Mismatch: Said's Memoirs

Author: Edward Said
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2004-12-01
Features: This book records a world that has largely been lost or forgotten, the world of my early life. Several years ago, I received a medical diagnosis that seemed fatal, and I felt it necessary to leave a subjective account of the Arab world where I was born and raised. In the book, I recall people and places that no longer exist.
Said was born in Jerusalem in 1935 but spent most of his youth in Cairo and Lebanon. This is a moving memoir that documents a past that is now fundamentally irretrievable—Palestine is now Israel; Lebanon has been devastated by two decades of civil war; colonial and monarchical Egypt vanished in 1952. As an Arab Christian, a Palestinian with an American passport, and someone who was always unsure whether his native language was Arabic or English, compounded by an inexplicable British name in his Arab surname, he always felt like an outsider, a perpetual alien. As someone who had been away from his homeland for many years and faced the constant threat of death, Said earnestly reflects on his life, tracing his roots, remembering his strict father who gave him a "Victorian-style" education, and his lifelong admiration for his mother, who encouraged him but was also ambiguous and contradictory. He recalls his upbringing and the environment he grew up in. With the present self exploring and writing about the past self, he seeks to rebuild a relationship with his inner self, make peace with his deceased parents, and attempt to reclaim history for his nation in a personal way. He unites his divided Arab and American experiences, using his discordant identity to speak out and advocate for the oppressed and silenced Palestinians.
This book is also a story about exile and wandering, but Said discovers that the resulting fragmented, multiple, and fluid identities are actually a blessing. He once said, "Never feel too much at home anywhere." Ultimately, "not belonging" became his active choice.