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georgehunter's review
4.0
A bit of an intellectual masturbation: he's all over the place, as befits Said's sprawling knowledge. He does tie it together, but doing so relies on a vague and philosophical tone throughout. It helps to have read some of his other work to understand what he is saying. The knowing irony of Said invoking Freud and Beethoven's late style, in which pieces were crafted more for themselves than the public, is that Said appears to be doing exactly the same thing here (in his last book). The entire speech is in service of the last paragraph, where he brings out his old saw of the humanist one state solution. It is a triumph - but only because he is so profoundly right. If he were to have made the argument in plainer language, however, it would not be such an exciting point to have made, since there is no direct connection, apart from his musing, between Freud identifying Moses as an Egyptian and the practical hope for a one state outcome. Still, a jolly romp from a great thinker - and nice and short, so you can easily get through it without a headache.
martinhm's review
3.0
A lecture by Edward Said on Freud, Israel and Jewish identity. He focuses on Moses and Monotheism which I have never read, so there's a lot which I didn't understand in the first half. Either way, as a Basque person, it is an interesting read on identity and nationalism, especially towards the second half.
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