2001); and Freud and the Non-European (2003). He began teaching at Columbia University in 1963 and became University Professor of English and Comparative Literature there in 1992. He was a past president of the Modern Language Association and was a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the American Academy of Arts and Letters, the Royal Society of Literature, and the American Philosophical Society. Said was the recipient of numerous prizes and distinctions -- including twenty honorary doctorates -- and he was first U.S. citizen to receive the prestigious Sultan Owais Prize.