Imīl Ḥabībī

Emile Habiby

Saeed is a Palestinian informant in Israel whose story is told in the form of letters to an unnamed correspondent after Saeed has escaped to outer space with the help of an extraterrestrial friend. He tries to gain favor by being the best informant, but his bad luck and dim wit guarantee his failure; his life is lived in constant fear, yet he is never without hope.

The Pessoptimist

The Secret Life of Saeed

Purposefully imitating Voltaire’s classic Candide, another dark comedy which derives itshumour from life’s tragedies, Habiby’s The Secret of Saeed the Pessoptimist is a classic of Arabliterature. The story of Saeed, a Palestinian who becomes a citizen of Israel, is a story of factand fantasy, tragedy and comedy. At once a comic hero and luckless fool, his life is full of terror,aggression, resistence and heroism. As an informer for the Zionist state, Saeed’s stupidity,candour and cowardice make him more the victim than a villain; but in a series of tragicomicepisodes, blundering from disaster to disaster, he is slowly transformed from gullible collaboratorinto a Palestinian intent on survival. The novel, informed by the author’s own experience inIsraeli politics, is both biting and funny.

Emile Habiby

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