The Function of Narrative Time in He Dreams or Plays or Dies: A Genettian Reading

Authors
Amin Bakhtdar 1
Hossein Taktabar 2
1 , Bu-Ali Sina University
2 University of Qom
Abstract
One of the common forms of contemporary literary criticism is the structural analysis of narrative works, which has attracted researchers’ attention due to its ability to uncover the hidden patterns of a text’s structure and its meanings. He Dreams or Plays or Dies by Iraqi author Ahmed Saadawi is a socio-political narrative that depicts the conditions of Iraq over the past three decades through the personal memories of a character named Nadim. The issue of time in the narrative structure of this novel is of great importance, and the reader, from the very first pages, perceives the transformation and multi-layered nature of time within the work. Genette’s theory of narrative time is one of the most comprehensive frameworks for examining narrative temporality in recent periods, analyzing the formation of time in narrative through three components: order, duration, and frequency. Using content analysis and drawing upon Genette’s narratological theory, this study aims to examine time as one of the foundational elements of the narrative structure of He Dreams or Plays or Dies, in order to assess the extent of the application of temporal components in the novel’s structure and to clarify the author’s purpose in employing such elements. The findings indicate that the author, through a non-linear temporal sequence and components such as foreshadowing and future projection, has been able to create a narrative based on temporal disruption. Through descriptive pauses, the author slows down the narrative pace; through summary and omission, he accelerates it; and a steady narrative tempo is established through dramatic scenes.
Keywords
Arabic Narratology, Gé
rard Genette&rsquo
s theory, narrative time, He Dreams or Plays or Dies, Ahmed Saadawi
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