The Fictionalization of History in the Saudi Novel: A Study of the Novel (Safar Barlik)

Abstract

There is a strong relationship between narration and history, as each borrows techniques from the other; History needs narration by recounting some of its events, and the novel imagines past events in its stories. The Arabic novel has not dispensed with history since its inception, as it has often relied on its events while recounting its past in the present time. The Saudi novel found in some historical events that were recorded with differing opinions, so it resorted to them and employed them in its texts, but this is not an employment to recount historical facts, but rather to show the state of awareness of it in the present time. The incident of (Safar barlik), in which the people of Medina were displaced to the Levant during the time of the Ottoman presence, is one of the harsh social historical events that was recorded with two different opinions, because critical studies have not paid attention to the nature of the new awareness that the Saudi novel highlighted by interrogating history, this study seeks to examine it by employing critical approaches on the imagining of the narrative of history. The research aims to know the historical limits at which the novel stopped and the mechanisms of its employment as it recounts history with a new vision. How did narrative, as a creative space, rewrite history, and what role does narrative structure play in interrogating the past and re-experiencing new meaning?

 The research methodologically employed the mechanisms of the critical approach to the theory of historical representation in narrative discourse, as developed by (Paul Ricoeur, Hayden White, and Linda Hitchin) Among the most prominent findings of the study is that narrative is not merely a linear representation of events, but rather a reconstruction of reality with new visions and implications. The study recommends that research and critical studies should engage in methodological and applied analysis of novels that have rewritten history, exploring the significance of narrative discourse within them.