Edward Said: The Last Interview

Documentary film evening in Amerling Haus

Stiftgasse 8

1070 Vienna

Wednesday, 2 December 2009, 6 P.M. (18 Uhr)

 

Edward Said:  The Last Interview

Documentary film by Mike Dibb

(English, approximately 3 hours)

Charles Glass, interviewer

Edward Said, controversial literary critic and bold advocate of the Palestinian cause in the United States

(Excerpts from the obituary written by Malise Ruthven, The Guardian, 26 September 2003)

Edward Said, who died at the age of 67, was one of the leading literary critics of the last quarter of the 20th century.  As professor of English and comparative literature at Columbia University, New York, he was widely regarded as the outstanding representative of the post-structuralist left in America.  Above all, he was the most articulate and visible advocate of the Palestinian cause in the United States.

The broadness of Said’s approach to literature and his other great love, classical music, eludes easy categorisation.  His most influential book, Orientalism (1978), is credited with helping to change the direction of several disciplines by exposing an unholy alliance between the enlightenment and colonialism.

Said’s influence, however, was far from being confined to the worlds of academic and scholarly discourse.  An intellectual superstar in the United States, he distinguished himself as an opera critic, pianist, television celebrity, politician, media expert, popular essayist and public lecturer.