An Analysis of the Role of Short Circuit in Highlighting the Metafictional Dimension of the Novel Janazah Jadidah by Imad Hamdi by Vahid Al-Taweela

Abstract

Metafiction is a type of postmodern novel in which the author consciously tries to reduce his control over the text and, in return, by being present in the world of the text and inviting the reader to be present in the story, gives him an active role and reduces the distance between him and himself and the text. Wahid Al-Taweela is one of the modern Egyptian novelists who, in his novel "The New Funeral of Imad Hamdi", uses a metafictional narrative method and uses short-circuiting techniques to connect the real world with the imaginary world of the text, bringing together the three elements that make up the text, namely the author, the reader, and the text. The present study attempts to use a descriptive and analytical method to explore the relationship between the three elements that make up the text, namely the author, the reader, and the text, in this novel and to express the author's goals in using various short-circuiting techniques. The results of the research indicate that Al-Taweela creates a short circuit with his metafictional statements, direct address to the reader, and dialogue with the characters of the story, and mixes the real world with the metaphorical world of the story, and reduces his distance from the text of his story, and reduces his authority in the narrative process, and removes the reader from the state of a mere listener and introduces him as one of the elements that make up the text of his story, and with the help of time jumps and sudden entries and exits in the text of the story, he creates a pause in the direct narrative process of the story, and makes the plot of his story a nonlinear form, and by giving freedom to the characters, he creates an endgame for the story.