Leg Over Leg

Leg over Leg
NYU Press edition (2014)
AuthorAhmad Faris Shidyaq
Original titleالساق على الساق
TranslatorHumphrey T. Davies
LanguageArabic
GenreNovel
Published1955 (Arabic)
PublisherNYU Press (English)
Publication placeFrance
Published in English
2013
Pages1920 pages
ISBN9781479897544
Websitehttp://nyupress.org/books/9781479897544

Leg over Leg (Arabic: الساق على الساق, romanizedal-saaq ealaa al-saaq) is a book by Ahmad Faris Shidyaq, considered one of the founders of modern Arabic literature. Detailing the life of 'the Fariyaq', the alter ego of the author, offering commentary on intellectual and social issues, it is described as "always edifying and often hilarious", "the finest, wildest, funniest and most surprising novel in Arabic", and "[an] unclassifiable book". It was originally published in 1855 in Arabic in Paris.

In 2014, NYU Press published an English translation by Humphrey T. Davies as part of the Library of Arabic Literature series.[1] It was collected in four volumes in an Arabic-English bilingual edition and two volumes in a paperback English edition.

History

The book was first published in Arabic 1855 in France. The author did not publish it in his homeland, Lebanon, likely because of the book's comments on religion.[2]

References

  1. ^ "Leg over Leg". NYU Press. Retrieved 3 November 2015.
  2. ^ Creswell, Robyn (8 Oct 2015). "The First Great Arabic Novel". New York Review of Books. Retrieved 3 November 2015.