ABSTRACT
A brief two sentences in length, this chapter conveys the ironic tenor characteristic of Shidyaq’s prose in this work, as well as evincing the self-reflexive dimension of the text as a whole. Despite its brevity, this selection expresses a great deal about both the book and its author. The title “On Nothing” (Fi La Shay’) introduces this chapter using a convention followed throughout the book, that of titling each chapter as an exposition upon a discrete subject (e.g. “On Describing Egypt,” the preceding chapter). However, this title negates this convention, by describing its subject to be about nothing. The chapter contains a reference to the book’s protagonist, “Faryaq,” a shadow or an altered reflection of Shidyaq himself (the name quite clearly being a combination of Faris and Shidyaq). Furthermore, the selection is ostensibly related to travel writing (with the reference to the text’s “description” of Egypt). While here the text employs the third-person to discuss its protagonist, it is also common for the author, Shidyaq, to address Faryaq in the second person. At times the two even carry out dialogues.
