Finalist for the 2016 National Translation Award given by the American Literary Translators' Association 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. 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: Book Four 1 Contents of the Book Chapter 1: Unleashing a Sea Chapter 2: A Farewell Chapter 3: Assorted Pleas for Mercy Chapter 4: The Rules for Retelling 62 Chapter 5: The Superiority of Women 72 Chapter 6: A Discussion 84 Chapter 7: Compare and Contrast 96 Chapter 8: A Voyage Festinate and Language Incomprehensibly and Inscrutably Intricate Chapter 9: Form and Shapes 126 Chapter 10: A Passage and an Explanation 142 Chapter 11: A Translation and Some Advice 154 Chapter 12: Philosophical Reflections 172 Chapter 13: A Maqamah to Make You Walk 190 Chapter 14: Elegy for a Son 202 Chapter 15: Mourning 218 Chapter 16: The Tyrannical Behavior of the English 230 Chapter 17: A Description of Paris 248 Chapter 18: A Complaint and Complaints Chapter 19: A Metropolitan Theft and Miscellaneous Events Chapter 20: Selection of Poems and Verses Written by the Fariyaq in Paris as Previously Alluded To 308 Conclusion Letter to "Sidi Shaykh Mu?ammad, Sayyidna Metropolitan Bu?rus," etc. List of the Synonymous and Lexically Associated Words in This Book