Haidar Mahallati, Marwah Rahim Al-Rikabi ,
Volume 5, Issue 1 (11-2023)
Abstract
Fahad Mahmoud al-Asad (1939-2013), an Iraqi author who writes realistic novels, focuses on retelling and depicting the social life of rural people in southern Iraq. Drawing on artistic skills to produce well-structured narratives filled with literary devices such as simile, metonymy, and metaphor, this novelist has attracted the attention of a large audience. This research, based on an analytical-descriptive method, analyzes both the aesthetic of imagery and the rhetorical dimensions in al-Asadi’s novels and short story collections including The Cross, Halab Bin Ghariba, Darat Al-Ihsan, Aden is Lost, Sky Birds, and Muamra Ali. All of these narrative texts depict the bitter social reality that the southern people living in Iraq experienced. In the first novel, the novelist embodied the manifestations of injustice and suffering that the feudal system imposed on the peasants and the weak toiling classes (named by the author), to reject all kinds of oppression and tyranny. The second novel represents the prevailing social customs in southern Iraq, with all the beliefs, superstitions, and customary traditions that cannot be accepted by common sense. This novel is a true picture of the contradictions of rural society and its constant struggle between the old and the new. The third group of stories explicitly shows the class distinction between the segments of the same society, the extent of its danger to people’s lives, and its catastrophic repercussions that lead to the fragmentation and dispersion of people. The fourth group deals with human issues and social concerns, while the fifth group criticizes the lack of awareness and widespread ignorance among the backward classes of society. This research also aims to examine the aesthetic aspects of these works and show their impact on the audience. Among many findings of this research, one can point to the fact that the author attempts to discover the unwritten through the analysis of surface phenomena by using the techniques of narrative imagery in the framework of different readings. The author, in line with the narrative discourse and the technical structure of the story, avoids any type of exaggeration.
Haidar Mahallati,
Volume 6, Issue 2 (4-2025)
Abstract
Zahran Al-Qasimi, an Omani novelist, won the Booker International Prize for Arabic Fiction in 2023 for her novel The Alienation of the Water Diviner. Al-Qasimi’s narrative records the struggles of an Omani rural community against the dual forces of nature and human ambition. This paper examines the social realities depicted in the novel through employing a sociological framework in order to explain the structure of social relations as determined by interpersonal interactions within the community. A distinctive feature of the novel, this paper suggests, is its emphasis on a selection of sounds and voices that permeate its narrative line. Al-Qasimi skillfully employs these auditory elements, focusing on both human sounds and the natural environment, to uncover their significance and impact on human existence. This research adopts a descriptive-analytical approach to examine the author’s unique employment of sound as a narrative device. It aims to decode the significance of these sounds, their impact on human life, and their relationship to the villagers’ culture and thought. Furthermore, the study investigates how Al-Qasimi skillfully employs sound as a tool to point to the villagers’ unspoken hardships.
