NARRATIVE STRATEGIES IN KARAM SABER’S NOVEL “THE SHRINE”

Serhii V. Rybalkin, rybalkindi@gmail.com

PhD. in Philology, Associate Professor

Kyiv National Linguistic University


DOI: https://doi.org/10.17721/StudLing2024.25.139-147


PDF (UKRAINIAN)


ABSTRACT

The research focuses on the linguistic analysis of narrative strategies in Karam Saber’s novel “The Shrine”, particularly examining the linguistic means of creating a multilayered narrative. Drawing upon the methodological principles of textual analysis developed by K. M. Tyshchenko and his fundamental studies of Arabic-Ukrainian language contacts, the study investigates the lexical-stylistic and syntactic features of the narrative structure. The subject of research encompasses the linguistic characteristics of different narrator types and the means of implementing focalisation that facilitate the interaction between realistic and magical-realistic narrative planes. The paper provides a detailed analysis of the linguistic mechanisms of polyphony creation using hetero- and homodiegetic narrators, the specifics of temporal deictics and spatial references in chronotope formation, and the peculiarities of lexemes with dual semantics and metaphorical constructions within the context of magical realism. The findings demonstrate that narrative strategies are realised through a complex system of stylistic and syntactic means interaction, creating a multilayered textual space where the real and the mystical exist in inseparable unity. The research results enhance the understanding of linguistic mechanisms in creating magical-realistic narrative in contemporary Arabic literature and open perspectives for further investigation of linguistic means in postcolonial literary discourse.

Key words: Arabic prose, chronotope, focalization, linguistic means, magical realism, narrative strategies


References:

  1. Allen, R. (2000). An introduction to Arabic literature. Cambridge University Press.
  2. Bal, M. (1997). Narratology: Introduction to the theory of narrative. University of Toronto Press.
  3. Bemong, N., et al. (2010). Bakhtin’s theory of the literary chronotope: Reflections, applications, perspectives. Academia Press.
  4. Bowers, M. (2004). Magic(al) realism: The new critical idiom. Routledge.
  5. Faris, W. (2004). Ordinary enchantments: Magical realism and the remystification of narrative. Vanderbilt University Press.
  6. Herman, D. (2009). Basic elements of narrative. Wiley Online Books.
  7. Holes, C. (2004). Modern Arabic: Structures, functions, and varieties. Georgetown University Press.
  8. Leech, G., & Short, M. (2007). Style in fiction: A linguistic introduction to English fictional prose. Routledge.
  9. Saber, K. (2024). Svyatynia [The Shrine]. Nika-Centre Publishing House. [in Ukr.].
  10. Simpson, P. (2004). Stylistics: A resource book for students. Routledge.
  11. Stockwell, P. (2019). Cognitive poetics: An introduction. Routledge.
  12. Toolan, M. (2001). Narrative: A critical linguistic introduction. Routledge.
  13. Wales, K. (2011). A dictionary of stylistics. Routledge.
  14. Warnes, C. (2009). Magical realism and the postcolonial novel: Between faith and irreverence. Palgrave Macmillan.
  15. Tyshchenko, K. M. (2011). Khalifat i Sivera: Toponimichnyi slid v Ukraini [Caliphate and Sivera: Toponymic trace in Ukraine]. Akvilon-Plus. [in Ukr.].
  16. Tyshchenko, K. M. (2020). 42 epokhy ukrainskykh movnykh kontaktiv: entsyklopediia 3000 zapozychenykh realiy antychnosti y serednovichchia u movi, prizvyshchakh i toponimakh [42 epochs of Ukrainian language contacts: Encyclopedia of 3000 borrowed realities of antiquity and the Middle Ages in language, surnames, and toponyms]. Prosvita. [in Ukr.].
  17. Tyshchenko, K. M. (2021). Syriiskyi plast toponimii Ukrainy chasiv Khalifatu [The Syrian layer in Ukrainian toponymy of the Caliphate period]. Visnyk Kyivskoho natsionalnoho universytetu imeni Tarasa Shevchenka. Skhidni movy ta literatury, 1(27), 27–33. [in Ukr.].