"The job facing the cultural intellectual is therefore not accept the politics of identity as given, but to show how all representations are constructed, for what purpose, by whom, and with what components. . . . Every society and official tradition defends itself against interferences with its sanctioned narratives; over time, these acquire an almost theological status, with founding heroes, cherished ideas and values, national allegories having an estimable effect in cultural and political life."
—Edward Said, Culture and Imperialism
[cited by Cyraina Johson-Roullier in the epigraph to her book Reading on the Edge: Exiles, modernities, and cultural transformation in Proust, Joyce, and Baldwin]
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment