A Study of Narrative Stylistics and Violence in Contemporary Iraqi Novels: The Case Study of Khan al-Shabandar

The importance of this research is the study of the quality of stylistic features in Iraqi narrative texts. This research examines stylistic and narrative features of Khan al-Shabandar novel. The art of fiction has a close relationship with sociocultural contexts of Arab countries, especially Iraq which has experienced destruction, lack of security and stability, division, sectarianism, exile and murder which are the products of wars. Issues of war and massacre constitute the main bulk of the oeuvre of contemporary Iraqi novelists, issues which have left significant effect on psyche of authors who combine the pain of war with the blood of the innocent people. As a result, they have begun to write down the sufferings of the country. Their fiction is the result of a true imitation of the truth with all its pains and sufferings and the ugliness of murder and terror. In fact, the creative writing of contemporary Iraqi authors shows the awareness of the danger of violence in all its dimensions. In Khan al-Shabandar novel, numerous scenes of violence reflect a bitter reality, a bitter reality which portrays bloody scenes of street explosions, destroyed buildings, the spread of fear, terror, repression, and explosions— as if the country has become a scene of war. This research seeks to examine the rhythm of events and time in the selected novel, paying attention to words of violence. It also tries to examine the context of the narrative. It might be suggested that the novel teems with rhetorical questions and command. The events, which narrate a fearful experience of a real context, are narrated based on the poetics of a rhetorical (dramatic) question.