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, 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, all the while
celebrating the genius and beauty of the classical Arabic language.
Volumes Three and Four see the peripatetic Fariyaq fall in love and
convert to Catholicism for twenty-four hours in order to marry.
Although the narrative revolves around a series of debates over the
nature of male-female relationships, opportunities also arise for
disquisitions on the physical and moral significance of such
diverse topics as the buttocks, the unreliability of virginity
tests, and the human capacity for self-delusion. Lengthy stays in
England and France allow for animadversions on the table manners
and sexual aberrations of their citizens, but the discussion,
whether it involve dance-halls, pleasure gardens, or poetry, almost
always ends up returning to gender relations. 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 complete
English translation of this groundbreaking work.
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