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.

The Secret Life of Saeed the Pessoptimist

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 aggression and resistance, terror and heroism, reason and loyalty, the qualities 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; a stage version played to great acclaim for a decade.

Imīl Ḥabībī

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