Arabic Literature

Abstract From the Heideggerian philosophical perspective, the world is not merely a collection of things or conventional relations; rather, it is essentially and continually connected, at a deeper level, to the question of Being. The world itself is a mode of Being, and the task of authentic philosophy is to serve as an ontology (science of Being) of this world. On the other hand, when we turn to contemporary literature and poetry, we find that one of the main characteristics of current poetry is its engagement with the world, its phenomena and elements, as well as the relations dominating it, from this very perspective. In modern Arabic literature, the poetry of Adonis undoubtedly represents one of the most prominent embodiments of this approach. Adonis is a poet-philosopher, or a philosopher-poet, who invests the latent energy of language to delineate an epistemic vision of Being, to the extent that it can be said that his central poetic preoccupation is the question of existence itself. In this article, focusing on the concept of the "worldhood of the world" and tracing a limited number of examples in his new poetry collection, Adoniada, we seek to provide a reading that reveals this ontological presence. The methodology of this research is descriptive-analytical, and the findings indicate that Adonis sometimes works in harmony with Heidegger's ontological insights in creating the text within the space of language, while at other times, as a creative poet, he offers a more progressive and even divergent vision in analyzing certain themes. He invests the potentials of poetry, and it is natural that poetry, as a self-standing being, should have a broader and more essential relationship with addressing ontological issues.

Abstract This study offers a comparative analysis of Badr Shakir al-Sayyab’s poetry, examining two classical poems, “I Have Broken a Bond” and “Hurricanes,” alongside two free-verse poems, “A Poem to Revolutionary Iraq” and “A City without Rain.” Drawing on Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA), the study investigates how poetic form contributes to the representation of social and human issues and reflects cultural and political transformations. The analysis focuses on linguistic structures, lexical choices, and metaphorical imagery across three interconnected levels: textual practice, discursive practice, and social practice.The findings show that the classical form, despite its symbolic richness, rhetorical force, and epic qualities, is shaped by metrical and rhyming constraints that may limit the direct representation of concrete lived experiences, particularly in contexts of social crisis. Free verse, by contrast, provides greater structural and linguistic flexibility through variations in line length, rhythm, and lexical choices. This flexibility enables al-Sayyab to represent everyday life, human suffering, social crises, and collective experiences in more concrete, dynamic, and multilayered ways. His use of natural and social imagery also contributes to the representation of broader issues such as corruption, economic hardship, drought, and political change.The study argues that al-Sayyab’s transition from classical poetry to free verse was not merely an aesthetic transformation but was closely connected to broader social and historical changes. Free verse provided him with expressive resources that enabled him to engage more directly with social realities, articulate human suffering, and develop a more effective mode of social critique.

Abstract The conceptual metaphor of time is one of the most prominent cognitive mechanisms through which abstract concepts are reconstructed within tangible linguistic structures. Time, as an immaterial concept, is not directly perceived through the senses; rather, it is cognitively reconstructed through conceptual mappings grounded in concrete experiential domains, conferring upon it an existential character that can be imagined and engaged with. Based on this framework, and given the remarkable density of conceptual metaphors of time in Nazik al-Malaika's poem "Marthiyyat Yawm Tafih," this study adopts a descriptive–analytical approach. It examines the mapping structure of these metaphors and their cognitive patterns, addressing two central questions: How is time reconstructed through conceptual metaphors in this poem? And what cognitive and existential functions do these metaphors perform within poetic discourse?The findings reveal that the metaphorical structure of time is organized around three major cognitive schemas: time as an object, time as a place, and time as a direction. In the first schema, time is represented as a limited resource that can be lost, saved, or invested, placing it within a logic of possession and loss. In the second schema, time appears as a symbolic spatial domain within which the poetic self moves, reorganizing events and experiences at the level of emotional perception. In the third schema, time is depicted as a flowing dynamic direction or path that cannot be resisted, reflecting a dimension of existential determinism.The interweaving of these metaphorical structures leads to a reconstruction of time within the poetic text. Time ceases to function merely as a chronological framework for organizing events and instead becomes an active entity that occupies a position and exerts direct influence on the formation of the self's identity and the trajectory of its destiny. Accordingly, poetic discourse acquires a distinct ontological density, as language emerges not merely as a means of expression but as a generative cognitive system that contributes to the construction of meaning and the shaping of the horizon of existential experience.

Abstract Within contemporary discourse analysis, Teun A. van Dijk’s socio-cognitive model-particularly his formulation of Context Models-offers a rigorous explanatory framework for how discourse participants construct, interpret, and regulate meaning. By integrating episodic mental models with socially shared representations, this paradigm positions the literary author as an active, situated participant whose semantic memory structures textual production. While standard content-oriented analyses of Abdul Khaliq al-Rikabi’s novel Mā Lam Tamassahu al-Nār [Untouched by Fire] tend to confine their scope to thematic and aesthetic qualities, a critical discourse approach exposes the work’s structural dialectic with external realities and institutional power structures. Furthermore, examining the text through the author’s philosophical engagement with humanity and wisdom clarifies the specific discursive strategies whereby philosophical cognition materializes as narrative. Drawing upon philosophical knowledge as a foundational cognitive element of context, this study explores how Nietzsche’s conception of the Übermensch is operationalized through Van Dijk’s socio-cognitive heuristic. The investigation examines the interplay between textual micro-structures and societal macro-structures, using the cognitive interface as an explanatory bridge. At the micro-linguistic tier, the discourse mobilizes specific ideological square strategies, consistently attenuating the perceived deviance of the in-group (Nadeem and his companions) while accentuating the coercion of the out-group (Iskandar Bak). At the macro-structural level, the narrative interrogates authoritarian apparatuses in modern Iraq, anchoring the author’s stance in the novel’s opening philosophical thesis. Although framed superficially around an individual descent into psychological breakdown, critical analysis demonstrates that the novel operates as an exteriorized contextual mental model designed to challenge institutional hegemony and advocate an existential transvaluation of values-particularly conventional rationality-in response to Iraq’s modern socio-political crisis.

Abstract Within contemporary discourse analysis, Teun A. van Dijk’s socio-cognitive model-particularly his formulation of Context Models-offers a rigorous explanatory framework for how discourse participants construct, interpret, and regulate meaning. By integrating episodic mental models with socially shared representations, this paradigm positions the literary author as an active, situated participant whose semantic memory structures textual production. While standard content-oriented analyses of Abdul Khaliq al-Rikabi’s novel Mā Lam Tamassahu al-Nār [Untouched by Fire] tend to confine their scope to thematic and aesthetic qualities, a critical discourse approach exposes the work’s structural dialectic with external realities and institutional power structures. Furthermore, examining the text through the author’s philosophical engagement with humanity and wisdom clarifies the specific discursive strategies whereby philosophical cognition materializes as narrative. Drawing upon philosophical knowledge as a foundational cognitive element of context, this study explores how Nietzsche’s conception of the Übermensch is operationalized through Van Dijk’s socio-cognitive heuristic. The investigation examines the interplay between textual micro-structures and societal macro-structures, using the cognitive interface as an explanatory bridge. At the micro-linguistic tier, the discourse mobilizes specific ideological square strategies, consistently attenuating the perceived deviance of the in-group (Nadeem and his companions) while accentuating the coercion of the out-group (Iskandar Bak). At the macro-structural level, the narrative interrogates authoritarian apparatuses in modern Iraq, anchoring the author’s stance in the novel’s opening philosophical thesis. Although framed superficially around an individual descent into psychological breakdown, critical analysis demonstrates that the novel operates as an exteriorized contextual mental model designed to challenge institutional hegemony and advocate an existential transvaluation of values-particularly conventional rationality-in response to Iraq’s modern socio-political crisis.

Abstract The repertoire du texte is a Mechanism that opens the way to enter the realm of text and discover its meanings and then organizes the reader’s experiences in relation to the literary text within the textual spaces. the repertoire du texte and its systematic approach are considered part of a textual strategy, which requires the reader to have a knowledge of references related to the text. This Mechanism was introduced by the German thinker “Wolfgang Iser” as a strategy that aids the reader in understanding literary texts. Iser emphasizes that a text dose not arise from empty spaces; rather, every text has an archive, which is a collection of necessary events that facilitate the communicative connection between the text and its reader. The archive of a text organizes the reader’s allows the reader to shape reference backgrounds according to the present age. It means that the process of producing texts does not emerge or operate from nothing or from empty spaces, but rather takes shape from a solid framework of values, norms, and standards. In the article, Sa'ad Muhammad Rahim using a descriptive-analytical method. His narratives are recognized for their unique characteristics and are considered unparalleled in terms of literary and technical aspects. Our examination of these two narratives revealed that Rahim has attempted to engage the reader through textual archiving and textual strategies, with the condition that reader is familiar with the prior knowledge of the narrative text to the extent that they can interpret the implications of the text and establish appropriate connections with them. Rahim deliberately employs elements of textual archiving, such as social, literary, historical and Quranic contexts in the narratives of his works. His aim in doing so is to express love for his homeland and to recount the tragic events that have befallen Iraq, as well as to describe the sufferings that war has imposed on his compatriots for the reader.

Abstract The present study investigates the signs of the story "Al-Hi Al-Latini" by the Lebanese novelist Sohail Idris (1924) based on the conditions and mechanisms of emotional semiotics. Emotional semiotics takes its essence from action semiotics; Therefore, before action, there is feeling; Therefore, feelings and emotions are very important; Because there is no literary act without emotions; Therefore, the necessity of a method that includes all the ways of meaning is necessary. Among these methods, considering the emotional and psychological dimension through openness to the essence, body and emotions, which is evident in the researches of Grimas and Fontani, who tried to give Shush credibility again. Based on this, the present research examines the emotions that the hero has in his lived experience in the story. The premise of his research is that boredom is the most important emotion of the narrative, from which the main meaning is realized. The research method is a descriptive-analytical method, where we implement Fontan's emotional method on the discourse of the mentioned narrative, in a critical effort. The results of the discussion indicate that boredom is the most important emotion in the narrative, which causes the hero of the story to be in an emotional state rather than in an active state, and in order to overcome this boredom, he becomes an elusive person and Reality escapes from the hands of the police. Also, the results of the discussion show that all efforts of emotions produce nothing but nothing; Because the hero walks in the bed of weak emotions; Something that causes him to subside and suppress his feelings and brings him to the zero point and nowhere, where boredom welcomes him with open arms and traps him, whether he is in Lebanon or in France This strengthens the main hypothesis of the research.