Said, Marxism, and Spatiality: Wars of Position in Oppositional Criticism

Although he maintained that he was not himself a Marxist—and frequently criticized both existing communism and Marxist literary criticism—Edward W. Said’s thought and work were profoundly influenced by Marxist theory, critical practice, and general discourse: his writings owe much to a Marxist tradition and draw inspiration from the committed aesthetics and politics of Jean-Paul Sartre, the narrative theory of Georg Lukács, the postcolonial psychology of Frantz Fanon, Antonio Gramsci’s notions of hegemony and the function of intellectuals, the Frankfurt School’s critique of everyday life, and Raymond Williams’ cultural studies. This essay examines Said’s putative anti-Marxism in the context of his distinctively spatial approach to literature and culture and argues that understanding his spatially oriented criticism helps to square the circle of his ambiguous relationship to Marxism and amplify the power of his oppositional criticism. Said’s engagement with Marxist theory informs his humanism and democratic critical practice, which are all the more relevant and necessary in our present condition.