Saudi literary critic and intellectual Saad Al-Bazai was born in 1953 in the northern Saudi city of Al Qurayyat. He moved to Riyadh and then to the United States to pursue his Master’s and PhD degrees in English literature.
His research on Orientalism in European literature led to his acquaintance with Edward Said, the famous Palestinian intellectual and author of Orientalism (1978).
His specialisation in literary criticism, born from a fierce passion for poetry, did not prevent Al-Bazai from venturing and contributing to diverse literary realms.
Since 1984, he has been working as a professor of English and Comparative Literature at King Saud University in Riyadh. He also headed the Literary Club in Riyadh and served as the editor-in-chief of the English-language newspaper Riyadh Daily.
Al-Bazai has authored dozens of intellectual, literary, and cultural books, including The Reception of the Other: The West in Modern Arab Criticism, The Jewish Component in Western Civilisation, and Cultural Difference, The Culture of Difference, and the Migration of Concepts, as well as over twenty other publications.
Al-Bazai belongs to a collective of intellectuals engaged with contemporary issues.
In addition to authoring Landmarks of Modernity, which reviews 60 Western foundational texts on modernity published between the 17th and the 20th centuries, Al-Bazai has also translated into Arabic several works on the subject, including Does Ethics Have A Chance In A World of Consumers? by renowned sociologist Zygmunt Bauman and Muslims in American History: A Forgotten Legacy by Jerald F. Dirks.
Additionally, Al-Bazai documented, presented, and chronicled many other insights and topics, such as the concept of feminism, the culture of difference and acceptance of the other, and the question of meaning in spaces and arts.
Al-Bazai shares his views on several critical and intellectual topics related to his work in this interview.
Your preoccupation with modernity is evident across your intellectual works. Why is writing about modernity and modern issues so important?
Modernity is a central issue in Arab culture, just as in many other cultures, so it is natural to be the focal point in our works.
In the dictionary, modernity is synonymous with renewal. Still, it has acquired other semantic dimensions, such as rejecting stereotypical thinking, accepting differences, and overall openness to others.
Still, I believe modernity is bound by respect for the fundamental values of our Arab-Islamic culture and all human cultures: meaning, truth, love, and other core human values.
The extent of openness I tolerate is bound by these values and intricately linked to other givens.
How do you evaluate the Arab world’s relationship with modernity and its handling of Western modernity concepts, or the migration of concepts as you call it?
The relationship of Arab intellectuals and writers with modernity varies and cannot be summarised in a short answer. There are opponents and proponents, and an ample space separates the two.
I have offered my overarching viewpoint in various books, including The Reception of the Other and The Migration of Concepts. However, the image depicted in both books regarding reaction and interaction is not what I hoped for.
In particular, the reception of intellectual notions of modernity has been marked by misunderstanding, decontextualisation, and impressionability. Still, they did generate high levels of interaction.