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NARRATIVE FORMATION OF IDENTITY A STUDY OF SELF-NARRATION AND REPRESENTATION OF MINORITIES IN THE MODERN KUWAITI NOVEL
Abstract by Dr. Anwar Alsaad On Session 240  (Society and Identity in Kuwait)

On Saturday, November 16 at 5:30 pm

2019 Annual Meeting

Abstract
NARRATIVE FORMATION OF IDENTITY A STUDY OF SELF-NARRATION AND REPRESENTATION OF MINORITIES IN THE MODERN KUWAITI NOVEL The aim of the present study is to examine identity formation in the modern Kuwaiti novel by observing several narratological techniques and the use of language in forming the psychological elements of its characters, and its impact on self-narration, representation, and the differentiation between the 'I' and the 'Other'. This paper utilizes narrative works to observe the development of identifying and classifying identity by using different styles of narration, and to analyze the bonding relationships among the characters through investigating its given characteristics such as: the strength in the voice of the character, evoking its emotions, and the techniques in creating several types of focalization. It takes as case studies two sets of narrative works by two well-known Kuwaiti novelists: Ism?a?l Fahd Ism?a?l's B?a?dan il? Huna (1997) and his latest novel ?and?q Aswad ?khr (2018); and N??er al-?if?r?'s Al-Jahr?? Trilogy: al-?ahd (2014), K?lisk? (2015), and al-Ma??r (2018). The study relies on narrative theory and research in the physiology of language and psycho-narration, such as the works of Ann Banfield and Dorrit Cohn, to examine two major characteristics. First, self-narration and other techniques that are constituted as a subject of reflection (Narrator, Narratee, Levels of Narration, etc.); second, the use of certain linguistic and syntactic techniques to represent the 'Other', especially minorities such as Bid?ns [stateless citizens] and foreign workers. The conclusion, which will also serves as the preface to an under-process English translation of al-?if?r?'s Al-Jahr?? Trilogy, will seek to identify the combination of narratological, linguistic, and syntactic techniques that Kuwaiti authors employ as tools for forming different characters in their novels in order to create that thinnest line between identities, that any reader, from inside or outside the culture, can see it as it really exists in both reality and in the novel as a production of the collective memory of the modern society of Kuwait.
Discipline
Literature
Geographic Area
Arabian Peninsula
Sub Area
None