Said’s Palestine writings surpassed both Orientalism and Covering Islam in enduring power.

Evidence

About Orienta/ism I need not say more, and Covering Islam is undoubtedly Said’s most forgettable book, so defensive is it about Islamicist kinds of politics and Khomeiniite kinds of criminalities (only after the sentencing of Salman Rushdie did Said begin to take public note of the terror which had by then enveloped tens of thousands within Iran). By contrast, the writings which deal directly with Palestine constitute not only the most enduring part of Said’s work but also, by any standards, the most persuasive insertion of a nationalliberation struggle into the American imagination, which is otherwise substantially formed by Zionist-colonial presumptions. — Aijaz Ahmad, In Theory, 825

Categorization

• QUESTION: Ahmad ranks Covering Islam as Said’s most forgettable book for its defensiveness about Khomeiniite terror — a sharp materialist-vs-discourse divergence worth probing.
• XREF: connects to: Said’s Palestine writings endure while his Islamicist book fails — Aijaz Ahmad, In Theory: Nations, Classes, Literatures, 371

Broader Connections

• Said’s Palestine writings endure while his Islamicist book fails #corroborates (0.95) — Aijaz Ahmad, In Theory, 371