![]() ![]() The Secret Life of Saeed the Pessoptimist, by Emile Habiby, translated by Salma K Jayyusi and Trevor LeGassick. Habibi’s poetry was also featured on the podcast in September 2014. That’s the way our family is and why we bear the name Pessoptimist.” There I sat, at ease, thanking God for making me taller than the military governor without the help of the donkey’s legs. The blackboards were being used as Ping-Pong tables. RT Marianhouk: 'Hebrew sources: The Jewish settler who opened fire on ISR soldiers near Hebron until she was liquidated. So I settled comfortably into a chair in the school they had converted into the governor’s headquarters. Pessoptimist (al-Mutashail), was coined by Habibi to signify those who 'do not discriminate between pessimism (tasha urn) and optimism (tafa ul).' (22) Saids pessoptimism, however, is not a characteristic confined to one family. I felt much relieved at being bigger than him without the help of the donkey’s legs. “When I alighted from the donkey, I found that I was taller than the military governor. This is an exerpt from “ Research on the Origins of the Pessoptimists”: ![]() Saeed is a comic hero, the luckless fool, who has been compared to Voltaire’s Candide and Hasek’s Good Soldier Svejk. The Secret Life of Saeed spans twenty years and two wars (19) and is an account of the life of the Palestinian Arab population which remained in the State of Israel after the mass exodus following each war. On this week’s episode, host Marcela reads from Emile Habibi’s picaresque novel The Secret Life of Saeed The Pessopitmist, translated by Salma K Jayyussi and Trevor LeGassick. ![]()
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