Sadegh Hashemi Amjad , Mehdi Khorrami Sarhouzaki, Hassan Majidi, Seyed Mehdi Nouri Kizghani ,
Volume 5, Issue 1 (11-2023)
Abstract
Algirdas Julien Greimas is famous for developing the Actantial Model, a narrative strategy that addresses characters’ actions and behaviors. Action determines the form and type of events and phenomena including animate creatures, objects, animals, an idea, and everything that exerts influence on the world of the narrative text. The Actantial Model has six components: The subject, an object, The sender, the receiver, a helper, and an opponent. These six actants form three axes of description: The axis of desire, The axis of power, and the axis of transmission. This study adopts a descriptive-analytical approach to examine the textual richness of Al-Hariri’s Samarqandiya Maqamat which has attracted numerous readers. The Actantial Model is applied to Samarqandiya Maqamat based on the dual relationships between the six components, each of which plays more than one role in their relationships.
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.
Salahaldin Abdi , Akram Zolfaghary,
Volume 5, Issue 1 (11-2023)
Abstract
Deconstruction, one of the critical trends of postmodernism, was pioneered by Jacques Derrida a French-born Algerian critic. A reading strategy, not a literary method or theory, Deconstruction focuses on the reader rather than the text or the author. In this reading strategy, language is considered deceptive, unstable, ambiguous, and unreliable which is recreated by the reader. The most important terms in this strategy are writing, differance and deferral, proliferation, dispersion, and trace. This study analyzes one of Zakaria Tamer’s short stories entitled “Oh, the Forgotten Cherry” from the Damascus is Burnt collection to identify/address its deconstructive elements. The significance of this study which adopts a descriptive-analytical method lies in opening a new window toward the ubiquity of meaning in a literary text. This study addresses the differance in meaning due to the dispersal of textual elements. The dichotomy between innocence and greed is the most contradictory duality in the short story where the author deconstructs slavery.
Atefeh Baziyar , Shahriar Hemmati , Ali Salimi, Touraj Zeinivand,
Volume 5, Issue 1 (11-2023)
Abstract
Dystopia, a significant literary subgenre, is diametrically opposed to the utopia that poets and writers longed to achieve. Dystopian literature broadly portrays the destructive consequences of political, social, and industrial clashes. In other words, this type of literary subgenre mirrors the dark side of the society which is replete with misery and agony. Since novels are mainly the product of societal events, dystopia is more widely reflected in novels than in other literary genres.
Ahmad Saadawi, a contemporary Iraqi novelist, in Frankenstein in Baghdad, has depicted life in Baghdad with extreme pessimism concerning the reality of human life in the contemporary world. In this novel, the author has depicted the dangerous effects of political and social structures on the future of humanity especially the people of Baghdad. He depicts the detrimental effects of the American invasion of Iraq leaving the country in an abysmal situation. The novel is a fearsome portrayal of such a torn-apart society. In every line of the novel, signs of dystopian life are horrifically pictured.
This research, based on a descriptive-analytical method, examines dystopian components such as moral degradation and degradation, criminal actions, deprivation of security, chaos, violence, destruction of peaceful life components, and enforced migration. The novel is a frightening image of a disjointed society plagued by unfortunate events.
Kobra Roshanfekr, Nazal Hasan Jatool, Hadi Nazarimonazam, Maha Halal Mohammad,
Volume 5, Issue 2 (12-2023)
Abstract
As each text is essentially a mosaic made up of quotations from other texts, intertextuality indicates the presence of multiple voices in literary texts. A given text, accordingly, is purely a reproduction of previous cumulative experiences, collected and coalesced into the new textual structure which dwells on previous texts that were disparate, multiple, and diverse in nature. Every text is intertextual, because the text appears in a world full of texts (previous texts, texts surrounding it, and others present in it), and its central strategy is deconstruction for rebuilding.
Monireh Zibayi,
Volume 5, Issue 2 (12-2023)
Abstract
The title of a work is a gateway to its textual and thematic underpinnings. Whether the title represents a work of prose or poetry constitutes a very important area in linguistics, in which semantic analysis serves to analyze a text for readers. Najm Wali is a contemporary Iraqi novelist who skillfully illustrates social realities in his works. The carefully selected titles of his novels hint at a particular social, cultural, or political reality of Iraqi society. This descriptive-analytical study examines the semantic features of the author’s titles as well as their lexical, semantic, phonetic, and syntactic aspects. The study suggests Wali’s titles are chosen strategically to signify certain social issues, directing our attention to those problems before we even start reading the novel.
Mohammad Naderi, Akram Roshanfekr, Farhad Rajabi,
Volume 5, Issue 2 (12-2023)
Abstract
As a form of narration characterized by various writing techniques, the novel can be analyzed from different critical perspectives. Gérard Genette, drawing on several theorists, studies the function of time in the novel by presenting a salient structural model that can be used to examine its presentation in a given literary text. This study examines the structure of time in Fazl Mokhadar’s Eskandarone based on Genette’s framework. Throughout the novel, the author employs a standard speed of time by creating dialogue between the narrator-protagonist and minor characters. The writer also fills the gap in time by using analepsis in connecting the events and the minor heroes. However, it is possible to observe anachrony in the narrative structure as the narrator sometimes narrates the events in terms of analepsis. Moreover, the author speeds up the narration by eliminating/summarizing events and slows the narration through pauses. This study finds that Eskandarone enjoys a regular and ordered temporal structure which is created by the narrator. The most important aspect of the narrative is its open-ended form as the narrator ends the novel by prolepsis. The novel, accordingly, oscillates between standard and negative narrative speed.
Shaker Ameri, Ali Shahriari,
Volume 5, Issue 2 (12-2023)
Abstract
The character is a main element in a dramatic text as a playwright often relies on specific dimensions of the fictional character to convey ideas, hence the character plays a significant role in developing the events. This study, based on a descriptive-analytical approach, examines characterization in Youssef Al-Ani’s I am your mother, Shaker!. This play is one of the pioneers of socialist literature in Iraqi theater due to the intertextual relationship between Umm Shaker and the character in Maxim Gorky’s The Mother. The most important findings of the study are the following: Al-Ani is the first Iraqi writer to present a woman (Umm Shaker) as the hero of the play, the mother with an iron will, extraordinary political awareness, and unwavering faith in the victory of the national revolution. Al-Ani draws the characters from ordinary people, so the audience identifies with them quickly. The message that Al-Ani intended to convey prompted him to use the colloquial dialect delivering his theatrical and intellectual speech to the illiterate members of society. It seems that Al-Ani paid more attention to conversation (monologue) than characterization as do not find any transformation in the characters throughout the play. The characters are hostage to the popular revolution and the theatrical event.
Farzaneh Vaezi, Enayatolah Fatehi Nezhad, Seyed Babak Farzaneh,
Volume 5, Issue 2 (12-2023)
Abstract
In the late 20th century, new historicism based on the ideas of an American thinker Steven Greenbelt replaced the traditional critical approaches in literary studies. In new historicism, literary texts are treated as historical texts: if history is a kind of narrative, then narratives are the same kind of historical texts, hence it is referred to history text and text history. In new historicism, there is no boundary between history and literature, and readers can re-read the texts to discover the hidden layers behind the original text. Sometimes political and social restrictions deny the author the freedom of expression forcing him to use another way to express his intentions. Najib Mahfouz encoded language in his novels to express social realities and reinforce the spirit of anti-colonialism against the authoritarian policies of the rulers. In Aabaso Al-Aqdar, he used the ancient history of Egypt as a pretext to express nationalist and anti-colonial ideas. This study examines the hidden layers of the novel from a new historicist angle.
Dana Talebpour, Hassan Goodarzi Lemraski, Dr Mahdi Shahrokh,
Volume 5, Issue 2 (12-2023)
Abstract
The story form is one of the distinguished styles that the Holy Quran has used in the interpretation of prominent historical and educational issues, and for this reason, it plays a prominent role in conveying the message of Muhammad to mankind. The element of surprise is one of the most prominent technical features that distinguish the stories of the Qur'an compared to literary stories, which makes the story able to play a role in attracting the audience's attention and driving them to continue reading. A surprise is a sudden event that disrupts the main subject in the story or the audience outside the text. Surprising events break the flow of events and reading. There are various technical methods and types to create surprise for the reader, including surprising the audience. Considering the importance of these elements in discovering the structural and semantic features of the Holy Qur'an and the abundance of surprising scenes in it, this study examines its manifestations in the stories of Yusuf, Qasas, and Kahf Surahs. The analysis of surprise in these surahs paves the way for interpreting the power of God. Surprise in the Holy Qur'an has various aspects, among them, surprising the audience and the protagonist which renders Qur'an dynamic.
Tahereh Heydari,
Volume 5, Issue 3 (4-2024)
Abstract
The police novel is different from other types of fiction because it considerably motivates the reader. It is arguably notable that the entire Arabic literature is almost devoid of this type, i.e. the police novel. Its scope revolves around crime, investigation, and the search for a solution in the end. Even if one may identify examples of this type of fiction, they do not rise to the level of the detective novel. In order to partially fill this gap in knowledge, this study examines the structure of formation and semantics in King of India, a Lebanese novel written in police/detective mode. The following questions are, accordingly, addressed in this study: what is the status of the police novel in Arabic and Lebanese literature and how does the police appear in the The King of India. To answer these questions, the study uses a descriptive-analytical framework.
Aliakbar Noresideh , Reyhane Emami Chahartagh ,
Volume 5, Issue 3 (4-2024)
Abstract
Critical discourse analysis is rooted in the critical thoughts of critics such as Foucault, Habermas and Althusser. Critical discourse analysis, considerably utilized in literary studies, examines power, ideology, and metaphor. The critical approach of discourse shows how the language users convey the ideology of powerful groups among the people and recipients of the text by using metaphor. In the critical analysis of discourse, with Vandyke (social field and historical discourse approaches) and Fairclough (which considers discourse as a social act) in particular, different approaches have emerged. From the point of view of Norman Fairclough, the analysis of a discourse is the analysis of each of the three dimensions (social action, discursive practice, text), because his hypothesis is based on the fact that there is a meaningful link between the specific features of the texts, the ways that the texts are connected with each other and are interpreted, and there is a nature of social action and it is examined at three levels of description, interpretation and explanation. Hoda Barakat, the contemporary Lebanese writer, in Barid Al-Lail narrates the life of immigrants, homelesses and refugees who are forced to leave their homes due to social, economic and political forces and live a difficult life in France. This study, based on a descriptive-analytical framework, applies two levels of interpretation and explanation to Barid Al-Lail according to Norman Fairclough's critical discourse approach. The study finds that the use of lexical possibilities at the level of meaning has made the text coherent, and by using them, the author has been able to change the perspective and mental concepts in his thought around convey concepts such as loneliness, being without anyone, fear, war, panic and expectation to the recipient. The author has tried to introduce, in the form of names, the different sections of the society that have been affected by the phenomenon of forced migration and to explain the reasons for migration and leaving the homeland.
Ali Pourdelphizadeh, Hossein Kayanee,
Volume 5, Issue 3 (4-2024)
Abstract
Speed has influenced and overshadowed numerous aspects of human life, including literature which provides a comprehensive picture of human society. The emergence of the very short story was not just a sudden appearance, but motivated by the requirements of contemporary life that tends to accomplish things very quickly. Accordingly, the very short story genre emerged with condensed and broad ideas on essential and indispensable oundations.Condensation is one of the characteristics for writing contemporary, short and condensed stories. In order to achieve condensation, the author utilizes several mechanisms whereby readers are attracted. The reliance on the structuralist approach in studying very short stories has led to the realization that condensation is not limited to reducing the number of words, but includes the idea and character as well as linguistic, pictorial, and eventual condensation. Mohammed Mohaqiq has written condensed texts by using the mechanisms of paradox and the verbality of sentences. Moreover, textualization and symbolism also register their presence as two mechanisms through which the storyteller was able to write intensive story texts, but in a lesser proportion than irony and verbality.
Fatima Bouadhar, Hossein Mohtadi, Nasser Zare, Sayed Haider Faree Shirazi,
Volume 5, Issue 3 (4-2024)
Abstract
The narrative mode of Passages, a novel by Fatin Al-Murr, employs the focalization to establish the point of view presented in the story. This technique focuses on who observes the story rather than who narrates it. Gérard Genette identifies three levels of focalization: zero, internal, and exterior. In Passages focalization is utilized to depict two seemingly contradictory identities through the perspectives of two narrators (Darine and Najwa). Each character embodies a unique identity shaped by the Israeli occupation, representing the Palestinian Christian and Muslim communities in Lebanon and the refugee camps, as well as the Palestinian Muslim population. This study adopts a descriptive-analytical approach based on Gerard Genette's theory of focalization to examine the author's style in Passages and its portrayal of the reality of the Arab world during the Israeli occupation. This study identifies the presence of all three focalization patterns, with the perspectives of Darine and Najwa serving as primary vehicles for storytelling. The introspective narrative within the novel is predominantly channeled through Najwa's perspective, characterized by her profound understanding of the Palestinian conflict. Through a series of exchanged letters, Najwa endeavors to enlighten her Christian friend about the brutal massacres and injustices unfolding in Palestine.
Golafrooz Mohebbi, Amir Hossein Rasoulnia, Ruhollah Sayadinejad,
Volume 5, Issue 3 (4-2024)
Abstract
Sahar Khalifa, a contemporary Palestinian novelist, is one of the prominent novelists of the Arab world. His novels have gained wide fame all over the world due to the reflection of Palestinian realities, especially resistance, social and women's issues, as well as due to the use of an attractive and effective language structure. In Al-Sabbar (1967), Khalifa deals with the issues that the Palestinian society encountered. She uses a linguistic structure that is often distinct in all kinds of narrations. This study examines the novel’s distinct narrative characteristics based on Abdul Malik Murtad’s classification. The study finds that Sahar Khalifa has used all the narrative forms proposed by Abdul malik Mortad, namely narrative texture, dialogue. and monologue. Also, he has used all narrative pronouns (third person, second person and first person) in her novel, and the third person pronoun is the most used in the narration of event. In addition, in the narrative based on the third person pronoun, he often relies on medium eloquent language, and when he decides to emphasize more on drawing the dialogue space of the two sides in the narrative, he fluctuate between using eloquent language and simple (colloquial) dialect, but when the time comes the characters have dialogue with each other, the uneducated characters often use street slang and the educated characters use eloquent and simple language.
Zenab Neyestani, Naimeh Parandavaj, Fatemeh Arefifar,
Volume 5, Issue 4 (6-2024)
Abstract
In the last two centuries, many scholars in social, cultural, and literary fields of study have addressed women’s concerns and their centrality in literary works. Women-centered criticism or feminist criticism examines works created by women or about women in order to provide a specific framework for their analysis and explication. Elaine Showalter, a feminist theorist, proposes four variants for this critical approach: biological, linguistic, psychological, and cultural. The cultural aspect investigates how women are characterized by society, as well as the role of society in shaping the works and activities of women. Therefore, it can be regarded as a kind of sociological criticism, insofar as the conditions of the society in which the writer lives and her position in interacting with other people determine the content of her work. The objective of this article is to examine how social concerns are represented in Sahar Khalifeh’s Origin and Branch. The article adopts a descriptive-analytical method and draws on woman-centered criticism as theorized by Elaine Showalter. It addresses how Palestinian society affected Khalifeh’s thinking in the 1930s and 1940s and how this effect could be traced in her novel. It finds that the novel challenges the patriarchal society of Palestine by depicting the Palestinian society in the first half of the 20th century and the early years of the occupation of Palestine. The domination of men over women is criticized by dealing with factors such as women’s forced marriage, deprivation of education and employment, concern for life and economic independence, and hatred of being forgotten by other women. Thus, the traditional Palestinian society of that day has left its impact on all dimensions and orientations of Khalifeh’s thoughts. In Origin and Branch, like her other novels, she compares the domination of men over women to Israel’s domination over Palestine and condemns both. Finally, this paper argues that femininity symbolizes homeland for Khalifeh.
Maedeh Zohriarab, Raja Abuali ,
Volume 5, Issue 4 (6-2024)
Abstract
The postmodern novel is characterized by a set of distinct features. This research examines the representation of fragmentation within the postmodern novel, as numerous postmodern authors have employed this innovative narrative technique to disrupt the narrative arc and dismantle the organized linear structure of storytelling. The fragmented novel plays a significant role in postmodern literature, offering a new perspective that accords with the demands of contemporary society due to its capacity to establish conventions that diverge from traditional norms. From this perspective, fragmentation is a pivotal characteristic of the postmodern novel, reflecting a departure from established traditions and a move away from regularity, coherence, and codification within the narrative. This deviation represents a profound means of broadening the scope of the novel. Khalil Sweileh’s The Writer of Love exemplifies the postmodern novel, incorporating various forms of fragmentation within its narrative. The significance of this research is underscored by the fact that Sweileh’s novel offers a compelling exploration of the fragmentation and disarray prevalent in society. It serves as a commentary on the human condition in a world marked by division and inconsistency. Through a descriptive-analytical examination of this novel, we identified several prominent features of fragmentation, including disjointed plot development, a fragmented spatiotemporal structure, a lack of cohesive narrative, the author’s liberation from conventional constraints, and varied writing styles. Furthermore, we concluded that fragmentation symbolizes chaos and the disjointed existence experienced by the characters, each of whom is caught between their past and present, as well as between their desires and reality. The disorder and confusion in time and space reflect the uncertainty and instability of the self.
Fatemeh Solgi, Kobra Roshanfekr, Faramarz Mirzaie,
Volume 5, Issue 4 (6-2024)
Abstract
As an artistic technique, narration represents reality and depicts the story of societies and individuals. In contemporary Iraqi fiction, narration is utilized to portray and visualize the pain and suffering of Iraq and its citizens in a very tangible manner by drawing on reality and human emotions. In this context, language plays a pivotal role in showcasing the realities in contemporary Iraq. Stylistics, as a critical approach, pinpoints different and multifaceted linguistic features of a literary text. The Iraqi novel constitutes an important part of the contemporary Arabic narrative and holds a special place in Arabic literature. Recently, the social novel has achieved a considerable foothold in Iraqi fiction. This study examines the portrayal of Iraqi people’s pain and suffering in Maysalun Hadi’s A Light Pink Dream (2009) from a stylistic point of view. Also, this study addressed the distinguishing characteristics of the author’s style as observable in the novel. The main objective of this study is to pinpoint the characteristics of the Iraqi novel after 2003 and analyze the linguistic stylistics of the case study novel, focusing on the pain and suffering of the Iraqi people. It adopts a descriptive-analytical approach to examine the novel at the levels of composition, rhetoric, and implication. It finds that the author draws on a variety of stylistic devices to share her personal and social experiences in the realm of narration. The novel makes an idiosyncratic use of language in that it utilizes compositional, rhetorical, and implicative components to showcase the pain and suffering of Iraqi people under the shadow of war, occupation, and political and social crises.
Maryam Qasem Mohammad Al-Nasrawi, Ahmadreza Heidaryan Shahri, Ahmad Mehdi Alzubaid,
Volume 5, Issue 4 (6-2024)
Abstract
The objective of this research is to examine the societal function of patriarchal authority in The Lament of Mesopotamia (1939) by Abdul Rahman Majeed al-Rubaie and Fereydoon Had Three Sons (2000) by Abbas Maroufi. This study does not delve into the aesthetic aspects of narrative structure. Instead, it focuses on the role of three characters who symbolize the conscious embodiment of the controversial influence of social and cultural phenomena, specifically patriarchal power. It explores the extent to which patriarchal power in the 1970s can be analyzed from a feminist perspective, thereby highlighting the dominance exerted by men over society in light of various contributing factors. This topic holds significance in terms of addressing the patriarchal rule across all phenomena, employing expressions of power through figures such as fathers, tribal leaders, and government authorities. The research examines the interrelationship between Iraqi and Iranian novels, with a particular focus on exposing patriarchal power as a defining cultural phenomenon within both societies. Utilizing a comparative methodology rooted in the American literary school, this research identifies the hidden patterns and symbols inherent in cultural phenomena. Furthermore, it highlights common socio-cultural events depicted in the two novels, as well as the incorporation of Marxist ideas emphasizing themes of alienation and poverty in The Lament of Mesopotamia. Additionally, Maroufi directs attention to the prevailing poverty in the external environment of the country and the direct influence of Marxist political thought. Both authors emphasize the convergence of sensual instincts and struggles for social power. Al-Rubaie tackles it by expressing social and religious conflicts in an Eastern context, while Maroufi predominantly focuses on the Western realm of social power struggles.
Abdulbasit Arab Yousefabadi, Fatemeh Piri ,
Volume 5, Issue 4 (6-2024)
Abstract
Narrative analysis play a pivotal role in modern and postmodern literary studies. Within this literary periods, the traditional and historical mode of narrative analysis are replaced with new one whereby it distanced itself from monophonic and linear narratives. This mode of narrative not only dispensed with coherent narratives and grand narratives but also blurred the boundaries between personal pronouns as the result of which the “self” mode of narration is replaced by the “other” mode of narration. Literary critics call this mode of narration “polyphonic”. Considering the significance of this mode of narration, this research examines different dimensions of polyphony in Rabee Jaber’s novels. In Confessions (2007), he utilized polyphony in such a way that most of the characters play an important role in the narration of the events of the story and the narrator does not control other characters. This research finds that polyphony in this novel is observable through multiple points of view, multiple characters, and the presentation of social and political issues from different angles. This multiplicity/diversity reinforces the storyline and provides new perspectives on the realities of the Arab world, as well as the use of multiple verbal styles in presenting the characters of the narrative. In this novel, Rabee Jaber does not narrate his confessions to the audience; rather it is a narration of him by others.
