Leg over Leg : : Volume Two / / Aḥmad Fāris al-Shidyāq; ed. by Humphrey Davies.

• Superior document: Title is part of eBook package: De Gruyter New York University Press Backlist eBook-Package 2000-2013
• VerfasserIn: al-Shidyāq, Aḥmad Fāris,
• HerausgeberIn: Davies, Humphrey,
• Place / Publishing House: New York, NY : : New York University Press, , [2013]; ©2013
• Year of Publication: 2013
• Language: English
• Series: Library of Arabic Literature ; 27
• Physical Description: 1 online resource

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.

Table of Contents

Frontmatter -- Letter from the General Editor -- Table of Contents -- Leg Over Leg -- Contents of the Book -- Chapter 1: Rolling a Boulder -- Chapter 2: A Salutation and a Conversation -- Chapter 3: The Extraction of the Fāriyāq from Alexandria, by Sail -- Chapter 4: A Throne to Gain Which Man Must Make Moan -- Chapter 5: A Description of Cairo -- Chapter 6: Nothing -- Chapter 7: A Description of Cairo -- Chapter 8: Notice that the Description of Cairo is Ended -- Chapter 9: That to Which I Have Alluded -- Chapter 10: A Doctor -- Chapter 11: The Fulfillment of What He Promised Us -- Chapter 12: Poems for Princes -- Chapter 13: A Maqāmah to Make You Sit -- Chapter 14: An Explanation of the Obscure Words in the Preceding Maqāmah and Their Meanings -- Chapter 15: Right There! ☞ -- Chapter 16: Right Here! -- Chapter 17: Elegy for a Donkey -- Chapter 18: Various Forms of Sickness -- Chapter 19: The Circle of the Universe and the Center of This Book -- Chapter 20: Miracles and Supernatural Acts -- Notes -- Glossary -- Index -- About the NYU Abu Dhabi Institute -- About the Typefaces -- About the Editor-Translator