عجائبية الوصف في رسالة الغفران

Abstract

Most Arabic lexicons agree that ‘the fantastic’ is an extraordinary matter
that prompts astonishment and bewilderment in the human psyche. Therefore,
the fantastic description is related to the psychological state of human being, and
it results from illogical and farfetched interpretations, whereby the description
surpasses the rules of the mind, either by exaggeration or something else. As
such, the Epistle of Forgiveness by Al-Maarri attains the status of dominance in
fantastic fiction authorship. More, it is an imaginary journey into the world of
the unknown, which constitutes a unique model of fantasy writing that expresses
phenomenal themes and contemplates human destiny.
The description in the Epistle of Forgiveness represents an exceptional pattern
in the miraculous fantastic artistic construction pertaining to all the narrative
elements. In this respect, events, personalities, and setting are all imaginary
elements that trigger many questions about the literary techniques used by al-
Maarri, whether in terms of the places Ibn al-Qarih captures for himself, or the
characters that are fundamental to the fantastic imagination, or the fictional
mental-time through which he moves from reality to fantasy. Moreover, the
description pays heed to the author’s utilization of sarcasm methods and their
relationship to the fantastic presentation of imaginary scenes as they seem to
suggest some kind of sensory compensation for the deprivation he suffered,
along with other inquiries that the text raises in the mind of the recipient.