بناء المكان في روايات حيدر حيدر

Abstract

This study aims to discuss the issue of representing and structuring the place in three novels by the Syrian writer Haydar Haydar. The place-structure of al-Fahd points out its traditional form. Here, place follows the events and it is built up on certain dialectic elements such as: the open / the closed, the lower / the higher, heaven / earth. On the time-place level, it is built up on the dialectic of stability / movement. The structure of place is circular, moving from the 'open' to the 'closed' then back to the 'open' again. The most important techniques of place depiction include description, and it is characterized by giving a general skeletal outlining with explanatory function. This place formation changes in al-Zamman al-Muhish into a modernist formation, as the city turns to be the main character, and the places are colored by the characters' psychological shades.  The city constitutes a closed space as an antithetical parallel with the open prairies that constitute the open space for the dreams of the narrator Shibli opposite to the closed reality he is living in. The techniques of place-depiction are varied. They include skeletal outlining that has an explanatory function, time-place colors, smells and senses, and personification of various places, especially Damascus. In Shumous al-Ghajar, place becomes smaller and subordinate to the events as the case is in al-Fahd.

The discussion of the element of place-structure finds out that there is a certain conflict in Haydar works between the open and the closed. The open is the space of the dream, while the closed is the space of reality. The closed overcomes the open as an indication of the closed horizon the Arab individual faces. 'Exile' is the only open space for him.