Emile Habiby
Emile Habiby (1922-1996) was one of Israel’s best-known Arab journalists and writers. He published several highly acclaimed novels and plays and his work has been translated into German, French, and Hebrew.
All Books By Emile Habiby
The Secret Life of Saeed, the Ill-Fated Pessoptimist
- By: Emile Habiby
- Narrator: Fajer Al-Kaisi
- Length: 5 hours 36 minutes
- Publisher: Blackstone Publishing
- Publish date: January 01, 2022
- Language: English
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3.83(9 ratings)
This contemporary classic–the story of a Palestinian who becomes a citizen of Israel–combines fact and fantasy, tragedy and comedy.
Saeed is the comic hero, the luckless fool, whose tale tells of the 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.
The 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, The Secret Life of Saeed won Israel’s foremost Prize for Literature.
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