A Said Dictionary

This interpretive dictionary introduces the critical and theoretical world of distinguished literary and cultural critic Edward W. Said through the crucial terms and concepts central to his work.

• Compares and contrasts Said's perspective with other key theorists, such as Derrida, Spivak, Foucault, and Jameson
• Describes the crucial terms and concepts central to Said's work
• Places the development of Said's work within its historical context

List of terms ix

Preface xi

Dictionary 1

Bibliography 159

Index 171

“This book is an excellent introduction to the variety and complexity of Said’s work (as Radhakrishnan points out, Said was not interested in constructing some monolithic system), and will no doubt be of interest to those more familiar with his work too.” (Reference Reviews, 1 June 2013)

“This just may be the kind of Said that all who hold him in esteem have awaited. Summing Up: Highly recommended. Upper-division undergraduates and above.” (Choice, 1 November 2012)

R. Radhakrishnan is Chancellor’s Professor of English and Comparative Literature at the University of California, Irvine. He is the author of Diasporic Mediations (1996), Theory in an Uneven World (Blackwell, 2003), Between Identity and Location: The Cultural Politics of Theory (2007), History, the Human, and the World Between (2008), and editor of Theory as Variation (2007), Transnational South Asians: The Making of a Neo-Diaspora (with Susan Koshy, 2008), and Theory after Derrida: Essays in Critical Praxis (with Kailash Baral, 2009). His essays have appeared in a wide range of international journals and collections. Translator of contemporary Tamil fiction into English, he is also the author of a volume of poems in Tamil.

The work of Edward W. Said, one of the key theorists and cultural critics of the twentieth century, has been continually misunderstood and misappropriated by fellow critics and general readers from a range of ideological and political standpoints. This engaging new book, by an eminent postcolonial theorist, maps out Said’s critical and theoretical world on the basis of the key terms and concepts that Said wielded so eloquently and persuasively as he sought to align his work as a critic with the heterogeneous realities of an ever-changing world.

Original and creative, Said brought his perspective to bear on the existing critical idiom and transformed it in ways that were of interest both to specialists in the field and readers at large. He was able to successfully combine the complex erudition of the expert professional and the transparent accountability of a public intellectual committed to a democratic public both national and international. Analyzing the ways in which his work interacted honestly and fearlessly with the distinguished contributions of his contemporary theorists, this interpretive dictionary delineates the uniqueness of Said's presence in the landscape of literary and cultural studies, and seeks to do justice to the full scope of his project and his inimitable legacy.

"R. Radhakrishnan's eloquent meditations on the key words and names of the late Edward W. Said's critical vocabulary contribute immensely, not only to our understanding of his life-long secular project, but also to the sustaining of his richly resonant global legacy."
—William V. Spanos, Binghamton University

"Compulsively readable, this invaluable book helps explain why Said is so widely seen as the conscience of his generation. While explaining Said's concepts with lucidity and verve, it also maps a theoretical landscape where a lot is still going on. With a guide like Radhakrishnan, you feel ready to plunge right in."
—Bruce Robbins, Columbia University