Narrating psychological realism and time temporality: A critical study of Shahad Al Rawi’s The Baghdad Clock
Main Article Content
Abstract
Psychological realism in contemporary prose fiction focuses on the internal life of characters, emphasizing subjective experiences and memory. Time, in such fiction, transcends its mechanical measurement and is instead understood through psychological perception. This paper examines The Baghdad Clock (2018) by Shahad Al Rawi through the lens of Paul Ricoeur’s theory in Time and Narrative, exploring how the novel disrupts linear temporality to reflect the psychological trauma of war. The study argues that Al Rawi constructs a non-linear narrative where the past, present, and future converge, creating a temporal structure that mirrors Iraq’s national trauma. Utilizing a structural approach and integrating theories of psychological realism and narrative temporality, the study reflects on how memory, trauma, and time shape both personal and collective identities in post-2003 Iraqi fiction. The significance of this study lies in its exploration of temporal disorientation and narrative innovation as responses to prolonged conflict, trauma, and historical rupture in Iraq’s recent past.
Downloads
Article Details
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
This open-access article is distributed under a Creative Commons Attribution (CC-BY) 4.0 license.
You are free to: Share — copy and redistribute the material in any medium or format. Adapt — remix, transform, and build upon the material for any purpose, even commercially. The licensor cannot revoke these freedoms as long as you follow the license terms.
Under the following terms: Attribution — You must give appropriate credit, provide a link to the license, and indicate if changes were made. You may do so in any reasonable manner, but not in any way that suggests the licensor endorses you or your use.
No additional restrictions You may not apply legal terms or technological measures that legally restrict others from doing anything the license permits.
How to Cite
Share
References
Al-Rawi, Shahad. (2019). The Baghdad Clock. Oneworld Publications, London.
Amran, Mohammad. (2019). The Baghdad Clock by Shahad al-Rawi.
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/330322932. DOI:10.13140/RG.2.2.13091.30243
Brockmeier, Jens. (2009). “Stories to Remember: Narrative and the Time of Memory.” Storyworlds: A Journal of Narrative Studies, vol. 1, pp. 115–132. JSTOR. [Accessed 6 Apr. 2024].
Dentith, Simon. (1995). Bakhtinian Thought: An Introductory Reader. London: Routledge.
Garry, Jane & Hasan El-Shamy (Eds). (2005). Archetypes and Motifs in Folklore and Literature: A Handbook. M.E. Sharpe.
Grabes, Herbert. (1996). “Writing Against Time: The Paradox of Temporality in Modernist and Postmodern Aesthetics.” Poetica, vol. 28, no. 3/4, pp. 368–385. JSTOR.
Hermes, Nizar F., & Head, Grethen. (2018). The City in Arabic Literature: Classical and Modern Perspectives. Edinburgh University Press.
Jansen, Harry. (2015). “Time, Narrative and Fiction: The Uneasy Relationship Between Ricoeur and a Heterogeneous Temporality.” History and Theory, vol. 54, no. 1, pp. 1–24. JSTOR.
Leach, E.R. (1971). “Two Essays Concerning the Symbolic Representation of Time.” Rethinking Anthropology. The Athlone Press.
LiteraryDevices Editors. “Sage Archetype.” LiteraryDevices.net, 2013.
https://literarydevices.net/sage-archetype/
Ricoeur, Paul. (1984). Time and Narrative (Vol. 1). Trans. Kathleen McLaughlin & David Pellauer. University of Chicago Press.
Ricoeur, Paul. (1979). “The Human Experience of Time and Narrative.” Research in Phenomenology, vol. 9, pp. 17–34. JSTOR.
Ricoeur, Paul. (1980). “Narrative Time.” Critical Inquiry, vol. 7, no. 1, pp. 169–190. JSTOR.
Sen, Debashish. (2020). Psychological Realism in the 19th Century Novel. Research India Publications.
Tobin, Patricia. (1987). Time and the Novel: The Genealogical Imperative. Princeton University Press.