Edward Said Exile Summary

Title: A critical study: How Edward Said explicated the predicament of Exile through the works of 20th century novelists.

Introduction:

Postcolonial theory is the body of theoretical work, which is a study of colonial discourse and is usually called ‘postcolonial criticism’. It has pointed out the historical effect of colonialism and criticizing their persistence in contemporary culture, politics, philosophy and literature. So the attempting to discuss the theory of the postcolonial throughout critique various forms of imperialism and open a space for such critique because the theorists have struggled to accept the resistant power of the individual postcolonial means. However, the greater significance of postcolonial theory

He was a public intellectual and professor of Comparative literature at Columbia University. Said has influenced with Foucault’s poststructuralism, especially in his early works, because he could connect the theory of discourse with real social and political struggles. His theoretical of postcolonial and especially exile has revived as well as challenged throughout understanding ‘culture’ and developing new ways of thinking beyond the restrictions of the nation state. The theme of ‘exile’ is essential in his critical works so he has used it in two sides, one of them, as a political using when he mentions representing painful and unfair in the situation of a people, who they are in the awful position of being exiles. The other one, he uses ‘exile’ as a metaphor to show his idea to the role of the modern intellectual, who needs a critical perspective to examine his culture. His theoretical of exile has revived throughout the challenging that he had faced to understand ‘culture’ and develop new ways of thinking beyond the restrictions of the nation state. Said in his book ‘Out of Place: A Memoir’, shows the autobiographical origins of his interest in ‘exile’ as a political state and a critical

S. Naipaul, their works endure amazingly similar descriptions of the relationship between exile and writing. Both of them assert that exilic writing can lead to valued self – knowledge. Though, Said asserts that writing is an act of engagement which leads to new associations, but Naipaul 's writing offers a place of support which he can reconsider his life with clearer vision. According to a similarity in thinking between them, it will be useful to examine the theme of exile in two of Naipaul’s novels “The Mimic Men” and “The Enigma of Arrival.”

Research questions:

1. How does the postcolonial theory differentiate from the historical postcolonial?

2. How could Edward Said build his theory of exile in relation to the other postcolonial theorists (Homi Bhabha, and Gayatri Spivak)?

3. What is the theory of Exile?

4. How did the contemporary writers (Joseph Conrad, James Joyce, and V. S. Naipaul) become English writers?

5. How could (Joseph Conrad, James Joyce, and V. S. Naipaul) reflect the theme of exile in their later works?

6. How did Said deal with the explicated of the predicament of exile through the relationship with modern writers?

7. What is the arguments of postcolonial thinkers on the work of James Joyce?