Beginnings: Said’s Interventionist Scholarship

In this chapter, devoted in the main to Beginnings: Intention and Method, I begin by first discussing Said’s constellation-like approach to the production of textuality and culture. The second section is devoted to his essayistic style. In the third section I consider aspects of Said’s argument, especially his critique of what he calls “linguicity.” In the last two sections I discuss certain continuities in Said’s work between Orientalism and Beginnings and the remarkable interview he gave to Diacritics for their special issue on Beginnings. This interview is noteworthy in terms of how it bridges his scholarly, interventionist approach between these two books, as well as how it reflects Said’s understanding of the latter work in terms of resistance. A perceived sense of his failure to address the theme of resistance in Orientalism has been a primary criticism of the book. As I will strive to demonstrate, the interview challenges this particular criticism.