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Dear Editor
Joe Berke asserts that my review (BJP 21(1), pp. 153-5) ‘uncritically repeats the many errors of fact, and distortions, which occur in Said's writings’. However, Dr Berke does not bring any specific argument based on evidence sufficient to refute the points contained in the book reviewed.
To argue (from which source?) that Said was not born in Palestine, when it is universally recognized that he was born in Jerusalem, is puzzling. To criticize Said's arguments on the basis that they are rooted in ‘one of Freud's last works’, when (a) Moses and Monotheism is the most comprehensive contribution made by him on the subject and (b) it is widely recognized that some of Freud's most outstanding contributions are contained in his later work, is at the same time remarkable and dismissive.
To depict Freud's devotion to Judaism as a semi-clandestine activity (‘the covert Freud’ in Berke's own words) affected by the ‘prevalent anti-Semitism in Eastern Europe’ seems very hard to reconcile with a picture of a man who did not hesitate to challenge contemporary views on sexuality, who developed a revolutionary discipline, who was not afraid of the Gestapo and ridiculed it as he left Austria for London. Furthermore, to suggest that Freud's ambivalence to Judaism was opportunistically driven verges on the disrespectful.
A debate on these issues is welcome, but Dr Berke takes on the all too familiar position of disqualifying the work of two scholars like Said and Rose by personally attacking them, while presenting his own views and findings as objective. The tone and content of his letter show that he is far from being immune to bias on this subject.
Yours sincerely
Marco Chiesa
140 Palewell Park, London SW14 8JH
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