Portrayal of Israelias theOther in the Novel The Pessoptimist (Khoshbadbin) by Emile Habibi

The novel The Secret Life of Said: The Pessoptimist is the most famous literary work of the Palestinian novelist, Emile Habibi. The book has been written in the form of letters sent from narrator of the story to the author. These letters, either in satiric or serious language, have been written using different rhetorical styles. Their principal content is an attempt to portray the Israeli – Palestinian conflict in Palestine, dealing with Israeli characters as one of the conflict sides and elements who have occupied “my” Palestinian land. The reason for selection of the Israeli “the other” character in the present paper is thesignificant role of this element in conflicts of the occupied lands, who also serves as one of the main characters of the novel. With aid of a descriptive – analytical method, the paper investigates portrayal of Jewish Israeli the other in the novel The Pessoptimist as resistance novel of Palestine and illustrates the characteristics mentioned for Israeli the Other in the novel. Using a symbolic and humorous language and relying on elements such as verbal, physical and spatial descriptions, the author has portrayed a negative image of Israeli the Other.