Written Homework Assignment #7: The Secret Life of Saeed the Pessoptimist
- As you read The Secret Life of Saeed for Wednesday’s class, please consider the questions below and write a 1-page response (Times 12, one inch margins) to the question assigned to you. Be prepared to share your response in class and to discuss the questions not assigned to you as well.
- Questions:
- How would you describe Saeed as an individual and a literary creation, and why do you believe the author, Emile Habiby, crafted him thusly? (Jordan, Clair)
- How does this novel confront or confound your expectations for the literary representation of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict? To what degree would you call this a novel of literary engagement/commitment, and to what degree would you say the opposite? (Kizzy, Becca)
- How does this novel – or its chief protagonist, Saeed – comment on the extra-textual reference points of the presumed reader (the nahda, local and global histories, and Arabic and non-Arabic literary sources)? In other words, how does Emile Habiby construe this novel as the product of a varied historical and cultural context, and what does he have to say about the impact of such meta-textual references on the imagination of the reader? (Alex, Kathleen)
- While Saeed attracts our attention as a comic “anti-hero”, how does Emile Habiby sketch out the other dramatis personae of this novel (particular Yu’aad, Baqiyya, and Walaa)? How do they stand in contrast to Saeed? What do you believe Emile Habiby wants us to understand through them? (Lorenzo, Rubi)
- What do you make of this novel’s framing device: a series of letters written by Saeed – enjoying the hospitality of aliens in outer space – to friends and acquaintances who wonder about his disappearance? What is Emile Habiby getting at with such a contrived – and complicated – narrative technique? (Toni, Oakley)