Egyptian political satire: parsing the rhetoric of parody in ῑhāb Tāhir's Mursī Qalb al-Asad

Abstract EN

Political satire is employed by writers to voice their own opinions, using irony, sarcasm and allusions to criticize social, economic or political issues, or to indicate mockery of salient figures, especially politicians.

In this respect, this paper will analyze a literary work by Ῑhāb Ṭāhir, entitled Mursī qalb al-asad ‘Mursī, the lion’s heart’ (2013), issued two years after the 25th January Revolution.

Ṭāhir, through his satirical and political parody, attempts to find an emotional vent, for the ordinary people of Egypt, through which they could get rid, even if temporarily, of their recurrent encumbrances and burdens of life, enabling them to restore their stolen democracy, freedom of expression, and liberty by the rigid regime of Mursī, the former president of Egypt, and his party, the Muslim Brotherhood (MB).

Depending greatly on Paul Simpson’s (2003) theoretical model of satirical discourse analysis, this paper attempts to propose a Pentadic Satirical Script Theory of Verbal Humor (PSSTVH).

By employing this proposed theory, Ṭāhir’s style of writing, through which his satirical activity is delivered, and his satirical techniques, adopted to convey his message efficiently, will be investigated.