I first met Edward Said in the lobby of a hotel in London in 1993. He approached me as I was checking in because he had read my book (
A Life in Music
) which had come out a few months earlier and he was planning on attending my concert the following day. We had coffee that afternoon and became inseparable friends.
Edward Said did not fit into any single category. He was the very essence of human nature because he understood its contradictions. He was both a fighter and a compassionate defender. A man of logic and...