نشریه نقد ادب معاصر عربی
پیاپی 21 (پاییز و زمستان 1400)

Some critics believe that Abd al-Wahhab al-Bayati was the only poet with poetic innovations. After Badr Shakir al-Sayyab passed away prematurely and Nazik al-Malaika resorted to ancient poetry forms, Abd al-Wahhab al-Bayati, who believed in innovation, did his best to utilize innovative poetic devices (Abuahmad, 1991). Moreover, he was superior to the other two poets in terms of the extensive use of symbols and their various meanings and functions (Abd Awda, 2006). He enriched his poems by resorting to his extensive knowledge of Arabic and world literature. He utilized different symbols, especially animals, to express many political, social, and emotional concepts in his poems. Given that he was a fighting, revolutionary and freedom-loving poet, Abd al-Wahhab al-Bayati exploited symbols to talk about revolution-related subjects, e.g. love for revolution and perseverance to gain victory. He used animals to entitle some of his elegies. Thus, it seems that he has transformed animal-based symbols into one of the main branches of symbolism.The present paper aims to study the use of animals in Abd al-Wahhab al-Bayati’s poems. The primary objective is exploring the poet’s motivation in using various animal-related symbols in his poems. The following are the research questions:How are animal-related symbols connected to the themes of Abd al-Wahhab al-Bayati’s poems?How have animals been used in creating images by the poet?Literature review: Numerous books, theses and papers have been written based on al- Abd al-Wahhab Bayati’s poems. For instance, “Symbolization in the poetry of al-Abd al-Wahhab Bayati” is the title of a thesis completed by Hassan Abd Awda in 2006. Also, the book entitled “al-Abd al-Wahhab Bayati, his life and poetry: a critical study” by Nahedah Fawzi (2004) is about al-Bayati’s poetry. In this book, the author explores various poetic schools (including symbolism) in al-Bayati’s poets. Moreover, two of the papers written about al-Bayati’s poetry include “Obsessed with alienation and travel” written by Nahedah Fawzi (2010) and “Outstanding myths in Abd al-Wahhab al-Bayati’s poetry” authored by Ali Najafi Iwaki (2010). To date, no substantial research has been published about the symbolic use of animals in al-Bayati’s poems. There are only a few reports that have superficially examined symbolism in his poetry. Symbolic use of animals in al-Bayati’s poetry: Since Abd al-Wahhab al-Bayati spent a considerable part of his life in exile or on trip, homesickness became a dominant theme in his poems. To express this emotion, he has used animal symbols like pigeon and chamois, which are always on the move. His symbols do not always refer to the same thing. In fact, sometimes the same symbol is used in different places to refer to totally opposite issues, indicating the poet’s distress. Utilizing different, and sometimes opposite, symbols has given a lot of variety to his poetic images. One of the most important reasons for symbolic use of animals in his poetic images is stimulating audience’s feelings with bitter humor. In some cases, Abd al-Wahhab al-Bayati takes advantage of different symbols in various forms, which apparently are not related to each other. Nonetheless, when the referents of these symbols are discovered and interpreted in light of the poetic context, clear cohesion is drawn between the used symbols. For example, in the elegy entitled “al-Qurban”, which was composed for Pablo Neruda, the Chilean revolutionary and freedom-loving poet, three symbols, namely butterfly, chamois and gazelle, are simultaneously and frequently used to express the zeal for freedom. One of the special symbols used by Abd al-Wahhab al-Bayati is deer, which connotes a mystic code known as Aisha. His objective in using this symbol is to draw an analogy between the oppression of this code and that of a deer hunted by the predator. He introduces deer as the symbol for his superb love, i.e. mystic love. He claims that, like mystics, he has found this deer hunted by the predator in his poetic discovery and intuition.

Various and frequent symbolic use of animals in al-Bayati’s poetry has linked his poems to everyday life. Through artistic illustration, he has turned social unrest into tangible issues. He has selected particular animals to express any kind of pain or sorrow. Wolves and hyenas embody the cruelty of the wicked. Displaced pigeons and sparrows represent the oppression of defenseless people. The innocent deer in the desert symbolize his legendary love for a dream called Aisha. The frequent symbolic use of animals in al-Baati’s poetry (approximately 90 species of animals’ names have been used 900 times in his poems) has given meaning and variety to his works and made his poems sound like the surrounding environment.

The literature of any society is deeply under the effect of the social issues of that society. Hence, it is not possible to study the literature of a country without studying the values and traditions of its society. On the other hand, the humankind has always been attempting to be released from dystopia and achieve to utopia.Until now, many plans have been proposed for establishing utopia, but none of them were successful. One of these utopic plans raised in sociology is structural functionalism. Many sociologists and philosophers have studied this idea. Robert King Merton is a structural sociologist who has accepted this idea, but he criticized some elements of it which he thought were barriers for realizing utopia.

In this article, we want to study the dystopic aspects of Frankenstein In Baghdad, a novel by Ahmad Sa'adawi based on structural functionalism, and especially Merton's criticisms on it. By using a descriptive-analytic method and examining structural functionalism and Merton's criticisms on it, we have studied and compared these elements in this novel. According to structural functionalism, a society is like a system and different elements in it are components of this system each of which has its special function and behavior.

The body of al-Shesmah, the main character of the novel, is made up of parts of bodies of terrorism victims who are from different races and classes. He is the symbol of a social system which is made up of different parts. The goal of this system, which is a functional one, is taking revenge against the killers of his parts and establishing a utopia in which there is no assassination. To achieve this goal, he has some helpers and each of them has its special function.The three principles of structural functionalism criticized by Merton and found in the novel are as follows:Functional unity: According to this principle the standard social activities and cultural elements are functional for the whole system, and each of them has its own function which is in harmony with other structural elements to create order and balance in the society. But Merton believes that, in a society, traditions and behaviors can be functional for some people but not for others. On the other hand, any structural element can have more than the predictable and apparent functions, and have also unpredictable and hidden functions.Assassination is the way by which Al-Shesmah wants to establish his utopia and considers it functional for the whole components of his system. At first, he just kills the people who are guilty of assassinating parts of his body, but, later, he finds out that by killing each of them, that part of his body which is related to that victim will rot. He feels that, for living and ending his mission, he needs new parts of bodies of new victims. The rotting of the body parts after punishment of assassinators is a kind of hidden function which gradually turns the system to a horrible monster whose only goal is its own survival. He must commit new crimes for survival and substitution of his lost body parts.Functional universality: This principle argues that all the standard cultural and social forms and structures, in addition to being functional for the whole system, have also positive functions for that element in order to maintain its harmony and balance. However, Merton claims that, in today’s societies, any structural element may have positive function for one micro system but negative function for others. Assassination as the main way of achieving his goal is a standard social activity which is done by the system. Although this social activity has some positive functions like taking victim's revenge, it has also many negative functions like riot, destruction, terror, as well as the corruption of the system members by entering the endless cycle of murders.Functional indispensability: According to this principle, some functions for the society (groups or individuals) are necessary and not replaceable. In other word the function of any structure is necessary for maintaining the balance and survival of the society. But for Merton, the function of each structural element is not necessary. On the contrary, by considering the different functions of any element and the possibility of creating the same function by using different structural elements, we can rebuild many structural elements or even eliminate them.The system of Al-Shesmah which is functional introduces himself as the only system which can confront assassination and establish justice. He imagines no substitute for his own solution, assassination. This is because, after any criticism or proposal, he feels in danger. He kills even policemen in spite of the fact that their duty is making the society secure. He does this because they belong to the old society.

By considering Merton’s criticisms of the three main principles of structural functionalism, we find out that establishing utopia in the novel's functional system is not possible. This is because, in the functional unity principle, inattentiveness to the hidden function of the main components, i.e., their corruption after revenge, made Al-Shesmah a cruel dictator. In functional universality principle, dismissing the negative function of assassination and revenge and the devoted members of the system allowed the system to kill the people who were not guilty. In the functional indispensability principle, considering the assassination as the only solution led the system to rotting and dictatorship. Finally, all these factors together turned the utopia promised in the novel to dystopia.

The story is a kind of literature which seeks to be effective and involve the emotions and feelings of the reader primarily and then his or her mind and wisdom. This type of literary genre is popular in the contemporary era due to its coverage of topics. In order to influence the audience, it needs various factors. Story writers make their impacts by creating strange and dramatic events, use of powerful characters, the application of new themes and ideas. Among these features, poetry can be a component of a story and an important factor influencing the audience. The author of the story uses it with tools in a justified manner to have the ultimate impact on the reader and attract the audience with the adventures of their story. Therefore, it can be said that story and poetry are two separate literary genres, but this does not mean that their paths are completely different and there is no similarly between the elements of poetry and story. Sometimes, poetry observes the narrative elements such as an accident, a personality, etc., and becomes a fictional poem. However, among the types of stories such as novels, romance and short stories, short stories are more poetic than the others; because this type of story is closely related to poetry due to its shortness. Poetry itself requires smaller tools and components, including the use of poetic images and selecting poetic titles and interpretations, using techniques appropriate to the poetic world are such as the stream of consciousness and monologue. Due to the structural affinity of this fictional genre and poetry, both genres benefit from these cases.Poetry in contemporary fiction or prose is considered as an issue that can be proposed in research. It has been used in different styles since ancient times. But the forms and characteristics that the contemporary writers use are very different from the style of the past. Prose versus poetry and the order in the works of the ancients can be examined only by being prose. But prose in our time is a literary category called a story or fiction. So, there is no necessity in the story for the author to use poetic component, unlike the old prose in which the use of poetry was a kind of stylistic trick. Among the contemporary narrative works, fiction is selected to be examined here along with its goals and functions.

Among Arabic writers, Zakaria Tamer, a contemporary Syrian writer, is one of the most prominent writers in the field of poetic narratives. He often pays attention to features of poetry in his story collections. This is especially true about his first collection “The Neighing of the White Steed”, which has different poetic elements regarding social theme that create effects in special social contexts. He intends to defeat the rule of sorrow, grief, and absurdity in the society. Through a descriptive-analytical method, this study aims to come up with a theory related to the relationship between prose and poetry by examining the elements of poetry in the short story collection of Zakaria Tamer. In his story series, the author has used many poetic elements such as poetic title, simile, pleasing images, stream of consciousness, and temporal breaks. Each of these components is analyzed separately in this study.

The results show that this work has different elements of poetry. By adaptation from a scene of the short and transient life, it has a poetic capacity. This plays a key role in the collection. The deployment of poetic elements in this work proves it resemblance to poetry. The author uses poetic titles, poetic images, similes, stream of consciousness, and temporal interruptions.Thus, Zakaria Tamer's deliberate and artistic use of poetic elements is closely related to text and language. These factors, with their high frequency in the collection, show that the concept of poetry has emerged well in the collection of stories. The author sticks to a combination of association and repetition to maintain unity and non-disintegration between the short stories, which has led to tangible fictional poetry.The other poetic factors that make the poetry of the collection valuable are the connection of poetry with elements such as perspective, place, and personality and the theme, the existence of emotions and feelings, and the existence of multiple sentences that have led to the overall coherence of the work. Also, these poetic factors have made the work very effective in romantic and sensory terms and in terms of inner concepts, whispers and feelings. It also makes the poem-loving audience enjoy the story because narrative concepts such as storytelling and characterization elements are less pronounced than poetic concepts and poetic language and images.

This research is the descriptive and analytical investigation of the elements of poetry in Zakaria Tamer’s short story collection “The Neighing of the White Steed”. The results show that this collection has various elements of versification, and the the stories of this collection are very close to poetry.

There has been a special literature in each era, which shows the beliefs, and political, social and economic conditions of that era. When a catastrophic event happens, it can damage the mental, moral and spiritual health of the society and make it disturbed. A fast transition from tradition to modernity and its exposure to social-political changes make a fundamental development in culture and ethics, which affects art, literature and philosophy. If these changes are negative and catastrophic, dark literature with negative tendencies is formed. Sonallah Ibrahim wrote some books studied, reviewed and analyzed by Arabs and Persians using modern writing techniques. “That Perfume” تلک الرائحه)) by Sonallah Ibrahim is a modern story narrated fluently and expresses the social concerns of modern humans. The story is full of ambiguity, nihilism, death thinking, tendency for inner world, emotional helplessness, and other salient features of dark romanticism. Although there exist other components and features of this type, we analyze the factors that are more frequent in this story.

With a descriptive-analytical method, this research analyzes the manifestations of the current literature in the novel, including narration, story elements, space, conversation, etc. It seeks to answer the questions ‘how can we analyze the pessimism, death think, despair, and nihilism in “That Perfume”? And ‘how can the content analysis of this story help to better understand the concept of this story according to the literary flow of dark romanticism?’

In this research, by analyzing the art of story and the way of writing, we find a tendency for black romanticism in the dialectics of the elements and structure of “That Perfume”. In this story, Sonallah Ibrahim shows the death of humanity and wants to express that others do not value life. He describes the physical and evil dimension of love in a detailed way. The main character of this novel is captivated by evil fantasies; it is a kind of reminder of erotic illusions. Components such as wandering, repetitive life, returning to the past, father and mother’s death, broken loves, pessimism, and despair from existential world show nihilism in this story. The frequent use of opium and narcotics is very evident in the story. The main character of the story just smokes, which is a sign of destruction and darkness. By criticizing the story according to the romanticism components, we can recognize Sonallah Ibrahim as an eminent writer in the Arab world. Another point of criticizing is that the reader can understand and analyze the motif, theme and main concepts of story and characters fundamentally.

Since dark romanticism is a new and special view of the broad doctrine of romanticism, there is no precise component for it in any reference book. However, with a precise analysis of this doctrine, we extract the most important features of dark romanticism such as loneliness, death thinking, despair and nihilism, using erotic themes ae well as opium and narcotics. In that story, death has a prominent manifestation in material and psychological dimensions. Sonallah Ibrahim portrays the death of the modern human, while he is alone in a crowd. Sonallah Ibrahim portrays the death of humanity and shows no one values the souls of others. The mentioned loneliness and death thinking can be the result of despair, hopelessness and nihilism and also a base for this spiritual misery. We can see the examples of hopelessness and nihilism throughout the story. When the main character of the story is freed from the prison, he seeks an inner feeling, such as happiness, but he cannot find anything. Another component of black romanticism is evil love which is contrasted with virgin love in the Arabic literature. Today, the evil love is defined as erotic literature. This feature is the most important component of dark romanticism in “That Perfume”. We can see this feature in the social life and fancies of the main character. When the main character meets Najva, the writer describes the scene precisely and approaches the border of dark romanticism. In this story, the main character just smokes, but the repetition of the same concept of opium can be a motif to show the destructiveness and darkness throughout the story. In addition to the protagonist's excessive use of cigarettes as a mental sedative, there are his judgments about the use of opium by others, who look at it in a positive light, a view that is contrary to rationality and logic. This is because we are talking about the mentality of a character who has all the components of dark romanticism.

The theory of the Islamic literature is a new theory that considers a literary work as a mixture of art and commitment. Purposefulness, adherence to the Islamic principles, originality, comprehensiveness, independence of opinion, and effectiveness are the most important features of the Islamic literature. Mahmoud Mofleh (born 1943) is one of the most influential Palestinian poets. He has several poem collections. One of his famous anthologis is "But You Are a Balm" which contains the features and indicators of the Islamic literature. The purpose of this article is to enumerate the characteristics of Islamic literature in the two dimensions of form and content in that anthology to explain the depth of themes and the expressive tricks and delicacies of the poems. Therefore, an attempt has been made to discover the relationship between the poet's religious emotions and his thoughts and imagination and to show how sincere the poet has been in his religious claims.

The research method is descriptive-analytical in the light of the indicators that have been listed for the Islamic literature. Based on these indicators, the research focuses on three characteristics including purposefulness, religious affiliation, and attachment to knowledge and love for the homeland. It proceeded to extract appropriate poems and verses in the “But You Are a Balm” anthology. Then, the degree of connection between the poet's claims and his linguistic and expressive elements is determined. For this purpose, attention is paid to the semantic and phonetic nature of words and phrases, the scope of the poet's imagination and the quality of his arrangements are examined, his subconscious is unveiled, and it is shown to what extent and how the poet's words correspond to his feelings.

The present study shows that the characteristics of the Islamic literature such as purposefulness, emphasis on beliefs, adherence to Islamic teachings, combining religion and knowledge and belonging to the Islamic homeland are central in most of the poems in the anthology. They have given the poet's mind and language an Islamic color and flavor. The structure of the poems is also related to their Islamic themes. At the lexical level, the poet's influence taken from Qur'anic words and interpretations is palpable. The music of the words is in harmony with the meanings encoded in them, and their rhythm conveys their semantic features and emotional charge. The poet's general imagination is sometimes present in the Saudi atmosphere, the homeland of revelation, and draws a picture of the desert. Proportional metaphors and similes are also included within such a picture. 

The Islamic literature wants the poet to serve as a committed preacher of virtues and a propagator of the sublime Islamic ethics if the poems are to be worthwhile. Poetry, however, must not only take on a media dimension and sacrifice art to mission but poetry promote its religious message artistically and directly. The condition for such an art is that the poet enjoys emotional truth which means that such linguistic elements as words, phrases and music of the poem should be in harmony with the poet's emotional mood and in line with the atmosphere of joy or sorrow that prevails in the poem. Expressive elements are also effective in showing the truth of the poet's feelings. In the Islamic literature, when a poet's general and partial imagination creates paintings and images that are in line with the cultural context of Islam and subconsciously follow the Qur'anic teachings, they confirm the poet's emotional truth. However, in accordance with the basic view of the theory of the Islamic literature, Mofleh's poem is a successful poem. This is because the coherence of structure and content can be seen along with emotional unity, and the principles and teachings of Islam have been promoted artistically and indirectly. The presence of emotions in most of the poems in "But You Are a Balm" has caused a variety of styles and the entanglement of compositional and narrative styles. The emotional unity has also given these poems a thematic unity, making them integrated. These characteristics prove Mofleh's artistic glory as a committed Islamic poet. The coherence of the structure and content and the integrity of the emotional space in the artistic context of the poems help the reader reach emotional coexistence with the artistic experience of the poet.

Layered semiotics is one of the new approaches in the field of linguistics. This approach provides the basis for extensive analysis of literary texts in the context of interactive relationships between sign systems and text layers. The approach in question seeks to provide a detailed analysis of the text with its cryptographic, linguistic, speech, and contextual infrastructures. In a model of layered semiotics, textual levels are created by the spoken features of symbols in the form of codes, and each symbol is transformed into a text as interactive discourse. This study seeks to answer the following questions:How are the codes of time related to the other levels of signaling?What are the special features and structural components of these codes in the play in question? The findings of the research indicate that the play "Al-Osfour Al-Ahdab" is an organized cryptographic system composed of several layers such as time, place, conflict and scene. There is a close semantic correlation among the layers that has led to the formation of textual implications and the creation of various secondary meanings in the play. The secondary meanings of this text always refer to political and economic issues.

This study is based on the theory of layered semiotics and the role of time in the production of meaning and the conveyance of the latent concepts in the play "Al-Osfour Al-Ahdab". It explains how to organize time elements and their interaction with layers of staging, characterization, struggle and place in the play.

As the results show, time is one of the most important layers of signs without which the other levels can never be realized. The system of time in the play "Al-Osfour Al-Ahdab" has several levels of cryptography such as circular, linear and emotional levels. In the work in question, the circular layer has a wide range of functions. Using this layer, the author creates secondary meanings that are related to the social situation in Arab countries, such as injustice, oppression of rulers, poverty of the lower classes of society and political suffocation. Linear and emotional levels are sparsely seen in the text of the play and have a more limited function than the circular layer.There is a reciprocal relationship between the time element and the other layers. Sometimes the relationship between time and the discussed layers occurs in the context of companionship by means of certain textual components and sometimes in the context of substitution achieved by deleting the mentioned components. In fact, understanding time as a semiotic process is possible by considering the other textual levels such as scene, character, conflict and place. On the one hand, time plays an important role in advancing the scene, character, conflict and place. On the other hand, these levels are effective in organizing and selecting the time system.

The connection of time with the stage often occurs through elements such as decor, sound and light. In the design of the decor, the employed natural elements indicate the freezing of time and drought. The use of tools that indicate wear and tear also shows the relationship between time and decor. At the audio level, the connection between the two layers is expressed through environmental and musical elements. In this regard, it can be said that, in the play Al-Osfour Al-Ahdab, environmental sounds have a significant frequency. They refer to time more than musical elements. In fact, the connection between sound and time in the play always promises the end of the authoritarian rule. The codes of light often depict the night, and the black and gray spaces show the suffocating situation of in Arab countries in the present era. The connection between time and characterization, which is made through external layers such as age, clothing and personal belongings as well as the inner layer, which includes moods and emotions like weakness of will and self-destruction. Time is often directly or explicitly related to the outer layers and indirectly to the inner layers. The layer in question mainly serves to create the speech, behavioral and ideological contradictions of the characters in this play. Political, economic and social crises are the main issues that cause the interaction between time and conflict. The connection of the time and place elements is often explicit and occurs in the context of companionship. This solidarity is created in open and closed places such as city, village, shop and house.

Rewriting and simplifying ancient religious texts is one of the most important branches of religious literature for children and adolescents. To this end, some authors have rewritten the biographies of Shiite Infallibles (PBUH) in order to transmit cultural values ​​to new generations. "Oyoun Akhbar al-Reza" and "Manaqib al-Abi Talib" are among the works which have been the source of many rewritten stories such as "Malja al-khaefin" and "Hedie al-shams" focusing on the life of Imam Reza (PBUH). In recent years, following the expansion of Iran's cultural and social ties with Arab countries such as Iraq, Syria, and Lebanon, many of these stories have been published in Arabic in the form of cultural packages or tourism products presented to Arabic-speaking children who enter cities such as "Mashhad" and "Qom" for the purpose of religious tourism. The themes of most of these books are religious and seek to establish a link between the present and the past in order to inform the Arabic-speaking children of the glorious past of great Islamic civilization, create Islamic unity in the coming generations by enumerating the religious commonalities as well as develop a positive religious attitude in young Arab audience. However, regarding the difficulties of these works, authors that sometimes get involved in the process of rewriting a work are not able to take the work out of its historical form and present it to their young audience as an interesting story. The present article intends to focus on the artistic problems of the stories rewritten in Arabic and to analyze the requirements for the simplification of ancient religious texts on a case-by-case basis in the stories "Malja al-khaefin" and "Hedie al-shams”.

The research method of this research is qualitative and descriptive using content analysis, which is done for the objective and qualitative explanation of the content and concept of the written texts in a systematic way. In the present article, the studied components are the rewritten text (including words and sentences), the elements of the story (including the point of view, plot, character, time and place) and the visual effects of "Malja al-khaefin" and "Hedie al-shams” books, which have been rewritten for age groups (b) and (c) and derived from "Oyoun Akhbar al-Reza" written by Muhammad ibn Babawiyyah Qomi also known as Sheikh Saduq (died in 381 AH) and "Manaqib Al Abi Talib" written by Abu Ja'far Muhammad bin Ali bin Shahr Ashob (died in 588 AH). Excerpts from these two stories have been selected with an emphasis on the age group of the audience, the publisher (with an emphasis on domestic publishers) and the language of the work (with an emphasis on Arabic). After the two rewritten stories were adapted to their original manuscripts, information about the basics of rewriting children's stories were collected and classified in a library study using research sheets, and the advantages and limitations of rewriting in composition of this type of story were considered. Due to the fact that the visual effects of children's book are of special importance, the role of illustrator in preparation and attraction of these stories was also taken into account. This type of research dates back to several decades ago. For example, Sahir Ahmad Mahfouz in a study entitled "Tabsit Adab al-Kebar L-atfal" (1991) has examined the complete works of Al-Kilani with respect to simplifying the stories of One Thousand and One Nights, Sinbad Bahri, etc.

The research findings are reviewed in two areas: structure (appearance of children's book) and content. Based on the criteria of rewriting and simplification of ancient texts, the rewriters in the two stories in question have been mostly historians rather than literary rewriters, which means that their dependence on historical and educational aspects of the child has deviated them from addressing the literary aspects of the story. Regarding the structure and appearance of books, the publishers and stakeholders in the field of children's books should pay more attention when choosing the type of paper, colors, coordination of text and image, and so on.

The drawbacks of the authors in rewriting "Malja al-khaefin" and "Hedie al-shams” are that none of them has noticed the basic knowledge of their audience in the rewriting process; they have used words and sentences in the structure of the text outside the scope of Arabic-speaking child's knowledge. At the level of narration, too, Molla Aydi has been more dependent on the text than Mirzaei, so his story is a historical account of the original text lacking the necessary dynamism and movement.To apply the elements of story, both authors have acted in the same way, and there is no change in of the viewpoint or ups and downs in the plot. Mirzaei has managed to portray the personality traits of his protagonist somewhat more creatively only in the element of characterization, which seems to be due to lack of innocence of the main character in his story (Ryan). There was no significant change in the rewriting of stories in the element of time, which goes on linearly throughout the narrative. However, Mirzaei has been able to act more dynamically than Molla Aydi in defining the place of events, and his descriptions of the place of the story are more sensitive and imaginative.

Literature brings us to the brink of existence. Its imaginary landscapes invite the reader to be a voyager filled with wonder, but the prospect of the marvelous that dazzles the eye may also open on to the dark world of terror and despair. Literature, like dreams, cannot be controlled. It disrupts the hold we have on our habitual experience. When we read or write, we inevitably follow the traveler’s impulses and steer across unknown countries with the help of a map. Yet, literary language most especially creates its own ephemeral universe resistant to all that is familiar. Something in this shifting landscape escapes and alienates our travelling eyes. The most intense forms of estrangement experienced by the subject, according to Julia Kristeva, are those produced by poetic language. For, while its origins are implicated in the origins of subjectivity, poetic language is a fire of tongues. It has an infinite, ecstatic quality that eludes the mastery of human consciousness. The landscape of the literature, then, is inhabited by a foreignness that deflects the traveler and isolates us from ourselves. We become, in other words, exiles.Julia Kristeva: Julia Kristeva (born on 24 June 1941) is a Bulgarian-French philosopher, literary critic, semiotician, psychoanalyst, feminist and, most recently, novelist who has lived in France since the mid-1960s. She is now a professor emeritus at Diderot University of Paris. As the author of more than 30 books, such as Powers of Horror, Tales of Love, Black Sun: Depression and Melancholia, Proust and the Sense of Time, and the trilogy Female Genius, she has been awarded Commander of the Legion of Honor, Commander of the Order of Merit, Holberg International Memorial Prize, Hannah Arendt Prize, and Vision 97 Foundation Prize. She was also awarded by the Havel Foundation.“Strangers to Ourselves” by Julia Kristeva: This book is concerned with the notion of the “stranger”, the foreigner, outsider, or alien in a country and society not their own as well as the notion of strangeness within the self, a person’s deep sense of being, as distinct from their outside appearance and conscious idea of self. Kristeva begins with the personal and moves outward by examining the world literature and philosophy. She discusses the foreigner in the Greek tragedy, in the Bible, and in the literature of the Middle Ages, Renaissance, Enlightenment, and the twentieth century. She discusses the legal status of foreigners throughout history, gaining perspective on our own civilization. Her insights into the problems of nationality, particularly in France, are more timely and relevant in an increasingly integrated and fractious world.In the framework of the theory of strangers to ourselves, Julia Kristeva explains the life of the stranger within us. This stranger is a hidden force and an explanation for our internal contradictions, differences, and isolations that are formed under compelling environmental conditions and push the host towards the risk of social exclusion and alienation, especially if the host is an immigrant.Alia Mamdouh: This Iraqi writer was born in Baghdad in 1944 and finished her primary and secondary studies there. Then, she joined Al-Mustansiriya University and graduated in psychology in 1971. She left Iraq in 1982 and did not return there. She haunted among capitals and cities, among Beirut and Morocco, Brighton, Cardiff, and Montreal, and temporarily settled in Paris.The present study is the analysis of the contextual features of “Al-Mahbubat” according to the principles of the theory of Kristeva, Strangers to Ourselves, and the characters of this novel in order to lay the grounds for proposing themes of alienation with oneself.

The method of this research is descriptive-analytical. The analysis helps to describe, show and summarize the data in a constructive way such that the patterns that emerge can fulfill every condition of the data.

“Al-Mahbubat” by Alia Mamdouh: The novel “Al-Mahbubat” presents its own artistic reality. This reality is based on the experience and alienation of Iraqi immigrants in Western society, the novelist looks at the world from their perspective and gives them the opportunity to reflect and talk about their suffering inside and outside Iraq. Thus, the novelist explains the lives of Iraqis living inside and outside Iraq based on the theory of strangers to ourselves.

 Iraqis who live in Iraq or migrate to a foreign land can possibly be classified as strangers because they are ready for it. This alienation arises in two ways, by their will or by force from the environment. The severity of this alienation among the immigrants is more than the other Iraqis because they are forced to live in a foreign environment and must be prepared to separate from the mother tongue and their national culture.

In literature, the creation of a character is the product of the thoughts and ideas of the author who creates it inspired by his or her environment and time. The concept of character, like other phenomena in the world of art, has always undergone changes over time and the ups and downs of human life (Daghighian, 1992). Regarding the background of personality and characterization, Aristotle was the first to speak about it. About the relationship between personality and action, he believes that personality is a constant companion of action (Abu Shahab, 2008). Drama is an important type of story in which the author conveys his thoughts to the audience and deals with the issues and problems in the society and criticizes it through the characters. Characterization is one of the most important topics in the field of fiction; therefore, contemporary writers pay special attention to this issue in their works. One of these writers, Saadullah Venus, a well-known Syrian playwright, has paid more attention to character than to the other narrative elements and has used different personality types in his play entitled "Mulham al-Sarab". Using these characters, he recounts the problems of Arab countries, including his homeland Syria. Shalomite Raymond Kenan, one of the contemporary critics and writers, has dealt with the subject of personality in detail in his narrative book Contemporary Poetics. According to him, character is a construction that the reader makes by combining different signs scattered throughout the text (Kenan, 2008). The author examines the characteristics of the characters with various indicators and patterns in the story. This theory is divided into direct and indirect descriptions. In direct description, character traits are introduced with an adjective or possibly some types of nouns or components of speech (ibid). In contrast, indirect description deals with action based on habitual and non-habitual approaches. The action also deals with the result as well as the speech, the environment, the appearance and the analogy between the characters.

Through the descriptive-analytical method and with the aim of examining the main and minor characters of the play "Malhamah al-sarab" based on Raymond Kenan's theory, this study seeks to detect the thoughts and ideas of Sadollah Venus.

Direct description: The description of personality characteristics is considered as direct characterization when the most authentic voice of the text conveys it to the reader (ibid). In this description, the character is personified directly and briefly using an adjective or a noun. The determination of names for characters is a special type of direct description (Lotte, 2007).
Indirect description: In this kind of description, the author presents and describes a characteristic in different ways instead of referring to the character. The use of action and behavior as the first and simplest role of a character is important because it determines the development of characters in a story (Habibi et al., 2016). Nowadays, most writers use this type of description to introduce characters. Since explicit and guiding ability of direct description is often considered as a disadvantage, they believe in that while they are fully aware of the audience and know that not involving the minds of people and just considering them as bystanders makes them bored (Kenan, 2008). Raymond Kenan has introduced several different indicators to use this type of description;
A) Action: Action refers to the behavior of the characters throughout the story, "to what has been done, has not been done or is going to be done" (Ashrafi and Taki, 2018: 10). This tool in the story is divided into two types of habitual actions and non-habitual actions (Kenan, 1995). Habitual action is an action that is repeated regularly (Okhovat, 1992), but unusual action is that it happens only once and, in the light of it, the spirit of the character can be understood (ibid).
B) Speech: Another characteristic of indirect description stands for what one character says about another character (Kenan, 2008). Speech can reveal the social or professional class of a character (Kennan, 1995).
C) Physical description: This type of description can refer to the character's face. It sometimes speaks of character and sometimes the narrator reveals its relationship with the character (ibid).
D) Physical environment: The environment around the character (room, house and city) is among the things that indicate the character's traits. The human environment around him or her (family, social class) indicates the personality characteristics (Kenan, 2008).
E) Analogy of persons: The analogy of people is used when two characters are introduced in similar situations and the similarity or contradiction between their behavior is emphasized (ibid).

The results of the study of the play "Malhamah al-Sarab" based on the theory of Raymond Kenan indicate that the author of this play expresses the character of Abboud and his characteristics in the form of direct descriptions to begin the story and uses indirect descriptions to introduce the other characters. Moreover, in this play, the role of indirect description is more important than the direct description, and the indicators of performance or non-performance of roles and actions by characters such as Abboud, Yassin, Sheikh Abbas and the others are reflected in the play. Also, among the methods of indirect description, environment and speech are more prominent than other patterns of rhymes. Venus advances the play in different environments to provide an accurate and clear picture of the economic and social situation of the rural community. He also uses the speech indicator to express the emotions and feelings of the characters. Finally, Venus draws an analogy of the individuals using the historical characters of Abel and Cain, which shows the author's success in using the analogical model to express the anomalies that rule the society.

Metaphor, as a challenging topic in ancient rhetoric, has become an important issue in the field of modern linguistics with a change in its form and meaning. In the contemporary era, metaphor has change from the word level to the concept level, and linguists have considered it a tool of unconscious manifestation and the inner and hidden thoughts of the writer. The theorem that has made metaphor more associated with meaning and thought, in contrast to ancient rhetoric, is closely related to form. Basically in cognitive linguistics, language is considered as a system of categories, and the formal structure of language is not viewed as an independent phenomenon. However, it is thought to be a manifestation of the general conceptual system, principles of categorization, and processing mechanism. Its experimental and environmental effects have already been studied. For instance, the military language is intertwined with social institutions. In this regard, meaning is the principle and basis in metaphor, especially "conceptual metaphor" one type of which is "directional metaphor". Its sub-form is considered as a bridge to enter the concept. According to Lakoff, every "conceptual metaphor" has a source domain, a destination domain, and a source-destination mapping. The main feature of the theory of conceptual metaphors with conventional metaphors is proposed by Lakoff and Johnson. As they state, in these metaphors, the properties of words are not considered in detail, but the properties of conceptual domains are. The position of the word in the structure of the word is also taken into consideration. In this type of metaphor, the concepts of origin and destination are considered as the two main components. In fact, any concept of the origin domain can be used to explain another concept of the destination domain. In general, Lakoff and Johnson use conceptual metaphors according to the characteristics of the origin domain in the three categories of structural, directional and ontological metaphors. As mentioned, one of the most important and obvious types of conceptual metaphors is directional or spatial metaphor that is accompanied by directions and location (such as up, down, inside, outside, front, back, depth, depth, surface, center and margin). The importance of this metaphor lies in the fact that most of our basic concepts are organized on the basis of one or more spatial metaphors, which are rooted in human physical and cultural experience and are not accidental or fragmented, but they have internal and external systems. They are opposed to each other in pairs, and the connection of different metaphors shows that they have a kind of external coherence and system.

The main objectives of the present study are to analyze one of the poetic works of Ghazi al-Gosaibi in the emerging poetry of Saudi Arabia, to extract and examine the metaphors of direction that have modern meanings, and to introduce this poet and his works in Iran.

This research has used an analytical method to collect and analyze the data until the desired result is reached. Based on this method, directional metaphors are examined in the anthology "Controversial Battle" by Ghazi al-Gosaibi, a contemporary Saudi Arabian writer. Therefore, first we try to provide a brief definition of directional metaphor, and then we extract and analyze a sample of his poems in accordance with directional metaphors.

Through examining the various maps of directional metaphors in the anthology "Controversial Battle” by Ghazi al-Gosaibi, the research findings were obtained as follow. Internal metaphorical mapping with 126 occurrences has the highest frequency and external metaphors with 54 occurrences are in the second place. Also, left-handed mapping with a frequency of one has the lowest degree. Given the connection between the poem and the inner functions, and especially the hobby, the composition of the poem by Al-Gosaibi has caused a high frequency of dealing with inner issues. The current political issues of the Arab world have influenced the poet. By using this metaphor in various positions, he has considered his political ideology to better depict the situation of nations. The expression of his pride and the concept of resistance in the poems have a high frequency. Failure to address disputes and different political positions has led to a low frequency in the left and right mapping. Before and after metaphorical mapping, we did not follow the main norm and the central function of metaphors, which is leadership; it had no new function and de-familiarization but had other common functions to deal with. Tradition does not reach its main function, but it is out of the norms. In general, directional metaphorical writings by the poet, although not beyond their usual forms, are usually used to express poetic feelings. At times, however, they are taken advantage of to induce political ideas and social conditions.

Narrative is the main element in a work of fiction. It takes various forms according its type and approach. One of the important forms of narration in the postmodern novel is the use of episodes in which the novelist, instead of narrating the incident in a macro form, narrates the subject in the form of sub-narratives. It avoids dividing the narrative into traditional elements such as introduction, middle and conclusion. In the postmodern method, the author creates a technical and attractive narrative by focusing on the use of different characters, interactions among narrative levels and conceptual and semantic correlations.In fact, an important function of the novel in recent times has been the use of a new method of narration that is different from traditional and past methods. In this period, the narrative has walked away from its famous and conventional form and is based on contradictions, confusion and disruption of logical rules and natural order among the elements of the story. Therefore, in the postmodern period of the novel, it is not enough to know about a genre or a method to study the narrative; rather, different types and methods of narration should be examined separately. This is because today's fiction, unlike the works of the past that followed certain forms and shapes, is not designed in specific formats and structures; there are general features for narration in the postmodern novel. This form of narrative, which leads to the creation of polyphony, is an important goal of the modern novel, and episodic narrative is a tool to achieve it. An author can create different sounds and narratives by using these two techniques simultaneously.The latest trend in the literature, known as "postmodernism," influenced the Arabic novel. Hoda Barakat is a writer who was influenced by this method in her works, especially in the novel "Barid Al-Layl". She was born in Beirut in 1952 and taught journalism there. Now, she lives in Paris. So far, six novels, two plays, a collection of stories and a self-portrait have been published by this author, and her latest work, entitled "Barid Al-Layl", has attracted the attention of literary circles and won the most important award for Arabic novel. Hoda Barakat's novel "Barid Al-Layl" is the latest work by this prominent Lebanese novelist, which, considering its structure, style and other characteristics, is a unique work that won the Booker Prize for Literature. Using a lettering style, the novel is composed of independent and separate episodes and scenes, but they are related in terms of meaning and concept.Following the various deconstructions and aberrations that have occurred in the postmodern narrative, Barakat turned to new methods, including episodic narrative. In this narrative method, the author avoids using a familiar and traditional macro-structure, and the narrative is divided into sections and subsections. Instead of telling a long and connected story, the novelist uses several micro-incidents or presents the same incident in the form of sub-narratives. An important tool for this technique is the letter-writing style, which was why Hoda Barakat adopted the style of episodic narration in the novel "Barid Al-Layl".Research

By recognizing the type and method of narration in the postmodern novel by Hoda Barakat, this study has examined the components of episodic narration as a tool for this technique. This article is written in a descriptive-analytical manner, and examines the style in the novel using new theories about the postmodern novel.

Hoda Barakat's novel "Barid Al-Layl" makes use of the episodic technique and divided the novel into smaller sections. The author has avoided the grand narrative and avoids heroism and the presentation of extraordinary characters. In order to give his work a novel-like form and to show its difference from the short story, he sticks to semantic attachments and the overlap of narrative levels. In fact, in his episodes, the author has used fragmentary narratives that are connected by certain factors. Hoda Barakat has used five to seven sub-narratives in the novel "Barid Al-Layl". The novel is narrated in episodes and sections, each of which has its own independence. The author has avoided the traditional sequences in the plot. With sub-narratives, he has tried to give objectivity to the depth of the displaced tragedy and to approach reality. This is because showing several characters and several events appropriate to this case enhances the credibility of the events. In spite of such multiplicity and sub-narratives in the theme of homelessness and displacement, Barakat has established unity among the sub-narratives and, through the interference of the narrative levels, has created a temporal connection in spite of a narrative break. Using the episode "At the airport" and the final section "Death of the postman", he has highlighted this connection.

Critical discourse analysis is a type of examination that aims at the illegitimate use of power, domination, and inequality through writing and speech in a particular social or/and political context. Norman Fairclough, one of the leading experts in this field, believes that discourse analysis takes place in the stages of description, interpretation and explanation. Since literary texts, like political texts, have discourse-oriented structures, by studying and analyzing them critically, one can detect the author's ideology or thoughts. The reason for choosing the novel "Arus al-Zain" as a prominent work by Tayeb Saleh is that it establishes a good interaction between the author and the reader in the framework of social actions and institutions as well as the connection of power and ideology with the concept of discourse. The study also seeks to answer such questions as ‘To what extent is critical analysis of discourse based on Fairclough theory at the levels of description, interpretation, and explanation applicable to the novel The Baptism?’ and ‘How can this analysis bring the audience closer to the author's ideological thoughts?’

In this article, an attempt is made to acquaint the reader with the religious, anti-traditional and idealistic tendencies of the author and to reveal the hidden truth by a descriptive-analytical method and through upgrading the analysis of the text from the level of description to the levels of interpretation and explanation. This shows the text beyond the novel and the underlying layers. 

1. Critical analysis of the discourse in the novel "Arus al-Zain" at the level of description:By analyzing the structure of the text in the description stage, the hidden meanings of the words are revealed. This level of discourse critical analysis is organized around several main questions, the most important of which are the lexical titles, grammatical rules and textual structures. In this novel, grammatical words and constructions have an ideological burden, and the location of the novel suggests the confrontations that are always reflected in social structures. The novel begins with the discourse of the principal and the student, following the domination of those in power. This is while the discourse of most of its characters implies equality of power among them.Critical analysis of the discourse in the novel "Arus al-Zain" at the level of interpretation:The level of interpretation, which is the product of the dialectical connection of the formal features and the underlying knowledge of the interpreter's mind, recounts some of the presuppositions that exist in the minds of the people. At the same time, the theme of the story revolves around the wedding of Zain and Naeema. The novel has a logical process in telling the story and depicting the relationships among people, which is often based on the equality of power in rural society. At the level of interpretation, there are questions such as ‘What is the discourse participants’ interpretation of the linguistic and situational contexts?’, ‘What is the story?’, ‘Who is involved?’, ‘What is the relationship between them?’ and ‘What is the role of women in advancing the story?’Critical analysis of the discourse in the novel "Arus al-Zain" at the level of explanation:In this stage, the text is analyzed as a part of the process of social struggle in the context of power relations at various institutional, social and situational levels. These relations are effective in shaping the discourse. At the level of explaining, the story depicts the factors of pervasive ignorance and superstition and adherence to false traditions and male domination over women on the one hand and the material and cultural poverty of the Sudanese society on the other. In fact, the author wants the day to come when the women of the society, like Naeema, will stand against the dominant power of the society, that is, cultural and social ignorance.

The critical discourse analysis approach reflects the relationship between the author, the text and the reader and expresses the effects of text and situational context on discourse. The novel "Al-Zain" is a social-realistic novel that reproduces the bitter realities of a particular period in Sudan. Tayeb Saleh, the author, tries to portray beyond words and sentences. Critical discourse analysis of the novel allows the audience to examine it at various levels and to detect the deepest layers of structure and meaning in the novel for the ideology and attitudes of the author. This novel was studied at the three levels of description, interpretation and explanation. As it was found, since Tayyab Saleh created his work in the 1970s, the post-colonial era of Sudan, he has a realistic and critical view of the issues and problems of this period. In fact, by exploring the novel's discourse, he demonstrates a kind of social struggle against unhealthy and naturalized traditions. In the end, Saleh manifests himself in zain’s wedding as a symbol of an ideal society in which all the segments of people enjoy peaceful human relations with equal social rights and power of discourse.