Narrative Time in Short Stories Colette El Khoury: A Genettian Reading

Narratology concerns a set of principle about narrative styles, the systems that govern narrative or storytelling, and plot structure. Narration is a kind of two-layered time-sequence: the time of narration and the narrative time. One of the important issues addressed by structuralist theory is the relationship between time and narrative, or crystallization of time within the narrative. Gérard Genette, Vladimir Propp, Grimas, and Tsveton Todorov are pioneers of this structuralist approach, who developed the study of narration in literature. Genet proposed five important narrative elements for analyzing the structures of literary texts: order, anachrony, continuity, frequency and narrative time. Colette El Khoury is prolific writer who has written significant short stories including “The Female Word”, “The Years of Love and War”, and “The Fragrant Dates, My Fingers Will Touch the Sun”. Addressing issues like history and issue of women Colette El Khoury does not follow the natural and linear flow of events. He uses anachronic techniques such as flash back and flash forward to create suspense in her stories. Also, frequency and continuity play an important role in her stories. Such innovative narrative techniques can be used in roder to analyze classic literary text from a new angle.