Harmony Between Symbol and Myth in the Contemporary Novel: A Model in the Novel “The Dream of Uruk”

This study examines the presence of myth in the contemporary novel, focusing on how the symbols of mythological heritage are employed in constructing modern narrative texts, using the novel “The Dream of Uruk” by writer Naeem Al Musafer as a model. It reflects the concerns and issues of contemporary humans within modern narrative contexts. The novelty of this article lies in its selection of a recent text that has not been critically analyzed sufficiently, and in its adoption of the mythological critical approach as an analytical tool to help deconstruct the symbolic and semantic structure of the text. The study addresses themes such as the loss of identity, cultural conflict, and the search for salvation and meaning in a turbulent and changing world. The necessity of completing this article is highlighted by the need to understand the forms of invoking mythological heritage in modern writing and to read it as a living element in narrative imagination. The research aims to reveal the mechanisms of interaction between the contemporary narrative structure and mythological symbols to produce new meanings. The study has adopted the mythological critical approach in analyzing the structure of the novel and its symbolic space. It concludes that the invocation of myth in “The Dream of Uruk” is not merely decorative but forms an essential part of the semantic structure. The study also demonstrates the novel’s ability to employ myth within a modern human vision and shows how myth can be used as a tool to understand the self and reality in a different time frame. In this novel, we witnessed the transformation of myth from a past tale into a "contemporary language" to dismantle the chaos of reality and rebuild identity. Based on the theories of Joseph Campbell and Jung, we understand that the writer used "knowledge and interpretation" instead of material power, and mythical figures such as Amargi, Hamu, Ereshkigal, and... absolute link the collective Sumerian memory to the desired future of humanity.