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A review by franzis_buecher
Culture and Imperialism by Edward W. Said
4.0
Read for uni.
This was a very interesting read which covers an incredible range of authors, novels, disciplines and regions in its quest to analyse how Western culture and the system of imperialism have influenced and are still influencing each other.
I must admit that I often found myself researching these authors and their works or specific events that Said mentioned since I did not know enough about them, so this made understanding his writing a bit more challenging for me personally. However, I found Said's writing style quite good to understand. As many other reviewers have pointed out, though, he does get a bit repetitive and I think his chapters could have been edited a bit more tightly to avoid this.
However, I disagree with one review I've seen that claimed the last chapter could be disregarded or wasn't related to the rest of the book - I would argue this chapter is one of the most important as Said focuses on US-American imperialism and analyses the Gulf War from 90-91. While infuriating to read, his analysis was very interesting and even though it was published in 1993, it unfortunately still holds true for the last few years of American interventions in the world.
All in all, Said makes interesting connections and if I ever have the time I will definitely finally read "Orientalism" as well.
This was a very interesting read which covers an incredible range of authors, novels, disciplines and regions in its quest to analyse how Western culture and the system of imperialism have influenced and are still influencing each other.
I must admit that I often found myself researching these authors and their works or specific events that Said mentioned since I did not know enough about them, so this made understanding his writing a bit more challenging for me personally. However, I found Said's writing style quite good to understand. As many other reviewers have pointed out, though, he does get a bit repetitive and I think his chapters could have been edited a bit more tightly to avoid this.
However, I disagree with one review I've seen that claimed the last chapter could be disregarded or wasn't related to the rest of the book - I would argue this chapter is one of the most important as Said focuses on US-American imperialism and analyses the Gulf War from 90-91. While infuriating to read, his analysis was very interesting and even though it was published in 1993, it unfortunately still holds true for the last few years of American interventions in the world.
All in all, Said makes interesting connections and if I ever have the time I will definitely finally read "Orientalism" as well.