Saraya, the Ogre's Daughter

Saraya, the Ogre's Daughter: A Palestinian Fairy Tale (Arabic: سرايا بنت الغول, Sarāyā Bint al-Ghūl) is a 1991 Arabic language novel by Emile Habibi. It was translated by Peter Theroux, with the English translation published by Ibis Editions. It is the last novel by Habibi.[1]

Background and release

Habibi wrote the book in 1990,[1] and it was published in 1991.[2]

Arabesque Publishing House (Hebrew: ערבסק הוצאה לאור בע"מ) in Haifa published the original Arabic version. Anton Shammas made a Hebrew translation (Hebrew: סראיא בת השד הרע), and it was published in 1993 by the publishing house of the HaKibbutz HaMeuhad.[3]

The French version was translated by Jean-Patrick Gillaume and published by Éditions Gallimard on 3 May 1996.[4]

The English version was published in 2006,[1] after Habibi's death.[5] It was translated by Peter Theroux, with the English translation published by Ibis Editions.[1]

Plot

Jacob Norris of the University of Sussex described the book as "a series of fairy tales whose plot structures serve as commentaries on the modern Palestinian predicament."[6] The main character, described by Publishers Weekly as "Habiby's alter ego", tries to find the identity of a ghost in the form of a girl who is trying to catch fish.[1] The plot starts in 1983, and the form had prevented the main character from dying. The man calls the form "Saraya" after a character in a fairy tale and a girl he knew growing up.[7]

Reception

Publishers Weekly stated that the English translation was at an "expert" level.[1]

Christine Thomas, writing in the Chicago Tribune, described the book as "an earnest homage to the ways imagination, proverbs and legends help us discern the truth".[5]

Tahar Ben Jelloun of Le Monde gave a positive review to the French version, stating that it was more than a "simple translation" ("au-delà de la simple traduction").[8]

References

  • Olszok, Charis. "Petro-phantoms in Fāḍil al-ʿAzzāwī's The Last of the Angels (1992) and Imīl Ḥabībī's Saraya, the Ogre's Daughter (1991)". Journal of Arabic Literature. 54. doi:10.1163/1570064x-12341490. - PDF

Notes

  1. ^ a b c d e f "Saraya, the Ogre's Daughter". Publishers Weekly. 2006-09-25. Retrieved 2025-07-01.
  2. ^ Olszok.
  3. ^ Eden, Vivian (2006-10-06). "A Winter's Tale". Haaretz. Retrieved 2025-07-01.
  4. ^ "Soraya fille de l'ogre. Féerie" (in French). Éditions Gallimard. Retrieved 2025-07-02.
  5. ^ a b Thomas, Christine (2007-02-25). "Stories rooted in family and foreign lands". Chicago Tribune. Chicago. pp. Section 14 p. 8-9 – via Newspapers.com.
  6. ^ Norris, Jacob (2024). "'So dense a commingling of the improbable and the mundane!': writing Palestinian history in a magical realist key". The Journal of Theory and Practice. 48 (1): 110–129. doi:10.1080/13642529.2024.2304531. - Cited: p. 124.
  7. ^ "A Fairy Tale: Emile Habibi's "Saraya, The Ogre's Daughter"". TLV1. 2017-06-21. Retrieved 2025-07-01.
  8. ^ Ben Jelloun, Tahar (1996-06-28). "L'ultime hommage à l'écriture d'Emile Habibi". Le Monde (in French). Paris. Retrieved 2025-07-02.

Further reading

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