Unfinished manuscripts that lay behind Palestinian critic’s stated contempt for fiction

Scholar Edward Said longed to write novels, yet never succeeded, a new biography reveals

Edward Said was clear and firm: the work of a critic, he argued, is more important than the work of poets and novelists. It is public intellectuals, he believed, who are the writers most able to challenge power and change the world.

But according to a new biography of the highly respected Palestinian scholar and literary critic, Said secretly wrote both poetry and fiction – not even mentioning it to his friends.

Related: Return: A Palestinian Memoir by Ghada Karmi review – good intentions turn to bitterness and isolation

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