French-speaking Intellectuals and Culture in Some Key Works of Edward Said

Edward Said, who is a key intellectual figure in the theory and interpretation of western European colonization and decolonization, sees criticism as personal engagement and a matter of character and not simply scholarship. He is highly influential in the fields of colonialism, postcolonialism, representation and interpretation. Of the many influences Said in turn has undergone, those in French deserve specific exploration. This article explores some of these influences, but it also looks at some of Said’s own representations of French and French-speaking culture. To this end I will examine how Said in some of his key works addresses, among other things, the role of the intellectual, Orientalism, colonialism, and literary theory. My approach is chronological. I will first turn to the role the French-speaking world plays in Said’s first published book, Joseph Conrad and the Fiction of Autobiography (1966), and then to a couple of Said’s most celebrated works: Orientalism (1978) and Culture and Imperialism (1993).