French Literature Reviews - 2026
W. V. Spanos, The Legacy of Edward W. Said
Literary Theory, Linguistics and Stylistics
SPANOS, William V., The Legacy of Edward W. Said, Champaign, University of Illinois Press, 2008, 320 p.
ISBN 978-0-252-07572-8
SUMMARY
With the untimely death of Edward W. Said in 2003, various academic and public intellectuals worldwide have begun to reassess the writings of this powerful oppositional intellectual. Figures on the neoconservative right, who have become influential in the policy-making of George W. Bush's administration, have already begun to discredit Said's work as that of a subversive intent on slandering America's benign global image and undermining its global authority. On the left, a significant number of oppositional intellectuals are eager to counter this neoconservative vilification, proffering a Said who, in marked opposition to the "anti-humanism" of the great poststructuralist thinkers who were his contemporaries—Jacques Derrida, Jean-François Lyotard, Jacques Lacan, Louis Althusser, and Michel Foucault—reaffirms humanism and thus rejects poststructuralist theory.
In this provocative assessment of Edward Said's lifework, William V. Spanos argues that Said's lifelong anti-imperialist project is actually a fulfillment of the revolutionary possibilities of poststructuralist theory. Spanos examines Said, his legacy, and the various texts he wrote—including Orientalism, Culture and Imperialism, and Humanism and Democratic Criticism—that are now being considered for their lasting political impact.
BIOGRAPHY
William V. Spanos is a Distinguished Professor of English and comparative literature at Binghamton University. A founding editor of the critical journal boundary 2, he is the author of several books, including America's Shadow: An Anatomy of Empire.
The intellectual legacy of Edward W. Said has been a subject of significant debate since his death in 2003, drawing divergent interpretations from both the political right and left. While neoconservative commentators have sought to discredit his critiques of American global authority, many left-leaning intellectuals have sought to distance his humanism from the theoretical frameworks of contemporaneous poststructuralist thinkers. Within this broader landscape of critical reception, William V. Spanos examines texts such as Orientalism, Culture and Imperialism, and Humanism and Democratic Criticism.
William V. Spanos is a Distinguished Professor of English and comparative literature at Binghamton University, a founding editor of the critical journal boundary 2, and the author of several books, including America's Shadow: An Anatomy of Empire. Readers interested in contemporary critical theory, postcolonial studies, and the intersections of literature and politics may find this assessment relevant to their inquiries.