{"product_id":"the-secret-life-of-saeed-the-pessoptimist-by-emile-habiby-translated-by-salma-khadra-jayyusi-trevor-legassick","title":"The Secret Life of Saeed: The Pessoptimist by Emile Habiby, translated by Salma Khadra Jayyusi \u0026 Trevor LeGassick","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eThis award-winning novel-in-translation is clever tragicomedy that demonstrates the complex life of a Palestinian living in israel.\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eSaeed is the comic hero, the luckless fool, whose tale tells of aggression and resistance, terror and heroism, reason and loyalty that typify the hardships and struggles of Arabs in Israel. An informer for the Zionist state, his stupidity, candor, and cowardice make him more of a victim than a villain; but in a series of tragicomic episodes, he is gradually transformed from a disaster-haunted, gullible collaborator into a Palestinian—no hero still, but a simple man intent on survival and, perhaps, happiness.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe author’s own anger and sorrow at Palestine’s tragedy and his acquaintance with the absurdities of Israeli politics (he was once a member of Israel’s parliament himself) are here transmuted into satire both biting and funny. Translated by Anton Shammas into Hebrew,\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cem\u003eThe Secret Life of Saeed\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/em\u003ewon Israel’s foremost Prize for Literature; a stage version played to great acclaim for a decade.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch3\u003eAbout the Author\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cmeta charset=\"utf-8\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eEmile Habiby\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cspan\u003e was one of best-known Arab journalists and writers based in israel. He has published several highly acclaimed novels and plays and his work has been translated into German, French, and Hebrew. Habiby died in 1998. \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch3\u003e\u003cspan\u003eAbout the Translators\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eSalma Khadra Jayyusi\u003c\/strong\u003e is one of the Arab world’s most distinguished literary personalities and is widely known for her poetry and literary criticism.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eTrevor LeGassick\u003c\/strong\u003e, scholar and professor of Arabic liteature at the University of Michigan, has translated many novels and edited an anthology of modern Arabic prose.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Booktique","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":67651582918716,"sku":null,"price":20.0,"currency_code":"CAD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0711\/4879\/8012\/files\/9781623717025-1-1-scaled.webp?v=1791824766","url":"https:\/\/www.booktique.ca\/products\/the-secret-life-of-saeed-the-pessoptimist-by-emile-habiby-translated-by-salma-khadra-jayyusi-trevor-legassick","provider":"Booktique","version":"1.0","type":"link"}