Said’s work embodies the contradictions of the literary theory tradition
Evidence
This is not the place to indicate the complexity of the thematics of that chapter, but it is worth emphasizing that within the trends I examine in this book, Said’s reuvre is by far the most magisterial, the most influential but also possibly the most ridden with ambivalence and inner contradictionin particular texts, between one text and another, and between the earlier and later phases of his work. So his work exemplifies, very starkly, virtually all the main moments in the evolution of literary theory which I trace in the book as a whole. — Aijaz Ahmad, In Theory, 68
Categorization
- XREF: connects to: Readers overstate the comparative scope actually present in Said’s work — Wael Hallaq, Restating Orientalism: A Critique of…, 814; Said’s theory contradicts itself by denying writers any determining imprint. — Wael Hallaq, Restating Orientalism: A Critique of…, 60; Said’s critique of Orientalism relies on the same modernist assumptions that produced it — Wael Hallaq, Restating Orientalism: A Critique of…, 476 (+5 more)
Broader Connections
- Said’s theory contradicts itself by denying writers any determining imprint.
#exemplifies(0.85) — Wael Hallaq, Restating Orientalism, 60 - Said’s stated belief in individual imprint contradicts his actual method
#exemplifies(0.85) - Said’s own tastes and scholarly practice embodied the Western canon he criticized
#exemplifies(0.85) — Wael Hallaq, Restating Orientalism, 279 - Said held contradictory claims about authorial agency to evade Foucault’s theory
#exemplifies(0.85) — Wael Hallaq, Restating Orientalism, 80 - Readers overstate the comparative scope actually present in Said’s work
#complicates(0.80) — Wael Hallaq, Restating Orientalism, 814 - Said’s critique of Orientalism relies on the same modernist assumptions that produced it
#exemplifies(0.80) — Wael Hallaq, Restating Orientalism, 476 - Said’s originality disclaimers draw on authors who would embrace the very historicism he attacks
#exemplifies(0.80) — Aijaz Ahmad, In Theory, 716 - Said’s career bridged liberal academia and avant-garde theory on an anti-Marxist basis
#exemplifies(0.75) — Aijaz Ahmad, In Theory, 430