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Out of Place: A Memoir (Paperback)

by Edward W. Said (Author) "ALL FAMILIES INVENT THEIR PARENTS AND CHILDREN, GIVE each of them a story, character, fate, and even a language ..." (more)
4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
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Out of Place: A Memoir + Orientalism: Western Conceptions of the Orient (Penguin Modern Classics) + Culture and Imperialism
Price For All Three: £21.13

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Product details

  • Paperback: 320 pages
  • Publisher: Granta Books; New edition edition (21 Sep 2000)
  • Language English
  • ISBN-10: 1862073708
  • ISBN-13: 978-1862073708
  • Product Dimensions: 19.6 x 12.2 x 2.2 cm
  • Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
  • Amazon.co.uk Sales Rank: 112,797 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

    Popular in these categories:

    #12 in  Books > History > Social & Economic History > Imperialism
    #26 in  Books > History > Britain & Ireland > British Heads of State > Edward I
    #44 in  Books > Biography > Political > Countries & Regions > Middle East

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Product Description

Amazon.co.uk Review

Edward Said is one of the most celebrated cultural critics of the post-war world. Of his many books of literary, political and philosophical criticism, at least two have become classics. As a thinker, Said's career spans literature, politics, music, philosophy and history. As a dispossessed Palestinian growing up in the Middle East and subsequently living in the USA, he has witnessed the impact of the Second World War upon the Arab world, the dissolution of Palestine and the birth of Israel, the rise of Nasser and the PLO, the Lebanese Civil War and the faltering peace process of the 1990s. As a result, the publication of Said's memoir, Out of Place, is a particularly significant event. This is a fascinating account of the personal development of a critic and thinker who has straddled the divide between East and West and in the process has redefined Western perceptions of the East and of the plight of Palestinian people. However, as the title suggests, Said's memoir is a far more ambivalent and, at times, personally painful account of his early years in Palestine, Egypt and the Lebanon, and the often paralysing embrace of his loving but often overbearing parents. Said's memoir is powerfully informed by his sense of personally, geographically and linguistically "always being out of place". Born to Christian parents, caught between expressing himself in Arabic, English and French, Said evokes a vivid but often very unhappy portrait of growing up in Cairo and the Lebanon under the crushing weight of his emotionally intense and ambitious family. The early sections of the book paint a poignant picture of the oppressive regime established over the awkward, painfully uncertain young "Edward" by his loving mother and expectant, unforgiving father. Those expecting an account of Said's subsequent intellectual development will be disappointed; apart from the final 50 pages that deal with Said's education at Princeton and Harvard, Out of Place is, as Said says, primarily "a record of an essentially lost or forgotten world, my early life". Composed in the light of serious illness, Out of Place is an elegantly written reflection on a life that has movingly come to terms with "being not quite right and out of place". --Jerry Brotton


Amazon.co.uk Review

Edward Said is one of the most celebrated cultural critics of the post-war world. Of his many books of literary, political and philosophical criticism, at least two have become classics. Orientalism is a brilliant analysis of how Europe came to dominate the Orient through the creation the myth of the exotic East, while the monumental Culture and Imperialism has redefined our understanding of the impact of European imperialism upon the shape of modern culture. As a thinker, Said's career spans literature, politics, music, philosophy and history. As a dispossessed Palestinian growing up in the Middle East and subsequently living in the USA, he has witnessed the impact of the Second World War upon the Arab world, the dissolution of Palestine and the birth of Israel, the rise of Nasser and the PLO, the Lebanese Civil War, and the faltering peace process of the 1990s. As a result, the publication of Said's memoir, Out of Place is a particularly significant event. This is a fascinating account of the personal development of a critic and thinker who has straddled the divide between East and West and in the process has redefined Western perceptions of the East and of the plight of Palestinian people.

However, as the title suggests, Said's memoir is a far more ambivalent and at times personally painful account of his early years in Palestine, Egypt and the Lebanon, and the often paralysing embrace of his loving but often overbearing parents. Said's memoir is powerfully informed by his sense of personally, geographically and linguistically "always being out of place." Born to Christian parents, caught between expressing himself in Arabic, English and French, Said evokes a vivid but often very unhappy portrait of growing up in Cairo and the Lebanon under the crushing weight of his emotionally intense and ambitious family. The early sections of the book paint a poignant picture of the oppressive regime established over the awkward, painfully uncertain young "Edward" by his loving mother and expectant, unforgiving father, both of whom cast the longest emotional shadows over the book. Those expecting an account of Said's subsequent intellectual development will be disappointed; apart from the final 50 pages that deal with Said's education at Princeton and Harvard, Out of Place is, as Said says, primarily "a record of an essentially lost or forgotten world, my early life." It is this carefully disclosed record that accounts for Said's deeply conflicting relationship towards both his family and the Palestinian cause. Composed in the light of serious illness, Out of Place is an elegantly written reflection on a life which has movingly come to terms with "being not quite right and out of place." - -Jerry Brotton --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Customer Reviews

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39 of 41 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Tale of cultural domination and a repressive adolescence, 4 Nov 2001
By Hmmmmm! (Manchester, England) - See all my reviews
Said is the voice of the displaced Arab. Most Arabs based in the West are there because they know that there is a better life for them, but this sits uncomfortably with the contradiction that the world order that provides these opportunities is the same one in which the Arab continues to be a second class citizen. The Arab's sense of sadness and sense of continual injustice has never truly been given the level of media exposure it merits.

This book touches on themes of displacement, dissolusionment, crises of identity, and ultimately unexpected sources of freedom and resolvings with an honesty associated more with the poet than the academic. Qualities of honesty and emotion that surface in Said's academic texts can be embraced more fully in the less structured genre of autobiography, this one written under the shadow of a terminal illness. Rather than analysing his career we are treated to an insight into his formative years.

There are perhaps two main themes: the first is education under an anachronistic British system and an alienating American one. In a British school in Cairo, resistance to the power took the form of talking Arabic: a people resisting merely by using their mother-tongue.

The second is the enduring influence of his parents upon him. His overbearing father's almost total control over his time, direction and sexuality in his early life. The mixed blessing of his mother's love, having an almost spiritual quality in the way it nourishes him and yet leaving him with crippling guilt as he attempts to develop adult relationships with women.

To relate to this book is to acknowledge one's pain, and to become more aware of the life long project of coming to terms with one's self. Though I write from the perspective of a half-english, half-arab adult of English culture, I feel that this has something to say to every citizen of the world that is willing to grapple with questions of his identity.

A must read, beyond the intellectual world.

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6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Stunning!, 15 Oct 1999
By A Customer
This review is from: Out of Place: A Memoir (Hardcover)
Fantastic memoir!If you ve ever read any of Said's other work and appreciated his adept handling of many difficult issues,then 'Out of Place' sheds light on the personal background and beginnings. A ransacking journey through his early life and the incidents and contradictions of colonial-era Cairo and all the other settings of his life; a catalogue of the experiences that would ultimately produce such immense contributions to the largely white-dominated intellectual landscape through important works such as 'Culture and Imperialism' and 'Orientalism'. Definately one to read if even if you are a not a card carrying sympathizer of the Palestinian cause and/or a fan of his thoughts on Orientalism , which may even make for a bigger reason to do so.
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7 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars Different to any other Biography I have read!, 7 Dec 1999
By A Customer
This review is from: Out of Place: A Memoir (Hardcover)
Edward Said's book describes in great detail the "in between" stages of life, i.e. as in the supposedly less interesting moments, totally overrunning what would classically be emphasised upon, i.e. the "highlights". So we get endless passages describing his new watch, where as a marriage and subsequent divorce get only a fleeting remark. For an excruciatingly detailed account of a childhood, this book although surprisingly very easy to read, is painful to experience because of the author's incredible capacity to convey how it felt like more than how it was like. Therefore we go with him through the difficult stages of adolescence with the backdrop of the death of a nation, i.e. Palestine and the birth of another, feeling a constant sense of anxiety perfectly conveyed to us by a witness, victim and survivor of 20th Century Arab History.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews

4.0 out of 5 stars A real life story
A great read,Edward Said has exposed warts and all for the reader creating a truly honest and frank story of his very interesting life. Read more
Published 14 months ago by Mrs. Soheila Swanton

5.0 out of 5 stars Superb!
Edward Said can do no wrong, I couldn't put the book down. Both informative and touching a real gem!
Published on 3 Feb 2000

1.0 out of 5 stars Poor analysis and boring style
Once again Edward Said has failed to give any balance to his personal crusade. This book fails to analyse the complex situation of the Middle East with any true acknowledment of... Read more
Published on 11 Oct 1999

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