Edward W. Said: postcolonial studies and the politics of literary theory

Abstract

Ciel'om tejto diplomovej pnice bolo identifikovat' a interpretovat' kl'ucove momenty v diele litenirneho teoretika, kulturneho kritika a v neposlednom rade politickeho myslitel'a Edwarda W. Saida. Táto praca sa tak venuje literamo-kultlirnej rovine Saidovho die la a vyechava rovinu politickeho zivota, ktora je tiei d6lezitou sucast'ou Saidovej biografie. Pnicu som rozdelila do siestich kapitol, ktore mapuju premenu Saida z literamiho kritika na angazovaneho intelektuala. Prva kapitola sa zaobera Saidovym zivotom a jeho kulturnyrn pozadim. Pre pochopenie Saidovho diela je totiz nevyhnutne poznat' jeho osobnu historiu. Said, ktory sa narodil v Jeruzaleme a striedavo vyrastal v Egypte, Palestine a Libanone je hlboko poznaceny skutocnost'ou, ze po vytvoreni statu Izrael sajeho rodina nemohla vrátit' do Palestfny ana zvysok zivota straca "Domov". Druha kapitola pojednava 0 Saidove diele v oblasti Iiterarnej teorie. Ked'ze Said sa cely svoj zivot na ziadnom miste necftil uplne doma, "Text" se stal pre neho nahradnym domovom. Kapitola nacrtava vzt'ah Saida k Josephovi Comadovi a vysvetl'uje Saidovu snahu analyzovat' koncept zaciatkov. Dale tiez vysvetl'uje Saidov pohl'ad na text, ktory Said vidi v zlozitej struktlire vzt'ahov s okolitym svetom na rozdiel od prevladajuceho postsstrukturalistickeho prudu v mysleni...

I first heard the name of Edward W. Said in a university seminar two years ago. His name was mentioned by one of my American teachers and not many of us knew who Edward Said was. After trying to find out who he was I was amazed that I had never heard about one of the most widely known and controversial intellectuals of the twentieth century. I was very surprised that this influential author within the fields of literary theory, post-colonial and cultural studies is so little known within the Czech academic sphere. One of the most striking facts is that as of September 2007, there were only five entries by Said in the Czech National Library!. Similarly, only three of his brief essays were translated into Czech? Thus the purpose of this thesis is to grant appropriate attention to Edward W. Said and present an interpretive overview of his work which is necessary before one can begin to place Said in proper perspectives as the individual whom many have claimed as a centrally important twentieth century figure. It will explore Said's contribution to many disciplines ranging from literary theory and criticism to cultural history to postcolonial studies, as well as the literary, cultural, social, and aesthetic roles he has played as an academic intellectual. It will also attempt to interpret the key moments in...