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Edward Said (1935 – 2003)

Edward  Said  is  one  of  the very famous Palestinian writers. He was born in 1935 in Jerusalem, Palestine. In the 1947 partition of Palestine, he

and his family became refugees and moved to Cairo where they lived with relatives.

His father was strict about discipline in both work and study. His hobbies as a young man were reading novels and listening to classical music. He learned to speak several languages and to play the piano.

He graduated form Princeton University (USA) where he received his Masters Degree and then attended Harvard University (USA) where he received his Ph.D. He then took a position in Columbia University (USA) as an Assistant Professor of Comparative Literature.

                

When the Arab-Israeli war broke out in 1967, he began to review his career in Comparative Literature. He began thinking of his own identity as a Palestinian. At this time his life changed and he began to get involved with his cultural origins. He became intensely interested in literary scholarship and Palestinian rights. He was once a member of the Palestine National Council and a leader in the Palestinian cause.

Edward Said wrote many important books, like Beginnings (1975), The Question of Palestine (1979), Orientalism (1980), Literature and Society (1980),                   Musical Elaborations (1991), Out of

Place (1999), Reflections on Exile (2000), etc. He died on Thursday, September 25, 2003.