Edward Said

About the author

Born in Jerusalem in 1935, Edward Said became one of the most consequential literary critics and public intellectuals of the twentieth century. A professor of English and Comparative Literature at Columbia University from 1963 until his death in 2003, he is best known for Orientalism (1978), a foundational text examining how Western culture constructs and misrepresents the East. The book effectively launched postcolonial studies as an academic field.

A Palestinian-American, Said was also a prominent political activist, serving on the Palestinian National Council before resigning in 1993 over his opposition to the Oslo Accords.