As one of the wilder critics, David Frum, puts it: “If the United States was caught unawares on 9/11, Edward Said’s name belongs high on the list of those responsible.”

He is also, and above all, blamed for misleading and corrupting a whole generation of intellectuals by his pernicious example, for perverting the entire disciplines of literary and of Middle East studies – in such ways that, most disastrously, the latter became culpably blind to the threat from Islamic terrorism.It is even said that under Said’s influence many so-called scholars became agents and apologists for that terrorism. He is claimed to have lied about his own early life, and much besides. Not only is Said accused of academic fraud – of factual mistakes, historical ignorance, false claims and pervasive inconsistencies, forged quotations. But much extends far beyond academia, and has included an astonishing proliferation of ferocious attacks on his reputation and legacy. And some of it comes from Said’s admirers, followers, even disciples: he certainly has many of these. Some of this is fairly narrowly academic – after all, the man was first and foremost a university-based literary and cultural critic. His name and supposed influence are constantly invoked in media and political debate, especially in America. Conferences, books and documentaries about him continue to pour out. Five years after his death and 30 after the appearance of his most famous book, Orientalism, Edward Said casts longer shadows than ever.

For Lust Of Knowing by Robert Irwin