Historical Criticism In Said's Book

In Said’s book Joseph Conrad and the Fiction of Autobiography (1966), he referred to Joseph Conrad’s fear of personal disintegration in has continuous re-writing of the past. Said was influenced by the author’s work who create setting for his fiction in areas like East Asia and Africa which reflects the political situation that echoes the colonialism by superior people to civilize the native inhabitant of those places. Said wrote his second book Beginnings: Intention and Method; (1975) discussing the distinction between the ‘origin’ which is divine and the ‘beginning’ which is human creation. Shortly thereafter, he published Orientalism (1978); a book that made him internationally famous. While Said was about to publish Orientalism; he was working on The Question of Palestine (1979) in which Said pointed out the fatal violence in the Middle East and its effects on the lives of both the occupier and the occupied.

Said wrote many books, essays and articles; in most of them he criticizes how the superpower countries exploit the third world countries. Further, he wrote many works defending the Palestinian situation and how his people over night became homeless. In his book After the Last Sky: Palestinian Lives. With photographs by Jean Mohr (1986) Said portrayed the life and identity of Palestinians and how they ended up in exile and diaspora. Said also wrote Culture and Imperialism (1993) where he again criticized the Western imperialism and its endeavor to colonize the other less powerful countries. Further, Said wrote Out of Place: A Memoir (1999) is another book in which he recalled the lost and forgotten world of his and whoever experience this situation.

Said is well known, academically, to involve most of his writings in historical criticism that aims to locate the works of Western literature in the context of its empire. His works exceed the disciplinary boundaries in fields that is outside of his professional expertise. On the other hand, which is outside the academic field, Said was active in many of his writings ( e.g The Question of Palestine (1979), After the Last Sky: Palestinian Lives. With photographs by Jean Mohr (1986) and Peace and Its Discontents (1995), etc.) for the sake of his home country (Palestine) who was defending his oppressed people by the colonial powers.