نشریه نقد ادب معاصر عربی
پیاپی 19 (پاییز و زمستان 1399)

Since long, A Thousand and One Nights, as a legacy of folk literature, has inspired the works of many authors everywhere in the world. Contemporary writers in the Arab world have certainly not missed the fictional assets of this valuable masterpiece to express their intellectual concerns, sufferings, and desires. Mubarak Rabie, the writer of the novel Badr-e zamaneh,  has integrated the two anecdotes into one theme. He has created a socio-educational work with artistic uses of Shahrzad and Shahriar's story. Using a descriptive-analytical method, the present research seeks to understand the author's inspiration from A Thousand and One Nights, in particular the legend of Shahrzad, and then detect the narrative elements that are often in line with those of this folk masterpiece.  As it seems, the story in the work, despite characters such as Shahramush and Bayruz, takes place in a very distant, unknown, and sometimes frightening time and place. The multiplicity of the two real and mythical anecdotes, the causal relationships and the language of the narration that resembles oral narration connect Badr-e Zamaneh to A Thousand and One Nights and the myth of Shahrzad. In terms of the content, the author is interested in the sociology and psychology of Shahrzad and Shahriar's story, the issue of child rearing, the status of woman and her rationality, and the position of the community leader in providing people with happiness and failure. He has focused on the confrontation between good and evil forces.

Metafiction is a form of literature that emphasizes its own artificiality in a way that continually reminds the reader of the fictitiousness of the work. Historiographic metafiction is a term used for works of fiction which combine the literary devices of metafiction with historical fiction. The contributors maintain that the Arabic literature reflects the Western postmodern conditions without denying its own traditions. As such, the Arabic literature paves the way for an important cultural dialogue between East and West. The novel Al-Mutanabbi's suffering with perfection of Kamal Aboudib and vice versa, authored by Kamal Aboudib,a Syrian narrator and critic, is one of the works of Metafiction in terms of structure and content. The author has attempted to describe the events of Al-Mutanabbi's life, the great Arab poet, and relates him to the problems of contemporary man, the world and Arab history. In this research, based on the descriptive-analytical method, we try to find the historical aspects of metafiction in this fiction. The results of the research indicate that the use of historical characters from different periods as well as the deliberate denial of some real events in the life of the poet refers to the future perspective of the history. It is also shown that many of the writing scruples and conventions available in history books have been violated by postmodern writers. Indeed, they have crossed the boundaries of time and place.

The narrative function and the narrative focus are among the important topics that have attracted the attention of various scholars in recent decades. Among them is Gerard Genette, a well-known French theorist, who has presented a comprehensive and complete plan for the study of narrative texts. In his theory, he addresses the position of the narrator in the narration and how the events and characters are observed and evaluated. In other words, Genette's focus is on distinguishing between seeing and speaking in the narrative; an issue that has been ignored from the narration point of view. Hence, the objective of the present study is to use the analytical-descriptive method to explore the novel of Batlat-ol Karbala written by Aisha Abd al-Rahman, one of contemporary Egyptian literary figures, based on the Genette’s theory of focalization. The aim of this investigation is to measure the extent of using the principles of narrative and various ways of focalization to transfer the thoughts and ideas of the author. The results show that the author, through using third-person narrative and the other focalizations, has achieved a combined way of presenting a live and dynamic narrative which is appropriate with its realistic content.

The critical aesthetic theory of Frankfurt school regards art as an independent field and emphasizes its genuineness. According to this theory, success of a work of art depends on irreconcilability to compatibilities and disapproval of them. Ali Ahmad Saeid, a contemporary Arab poet, has been considered as a modernist in Arabic literature, and he has tried to use new language structures to experience new poetry. His critical language shakes the dominant ruling system and reveals the contrasts in the society. He tries to create a society based on justice, freedom and thinking. This research seeks to review Adonis's critical poetry in his anthology based on critical linguistics and the conceptual analysis method. The chapters of his book of poems challenge the events in the society, raise public awareness and awaken the society so as to criticize the current turbulent situation freely. The research gives evidence that the poet not only believes in the independence of poets of the government or certain people but also regards this as a poet’s duty to stand against any force which restricts him.

The Enneagram is one of the templates for personality recognition in modern psychology. The Enneagram typography has nine types of personality including reformist, helper, ambitious, individualist, thinker, cautious, extravagent, controlling, peaceful. By using these nine types, one can recognize every person's level of health through the three levels of the Enneagram. Saud al-Sanousi is a contemporary Arab writer one of whose most prominent novels is Saq al-Bamboo. It addresses the identity issue of East Asian migrant workers in Kuwait and presents their social and psychological crises alongside internal conflicts. Therefore, the novel is worth examining on the basis of Enneagram theory. This research uses a psychoanalytical and statistical method to explore the health levels of the characters of the novel based on the nine Enneagram personality type.. The results indicate that eleven characters have the average level of health, six are at a healthy level, and only one character is in unhealthy conditions. It was also found that Hind, with the frequency of 15 is at a healthy level, Issa with the frequency of 91 at a medium level, and helth and Mindoza with the frequency of 17 are the healthiest and most unpleasant characters of the novel based on the Enneagram theory. Statistically, most of the characters are from averagely to completely healthy.

An image schema refers to any understanding or expression of abstract or subjective concepts in the form of tangible concepts that conjure up the intended mental concepts. This type of schema is based on scene-making and imagery. To make such images, poets make use of a set of rhetorical and literary devices without which the construction of images out of the intended concepts will be incomplete and ineffective. This metaphorical account of objects and nature takes place in several different ways. This study examines only three forms of schemas, namely kinetic or rotational, volume, and power in the book of poems Laysa Lil Massa’ Ikhwah by the Lebanese poet Wadi Sa’ad. Throughout the analysis of these schemas, the role and importance of rhetorical devices such as similes and metaphors to form and make the schemas are also examined. The purpose is to reinforce the notion that image schemas, which constitute part of the cognitive metaphor, are not unrelated to ancient rhetorical patterns. The findings of the study show that, in accordance with the concepts and thought patterns of the post-modern world such as anxiety and duality and with regard to the political nature of his poems and his attention to concepts such as fighting and unity, Sa’ad has employed different image schemas through collage-like and heterogeneous imagery and has used various rhetorical and literary devices for greater imaginative effects.

Subordination, as an important topic of social feminism, is widely dealt with in literary works and theories. Although feminism has different dimensions and themes, it seems that the result of all the feministic concerns is the protest at the woman's lower position in the history and the contemporary world. The feminism, with all its ups and downs, after experiencing Western literature, was followed seriously by women writers in the Arabic literature. A well-known writer in this field is Nawal el-Saadawi from Egypt. She is impressed by the position of the Egyptian woman and, specifically in the novel Al-Hobb fi Zaman-al-Naft seeks to retrieve the woman's identity. She believes that, in the light of the social rights of the woman, achieving her identity occurs only as a result of leaving her subordinate position. This approach can be viewed in various aspects of her novel. The present study aims to investigate female subordination and its results as well as provide an image of women's efforts to achieve their desired goal. So, after a brief overview is given of social feminism and Saadawi’s novel, the concept of subordination is examined using the descriptive-analytic method. The results show that, according to the theoretical foundations of the research, the concept of subordination in the present novel is affected by women’s dependence, the mental construction of men, patriarchy and male power, and the control on women's education.

In the age of myths, a name had a magical function and an inseparable connection with its owner. As this age ended, the magical function of the name reduced to a communicative function. With the advent of the novel in human life, however, the role and the place of the name were transferred to the novel. Therefore, the semiotic study of the name in the novel can lead the audience to hidden semantic layers. The secondary semiotic approach that Roland Barthes used to study mythical systems is of use for this study too. In this approach, the signs derived from the initial semiotics are reduced to the signifier level in the second stage and they are semiotic again. Accordingly, this article uses a descriptive-analytical method to examine the novel The Search for the connection between the signifier and the signified in the key characters of Saber, Seyyed Seyed Rahimi, Elham, Basimeh Imran and Karimeh. These characters are then identified. On the basis of the signifier-signified relationship in early semiotics, the characters are divided into two categories. In this classification, Seyyed Seyed Rahimi and Elham, whose personalities and names are directly related to each other, are placed in one category, and Imran, Karima, and Saber, who are inversely related to their names, are placed in another category. Then, each category is considered as a signifier in contrast to the other category, and their signified meanings are examined. With secondary semiotics, the signs find various socio-historical implications in Eastern societies. This indicates the position of Arab lands in the past and present. The present study is dedicated to discovering the meanings derived from them.

Poetry of Resistance is considered to be a meaning-based poetry with its referential function being superior to its poetic and literary functions due to its external references. In this type of literature, the challenge between commitment and beauty places the author in an in-between space so as to have varied choices in his or her poetic language. This is a fluctuation between commitment to reality and realism and the desire to write a beautiful poem. Linguistic and semiotic analyses of a literary work and the exploration of its relation to meaning can reveal the fluctuation of the author.. Riffaterre’s semiotic approach, while emphasizing the message and the reader as well as the precise reading which affects the language, is a good way of illustrating this challenge. Through a descriptive-analytical approach, this paper seeks to analyze and criticize the ode Samedon written by the resistance poet Abdul Quddus al-Ameli after the 33-day war in Lebanon. As the findings show, Ameli's poem depicts the paradoxical encounter between openness and ambiguity. Parts of the text mimic the external reality and, therefore, have benefited less from literature. These parts aim to explore the meaning of the parts that have layered structures and hidden implications. The implications are identified only through careful linguistic analysis.

Male domination and the patriarchal systems related to it are the major arguments associated with a feminist movement. Man’s hegemony is based on the law of the dominant and the dominated, which has been established by some traditional perceptions of ​​man’s guardianship over women. The female was subordinate to the man until she found a literary device with which to give herself an opportunity to achieve equality with him. Among those who have enjoyed this opportunity is the Lebanese poetess Nariman Alloush, whose poetic experience deserves to be studied. The purpose of this study conducted through the descriptive-analytical method is to  clarify the perception of patriarchal societies that still believe in the stereotyping of women and their secondary role. Also, we try to criticize the cases of predominance and inequality between men and women as a result of depreciation and sex pressures, patriarchy, and inequality in laws and emotions. It is concluded that patriarchy is a combination of all the pressures and forms of dominance. Parental persecution in Nariman’s poetry is a prelude to other persecutions and inequalities. The poet's view of feminism is a negative view that calls for a reform. Therefore, she criticizes the obedient traditional woman and offers some solutions that helps to delineate a new identity for that woman.

The use of various linguistic techniques by poets, with the aim of presenting a magnificent work, is something worth pondering. Many poets have conveyed their feelings and thoughts to the audience to express the problems of the society by using various linguistic stunts. In this regard, the poems by the Iraqi poet Mohammad Mehdi Javaheri are noteworthy in terms of content and structure. But what linguistic tools has Javaheri used to present his ideas? The present study seeks to provide evidence for the syntactic and lexical abnormalities in the poem Tartra based on the theory of de-familiarization and through the analytical-descriptive method.The results show that the rich culture of Javaheri, his mastery of the religious texts of the Qur'an and Nahj al-Balaghah, his awareness of ancient literature as well as his wide syntactic  vocabulary knowledge are the major factors that have led him to use techniques such as repetition, presentation and delay, making new combinations and using old words to differentiate the language of his poetry. By emphasizing text messages in the form of specific phrases, he intends to guide the audience's mind to the inner messages of the text and to make the readers think more about the situation of the society, thus to preserve the image of the poem. By presenting such a style, he promotes his poems and the novelty of his expression and guides the reader from a superficial meaning to a deep understanding of the meaning.

Layered semiology serves to analyze a text exactly using the substructures of symbols, language, speech and context. In the framework of the theory, text layers are created by the spoken consideration of signs in the form of symbols, and the signs are changed into text in speech interaction. The purpose of this study is to consider the layer of time in the play Humpback Sparrow through a semiotic analysis and explain the most important time signs, how to organize them, and their relationships with the other levels of signs such as scenes, characters, conflicts and places. The research findings show that there is a correlation between the element of time and the other layers. This element sometimes implicitly and in the axis of substitution causes the promotion of surfaces such as decor, light and sound. Those levels have a great impact on the organization and selection of time components. Cyclic time has wider applications than other types of time. Based on the research finding and according to the evidence in the text, the root of this issue should be sought in political and economic crises of Arab societies.