A study of Shahd Al-Rawi's novel " Above the Republic Bridge " in light of Norman Fairclough's concept of description | ||
| دراسات في اللغة العربيّة وآدابها | ||
| Article 2, Volume 16, Issue 41, September 2025, Pages 39-68 PDF (624.38 K) | ||
| Document Type: Scientific- Research Article | ||
| DOI: 10.22075/lasem.2025.36298.1454 | ||
| Authors | ||
| Somaye Nikfar* 1; Ardeshir Sadr al-dini* 2; Mustafa Yegani3 | ||
| 1Phd Candidete of Arabic language and literature, Islamic Azad University, Mahabad branch, Azerbaijan gharbi, Iran. | ||
| 2Assistant Professor, Department of Arabic Language and Literature, Islamic Azad University, Mahabad branch, Azarbaijan gharbi , Iran. | ||
| 3Assistant Professor, Department of Arabic Language and Literature, Islamic Azad University, Mahabad Branch, Azerbaijan gharbi, Iran. | ||
| Receive Date: 27 December 2024, Revise Date: 22 April 2025, Accept Date: 23 April 2025 | ||
| Abstract | ||
| Discourse is the fundamental factor of a literary work and the driving force behind literary texts. Novelists and writers tirelessly strive to build their work on a comprehensive and influential discourse on the recipients and audiences to whom the novel addresses and aims. However, what cannot be hidden in this context is the connection between the language or image of a literary work and discourse. This is what Fairclough mentions in his theory of critical discourse analysis within the issue of "description," alongside the concepts of interpretation and clarification, as one of the three important axes of his famous theory. At this level, the formal features of the work are analyzed, helping the interpreter or literary researcher understand the work's discourse and its basic content. This is the premise and foundation for analyzing narrative effects and texts, as it is considered a key to entering the text and the two subsequent levels in the rhetorical study of the novel. Therefore, the article aims, in accordance with this primary purpose, to evaluate the linguistic mechanisms and formal forms of the work—that is, the elements Fairclough discusses under the heading of the issue of description—to understand and investigate the work's discourse and the prevailing content by clarifying these linguistic mechanisms and forms. The research results show that the young Iraqi novelist, through linguistic and formal mechanisms and narrative elements such as the use of a motif like the word “land,” the employment of solidarity around the war, the use of oral language when the characters speak, etc., attempted to embody the discourse of forced migration of Iraqi citizens despite their unwillingness to do so for political and social reasons such as war and siege. Keywords: Farklaf, description, discourse, Shahd al-Ravi, Fujeser al-Ghamhoreya Extended summary Introduction This research is based on a critical discourse analysis of the novel Over the Bridge of the Republic. Critical discourse analysis allows the reader to analyze contemporary Iraqi novels by carefully and textually analyzing them, discovering the relationship between language and society, and in addition to discovering new and harmonious formal forms, it can also examine the discourse and power relations in society and the prevailing social conditions. The novels of "Shahd al-Rawi", a young and contemporary Iraqi writer, are interesting in their own way in terms of their attention to current social issues, and the author has raised the concerns of young Iraqi women in the context of social conditions and developments. Her second work, "Above the Bridge of the Republic", is a continuation of the same concerns that she narrated in the first novel, war and migration, war and its unforgettable consequences that affect the fate of individuals and cause the disintegration of families. This article attempts to examine the author's relationship with the factors that create the discourse and the discourse produced in the work. The main emphasis of the article is on the relationship between the form of the work and its discourse, and a set of formal and apparent characteristics of the novel are discussed for discourse analysis. Materials and Methods The research is theoretically based on Fairclough's theory of critical discourse analysis. Among the discussed axes in his theory, he emphasizes the component of description. The level of description is one of the axes of Fairclough's theory, which is the theoretical basis of this article. The first stage in Fairclough's theory of critical discourse analysis is the level of description. At this stage or level, the text is examined separately from other texts and the context and social conditions. The set of formal features found in a text can be considered as specific choices from among the available options related to vocabulary and grammar that the text uses. This analysis is an abstract analysis of the text and can help the reader find the content (Haddadi, 2011: 33). In other words, at this level, what is in the extra-structure of the text plays a role as what is in the intra-structure of the text. Research Findings The result of the research shows that the Iraqi author, by placing the formal appearances and coordinates of the work, from the title to the temporal and spatial elements, seeks to make emigration from the homeland believable and inevitable due to the war conditions and the unstable situation in Iraq. In the work, Shahd al-Rawi has tried to consider the discourse of emigration not only reprehensible but also a desirable and desirable thing, so that the characters have no choice but to choose emigration to reduce their suffering. Discussion of Results An examination of the level of description in the novel The Bridge of the Republic shows that author has been very successful in choosing the title and the cover design as the first entries of the novel. These two elements, to a large extent, contain the events and discourse of the novel. The author has chosen the titles of the novel according to the element of place, which indicates the importance of the place and the battlefield engagement by Iraqi citizens and foreigners. He has shown considerable creativity in the illustration and has inspired the reader with an atmosphere of terror, tyranny and dissatisfaction, violence and conflict with the excellent illustration and design of the novel's cover. The author has used repetition and motif repeatedly. The subject of war in the novel and following the moods and spirits of the characters and the conditions and conditions of society, this has caused the author to resort to repetition, such as observation and synonymy. The author has used these techniques to accompany the reader with what is happening in Iraq. When the reader reads the first lines of the novel Shahd, using these techniques, he is absorbed in the fascinating atmosphere of the novel and follows the work until the end. As a result, he identifies with the characters and considers their pain as his own. Also, the contrast and opposition in the novel is pursued at two levels: general and specific. The general and fundamental contrasts between the components of the novel have led from the contrast between the characters to a more specific level in the novel. The contrast between day and night, death and life, stability and unrest always circulates and resonates like a bell in the novel, creating a dual and two-faceted effect. The element of place is explicitly mentioned in Shahd Al-Rawi's novels. The author believes in the interaction between this element of place and time and has included them in the work. In other words, precise time and place are used to convey the theme of the story. That is, the time goes back to the years of war in Iraq, and the place is the areas where the author is involved in the war. By specifying the place and time, the author has had a glimpse of the historical nature of the work, but his novels do not fit into the genre of historical novels, but history has become a theme for him to portray the suffering of Iraq and visualize the characters' reactions to important social issues. Also, in order to make the discourse realistic, show and palatable, he has reflected on language in general and at times on oral language and the relationship that the participants have with language. | ||
| Keywords | ||
| Farklaf; description; discourse; Shahd al-Ravi; Fujeser al-Ghamhoreya | ||
| References | ||
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The Sources and References: A: books
B: Journals
Namwar-Motlaq, Bahman, “Recognizing Titles in Iranian Artistic and Literary Works” Tehran: Semiotic Conference, 2009, [In Persian]. | ||
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