Leg over Leg (EPUB) von Aḥmad Fāris al-Shidyāq

The life, birth, and early years of 'the Fariyaq'the alter ego of the Arab intellectual Ahmad Faris al-Shidyaq

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, womens 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 inLeg 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 authors supervision in 1855.

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

Humphrey Davies (Edited and Translated by)
Humphrey Davies is an award-winning translator of some twenty-five works of modern Arabic literature, among them Alaa Al-AswanysThe Yacoubian Building, five novels by Elias Khoury, includingGate of the Sun, and Amad Fris al-ShidyqsLeg over Leg. He has also made a critical edition, translation, and lexicon of the Ottoman-periodBrains Confounded by the Ode of Ab Shdf Expounded by Ysuf al-Shirbn, as well as editions and translations of al-TnissIn Darfurand al-SanhrsRisible Rhymesfrom the same era. In addition, he hascompiled with Madiha Doss an anthology in Arabic entitledAl-mmiyyah al-miriyyah al-maktbah: mukhtrt min 1400 il 2009 (Egyptian Colloquial Writing: selections from 1400 to 2009) and co-authored, with Lesley Lababidi,A Field Guide to the Street Names of Central Cairo. He read Arabic at the University of Cambridge, received his Ph.D. from the University of California at Berkeley, and previous to undertaking his first translation in 2003, worked for social development and research organizations in Egypt, Tunisia, Palestine, and Sudan. He is affiliated with the American University in Cairo.