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Screenshot from Jacobin magazine and their article on the book in their issue of October 2024: https://jacobin.com/2024/10/the-pessoptimist-emile-habibi-nakba

The Secret Life of Saeed: The Pessoptimist 
by Emile Habiby

(Arabic: الوقائع الغريبة في اختفاء سعيد أبي النحس المتشائل) is a 1974 satirical epistolary novel by Emile Habiby.

Translators:     Trevor LeGassick and Salma Khadra Jayyusi

ABOUT THE BOOK: QUOTES AND REVIEWS AND A YOUTUBE FILM

The Secret Life of Saeed: The Pessoptimist is regarded as a classic of Arabic literature, and was ranked the 6th-best Arabic novel of the 20th century by the Arabic Writers Union.

"Amazing story from a most unconventional perspective. An entertaining and thought-provoking classic."
Kirkus Review

‘Shows Palestinians in all their frailty, rather than as idealised political stereotypes.’
The Guardian

‘Highly accomplished … uses a fine mix of Sterne’s ironic and reflexive narrative in Tristram Shanty and the humorous Arabic anecdotal narrative in telling the story of the Palestinians.’
The Independent

Reviews:

https://merip.org/1985/10/habiby-saeed-the-ill-fated-pessoptimist/

https://westenglandbylines.co.uk/society/bookreviews/book-review-the-secret-life-of-saeed-the-pessoptimist-by-emile-habiby/

YouTube film:

Youtube biographical and historical film about Emile Habiby.
In Hebrew with English subtitles. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cK-TcfE0CA8

Different editions of the book – there are many over the years

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Secret-Life-Saeed-Ill-Fated-Pessoptimist/dp/0930523083

The main character in the novel, Saeed the luckless pessoptimist, is a comic hero, a fool, in fact, who recounts the secrets of his life in the state of Israel in the form of a letter to an unnamed friend. This he does after he is safely ensconced somewhere in outer space.in the company of an extraterrestrial being who had come to Saeed’s rescue as he sat on top of a perilous stake, unable to move in any direction. Now, in the safety of his new home, Saeed can speak freely for the first time and the story he recounts is a heart-rending tale of defeat and rebellion, death and regeneration, terror and heroism, aggression and resistance, individual treason and communal loyalty; in short, of various aspects of a life lived constantly on the point of crisis. Enmeshed in the politics of the novel and its social complexities are the personal experiences of Saeed. He is an informer for the Zionist State, but his stupidity, uncanny candour, and cowardice make of him more the victim than the villain. Despite his constant attempts to please the Establishment, he never succeeds in becoming an important member of the Zionist secret service and he is rarely rewarded for services performed. He remains a little man, an alienated and frightened soul living on the margins of life. His immediate boss, Jacob, is a Sephardic (Oriental) Jew with whom Saeed forms a lifelong friendship. Jacob himself is oppressed by his own boss, an arrogant Ashkenazi (European) Jew, referred to in the book as the “Big Man.”

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Secret-Life-Saeed-Pessoptimist/dp/1906697264/ref=pd_lpo_d_sccl_1/262-9757260-5996123?pd_rd_w=fgYbq&content-id=amzn1.sym.bb13d3fc-af40-4fff-a822-e0e4c415da96&pf_rd_p=bb13d3fc-af40-4fff-a822-e0e4c415da96&pf_rd_r=JCGZ0W4X95JP0R6RS6FH&pd_rd_wg=bnzoV&pd_rd_r=aa6f1f6c-7fa8-4acf-89ac-9e3655fb5274&pd_rd_i=1906697264&psc=1

Purposefully imitating Voltaires classic Candide, another dark comedy which derives its humour from life's tragedies, Habiby's The Secret of Saeed the Pessoptimist is a classic of Arab literature. The story of Saeed, a Palestinian who becomes a citizen of Israel, is a story of fact and fantasy, tragedy and comedy. At once a comic hero and luckless fool, his life is full of terror, aggression, resistence and heroism. As an informer for the Zionist state, Saeeds stupidity, candour and cowardice make him more the victim than a villain; but in a series of tragicomic episodes, blundering from disaster to disaster, he is slowly transformed from gullible collaborator into a Palestinian intent on survival. The novel, informed by the authors own experience in Israeli politics, is both biting and funny.

And from:  Haus Publishing / Arabia Books

https://www.hauspublishing.com/product/the-secret-life-of-saeed-the-pessoptimist/

Combining fact and fantasy, tragedy and comedy, Habiby’s story of a Palestinian who became a citizen of Israel is a contemporary classic.

Saeed the comic hero, the luckless fool, whose tale of aggression and resistance, terror and heroism, reason and loyalty typifies the hardships and struggles of Arabs in Israel. An informer for the Zionist state, his stupidity, candour and cowardice make him more of a victim than a villain; but in a series of tragi-comic episodes he is gradually transformed from a disaster-prone, gullible collaborator into a Palestinian – no hero still, but a simple man intent on survival and happiness.

The author brings his own anger and sorrow at Palestine’s tragedy and his first-hand knowledge of the absurdities of Israeli politics to a delightfully satirical and unconventional novel.

EMILE HABIBY was one of Israel’s best-known Arab writers, publishing several highly acclaimed novels and plays. In 1990 he received the Al-Quds Prize from the PLO and went on to win the the Israel Prize for Literature two years later. He died in 1996.

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