vol 23 no3, 2023

The Meta-Realism in the Novel Al Aslaf (The Ancestors) by Fadel Al-Azzawi

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The Meta-Realism in the Novel Al Aslaf (The Ancestors) by Fadel Al-Azzawi

The novel (The Ancestors) by Fadel Al-Azzawi, published in 2001, is one of the novels of the experimental movement in the Iraqi novel.  This novel is based on the construction of meta-realism, which is manifested in different forms. It pinpointed the paths of narrative elements, like characters, events, time, and place, and was interwoven with them in a form of historical recording the of violence and the surrounding state structure and societal nature. It took advantage of the Iraqi folklore cultural heritage, and religious references, which constitute the life of the lower class as well as the life of the political and military class without discrimination, by adopting the satirical language that took the novel to the classification of black comedy. The meta-realistic manifestations in this novel vary among the characters, such as Satan, Delilah, the angel, the sheikhs who are passing through time and death, and abnormal phenomena such as frogs raining from the sky, paranormal accidents such as flying humans, and strangeness such as the brotherhood of animals.

Keywords: Modern Narrative, Iraqi Novel, Meta, Realism, Modern Criticism.

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