Ghalib Al-Hakkak

Stories of Juha Ghalib Al-Hakkak

All Arabs know the Stories of Juha. Elusive character, multi-faceted, who appears everywhere and at any time. He is not a jester, nor the village idiot. He is innocent or wise, according to the situations. Sometimes irreverent, but at the same time falsely simple minded. He is the ultimate antihero, shifted from his time, from social conventions and from common sense. He is the incarnation of fake ingenuity and subversive absurdity. These 48 stories are an excellent material for the class. One can try to compare them with European literature (Don Quixote and his valet Sancho, Till the mischievous, Renart, or even Guignol, Polichinelle...) or to explain why a western mind can't laugh at some of them, or on the contrary a universal dimension of comic is evident in some others. With free online recordings.