Leg over Leg: Volume Two: 27 (Library of Arabic Literature) - Hardcover

Al-Shidyāq, Aḥmad Fāris

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0814769845 ISBN 13: 9780814769843

Publisher: NYU Press, 2013

Synopsis

Leg over Leg recounts the life, from birth to middle age, of ‘the Fariyaq,’ alter ego of Ahmad Faris al-Shidyaq, a pivotal figure in the intellectual and literary history of the modern Arab world. The always edifying and often hilarious adventures of the Fariyaq, as he moves from his native Lebanon to Egypt, Malta, Tunis, England and France, provide the author with grist for wide-ranging discussions of the intellectual and social issues of his time, including the ignorance and corruption of the Lebanese religious and secular establishments, freedom of conscience, women’s rights, sexual relationships between men and women, the manners and customs of Europeans and Middle Easterners, and the differences between contemporary European and Arabic literatures. Al-Shidyaq also celebrates the genius and beauty of the classical Arabic language. Akin to Sterne and Rabelais in his satirical outlook and technical inventiveness, al-Shidyaq produced in Leg Over Leg a work that is unique and unclassifiable. It was initially widely condemned for its attacks on authority, its religious skepticism, and its “obscenity,” and later editions were often abridged. This is the first English translation of the work and reproduces the original Arabic text, published under the author’s supervision in 1855.

About this title

Review

"Its contemporaneity is astonishing... Itwould be doing Leg Over Leg a massive disservice to not makeit clear how funny it is. This is a book that for all its challenges, all itsinsight into humanity, all its place in history, had me regularly laughing outloud."-Music and Literature

"Al-Shidyaq, born inLebanon in the early years of the nineteenth century, was a Zelig of the Arabicliterary world, and his Leg Over Leg is a bawdy,hilarious, epically word-obsessed, and unclassifiable book, which has neverbeen translated into English before..."

-MobyLives

"...Leg Over Leg by the Lebanese intellectual Ahmad Faris al-Shidyaq, [has] long been held to be untranslatable and so [is] appearing, in [its] entirety, in English for the first time."-Lydia Wilson,Times Literary Supplement

"It is not too earlyto state that the publication of this work, in this edition, is a game-changer.This is a foundational work of modern Arabic literature and its publication inEnglish is long overdue ― but given how it is presented here, it was perhapsworth the wait. This edition, with helpful endnotes, the original Arabic text,and in a translation that both reads well and appears to closely mirror theoriginal, seems, in almost every way, ideal... I don’t think I’m exaggeratingwhen I say that this is the most important literary publication of atranslation into English, in terms of literary history and our understanding ofit, in years."

-The Complete Review

"Humphrey Davies’ translation, published in four dual-language volumes, is a triumph. He skillfully renders punning, rhyming prose without breaking the spell... Leg Over Leg stands out for both its stylistic brazenness and the excellence of the translation. With this bilingual edition, the Library of Arabic Literature helps fill a large cultural gap and alters our view of Arabic literature and the formal trajectory of the novel outside the West. Any reader for whom the term ‘world literature’ is more than an empty platitude must read Humphrey Davies's translation."-John Yargo,Los Angeles Review of Books

"With this impressive edition and translation, Humphrey Davies has rendered one of the most challenging texts of Arabic literature, al-Shidyaq's al-Saq 'ala l-saq, accessible to a wide range of readers for the first time.... The reader is plunged into al-Shidyaq's critical, humorous, uninhibited, sometimes bitter but profoundly humane, and utterly original masterpiece."-Hilary Kilpatrick,Journal of the American Oriental Society

"We're having a particularly good season for literary discoveries from the past, with recent publications of Volumes 1 and 2 of Ahmad Faris al-Shidyaq's 'Leg Over Leg' (1855)..."-Martin Riker,New York Times Book Review

"Humphrey Davies’s masterful translation makes accessible this unique and fascinating work, deserving of wider recognition and study [...] The translation adroitly and sympathetically captures the linguistic exuberance and literary inventiveness of the original."-Banipal Magazine

“The heroic achievement of award-winning translator Humphrey Davies marks the first ever English translation of this pivotal work... An accessible, informative, and highly entertaining read.”

-Banipal Magazine

About the Author

Ahmad Faris al-Shidyaq (1805 or 1806-1887) was a foundational figure in modern Arabic literature. Born to a prominent Maronite family in Lebanon, al-Shidyaq was a pioneering publisher, poet, essayist, lexicographer and translator. Known as "the father of Arabic journalism," al-Shidyaq played a major role in reviving and modernizing the Arabic language.

Edition details

• Publisher: NYU Press
• Publication date: 2013
• ISBN 10: 0814769845
• ISBN 13: 9780814769843
• Binding: Hardcover
• Language: English
• Number of pages: 464