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Said's Worldliness

Said's Worldliness SAID’S WORLDLINESS H. ARAM VEESER This paper may anger Said traditionalists since I argue here that Said was a globalizing capitalist. Said—unlike some of his academic peer group, who critiqued him—accepted capitalism as the primary engine of globalization. The worldliness of his literary theory has closer ties to globalized capital than have race-and-identity postcolonial theories of globality. Said’s worldliness is a family inheritance from Said’s father, a mover and a shaker who interna- tionalized a branch of trade in Egypt and made tons of money there. Unlike his son Edward, the senior Said had no interest in politics or the liberation of Palestine. Nonetheless, his interest in global networks of trade was decisive in forming his son’s interest in global networks of ideas, power, and opin- ion. Looking at the young Said’s formation, one has to wonder: How could a spoiled, rich, only son of a patriarchal family emerge as an edgy pioneer of liberationist energies and radical theories? Completely apolitical until 1967, Edward Said entered the public fray as a writer trying to correct misconceptions of the Arab peoples that had come to his attention. These reductive perceptions of Arabs reached critical mass during the “six-day war.” He http://www.deepdyve.com/assets/images/DeepDyve-Logo-lg.png symploke University of Nebraska Press

Said's Worldliness

Veeser, H. Aram
symploke , Volume 28 (1) – Nov 24, 2020
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Publisher
University of Nebraska Press
Copyright
Copyright © symploke
ISSN
1534-0627

Abstract

SAID’S WORLDLINESS H. ARAM VEESER This paper may anger Said traditionalists since I argue here that Said was a globalizing capitalist. Said—unlike some of his academic peer group, who critiqued him—accepted capitalism as the primary engine of globalization. The worldliness of his literary theory has closer ties to globalized capital than have race-and-identity postcolonial theories of globality. Said’s worldliness is a family inheritance from Said’s father, a mover and a shaker who interna- tionalized a branch of trade in Egypt and made tons of money there. Unlike his son Edward, the senior Said had no interest in politics or the liberation of Palestine. Nonetheless, his interest in global networks of trade was decisive in forming his son’s interest in global networks of ideas, power, and opin- ion. Looking at the young Said’s formation, one has to wonder: How could a spoiled, rich, only son of a patriarchal family emerge as an edgy pioneer of liberationist energies and radical theories? Completely apolitical until 1967, Edward Said entered the public fray as a writer trying to correct misconceptions of the Arab peoples that had come to his attention. These reductive perceptions of Arabs reached critical mass during the “six-day war.” He

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symploke – University of Nebraska Press

Published: Nov 24, 2020

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