Place formations in the Iraqi novel taking Shalal Anouz’s novel (Yamama Baghdad as an example)

Abstract

In this study, however, place in the novel is not regarded from an uncritical view as a neutral context where action kertaa merely take place; rather, it is viewed as a significant structure that aids in meaning making and expresses the psychological and social dimensions of the text. This perspective gives a new approach using the novel Yamama Baghdad by the novelist Shalal Anouz as a case study to analyze spatial structures in the Iraqi novel. Using the descriptive-analytical method and a narrative orientation, this research traces the sense of place in hidden and revealed senses and its artistic and symbolic status in the general texture of the novel. The research problem is formulated into one main question which araise due to the nature of the novel and its which is "How does spatial formations appears through the novel and what role does play in terms of shaping the plot and characters and further reflects the changes in Iraq society." This begs deeper questions about spatial patterns and the relationship between place and character, what distance there is between these and social and political changes. The research determines the home, the bedroom, the courtroom and the hotel as enclosed spaces that work psychologically, evoking notions of anxiety, memory and fragmentation. On the other hand, open spaces like the street, the university, the river, and the cemetery function as paths of mobility, transformation, and re-signification. The results also uncover that place is not just descriptive in the novel but an active structural element that guides the action. And Baghdad itself is a kind of collective memory, containing loss and change all at once.