Wandering Characters in Shattered Homelands: Between Place and Character in Qassim Tawfiq's Novel <i>Jisr ʿAbdoun/ʿAbdoun</i> <i>Bridge</i>

Lina al-Sheikh Hishmeh

doi:doi:10.11648/j.ijla.20221005.18

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Wandering Characters in Shattered Homelands: Between Place and Character in Qassim Tawfiq's Novel Jisr ʿAbdoun/ʿAbdoun Bridge

Lina al-Sheikh Hishmeh

Published in International Journal of Literature and Arts (Volume 10, Issue 5)

Received: 6 October 2022 Accepted: 24 October 2022 Published: 29 October 2022

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Abstract

The novel JisrʿAbdoun/ʿAbdoun Bridge by the Jordanian writer Kassem Tawfīq celebrates the place and makes it a motivation for the characters to search for themselves in the shadow of their correlation with it, revealing the strength of its presence, its influence on them, and its control of their destinies. It also reveals the distortion of the meaning of the homeland within man in this age, in order to push him into alienation and migration and to create feelings of loneliness, isolation, and alienation. This study provides an in-depth analysis of the novel, its characters, and its relationship to the place. It seeks to investigate an individual's relationship with the homeland/place, answering several questions about several issues, including the essence of the relationship between the character and place; the possibility that the place is separated from the character; the character's feelings when defining the features of the place; the extent to which the place controls the character and affects its sensations and interactions with itself and its surroundings; the capability of distorting the self of the character and its alienation; the meaning of 'homeland'; the extent of creating a sense of alienation and loneliness within the human being; man's capability of saving himself from the grip of a homeland with such features; man's ability to create another alternative homeland due to the distortion of his native homeland and the possible location of that alternative. Artistically, the study will examine the technical mechanisms and their employment serving these contents. These techniques include intertextuality, name symbolism, meta-writing, and textual thresholds.

Published in	International Journal of Literature and Arts (Volume 10, Issue 5)
DOI	10.11648/j.ijla.20221005.18
Page(s)	321-334
Creative Commons	This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, provided the original work is properly cited.
Copyright	Copyright © The Author(s), 2024. Published by Science Publishing Group

Keywords

Place, Character, Homeland, Fragmentation, Isolation, Emigration, Alienation, Death

References

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[2]	Bachelards, Gaston (1984). Jamaliyat al-Makan. Tr. Ghaleb Halsa. Beirut: al-Muʾasasat al-Jamiʿya li al-Dirasat wa al-Nashr.
[3]	Bachtin, Mickalel. (1990). Ashkal al-Zaman wa al-Makan fi al-Riwaya. Tr. by Yusuf Ḥallaq. Damascus: Ministry of Culture.
[4]	Balʿabed, ʿAbd al-Ḥaq (2008). ʿAtabat (Gerard Gennette min al-Nass ila al-Manass). Beirut: Dar al-ʿArabiya lil-ʿUlum Nasherun.
[5]	Ghanayim, Mahmoud (2015). Giwayat al-ʿUnwan. Nazareth: Majma' al-Lugha al-ʿArabiya.
[6]	Ḥafiz, Sabri (1984). "Malik al-H̱azin: al-Ḥadathat wa al-Tajsid al-Makani li al-Ru'ya al-Riwa'iya". Fusul, Vol. 4, Issue 4, p. 159-179.
[7]	Halsa, Galeb (1980). "Al-Makan fi al-Riwaya al-ʿArabiya" in: al-Adab, 2-3, p. 72-77.
[8]	Ḥamad, Mohammad (2011). al-Metaqass fi al-Riwaya al-ʿArabiya (Maraya al-Sard al-Narjesi). Baqa al-Gharbiya: Majmaʿ al-Qasemi li al-Lugha al-ʿArabiya.
[9]	Jaber, Kawthar (2012). al-Kitaba ʿAbr al-Nawʿiya – Tadakhul al-Anwaʿ al-Adabiya fi al-Adab al-ʿArabi al-Hadith. Haifa: Majma' al-Lugha al-Arabiya/ The Academy for the Arabic Language.
[10]	Jaber, Kawthar (2019). al-Tashkilat al-Makaniya fi al-Riwaya al-Falastiniya. Haifa: Dar Raya li al-Nashr.
[11]	Lotman, Yuri (1988). "Mushkilat al-Makan al-Fanni" in: Jamaliyat al-Makan. Tr. Siza Qassem Draz. Al-Dar al-Baydha: Uyun al-Maqalat.
[12]	Lutwack, Leonard (1984). The Role of the Place in Literature. New York: Syracuse University Press.
[13]	Qassem, Siza (1988). "al-Makan wa Dalalatuhu" in: Jamaliyat al-Makan. Al-Dar al-Baydha: Uyun al-Maqalat.
[14]	Qassem, Siza (2004). Binaʾ al-Riwaya – Dirasa Muqarina fi Thulathiyat Najib Mahfuz. Cairo: Maktabat al-Usra.
[15]	al-Sheikh-Ḥishmeh, Lina (2020)."Aesthetics of Place and its Dialectics in Prison Literature". Journal of Oriental and African Studies. 29, pp. 7-35.
[16]	Taha, Ibrahim (2016). al-Buʿd al-Rabiʿ. Nazareth: Majma al-Lugha al-ʿArabiya.
[17]	Tawfiq, Qassem (2021). Jisr ʿAbdoun/ ʿAbdoun Bridge. ʿAmman: al-An Nashirun wa Muwaziʿun.
[18]	Woods, M. & Agostein, F. (1984). "Personal Identity and the Imagery of Place, Psychological Issues and Literary themes". Journal of Mental Image. No 8, 3.

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Lina al-Sheikh Hishmeh. (2022). Wandering Characters in Shattered Homelands: Between Place and Character in Qassim Tawfiq's Novel Jisr ʿAbdoun/ʿAbdoun Bridge. International Journal of Literature and Arts, 10(5), 321-334. https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijla.20221005.18

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Lina al-Sheikh Hishmeh. Wandering Characters in Shattered Homelands: Between Place and Character in Qassim Tawfiq's Novel Jisr ʿAbdoun/ʿAbdoun Bridge. Int. J. Lit. Arts 2022, 10(5), 321-334. doi: 10.11648/j.ijla.20221005.18

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AMA Style

Lina al-Sheikh Hishmeh. Wandering Characters in Shattered Homelands: Between Place and Character in Qassim Tawfiq's Novel Jisr ʿAbdoun/ʿAbdoun Bridge. Int J Lit Arts. 2022;10(5):321-334. doi: 10.11648/j.ijla.20221005.18

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@article{10.11648/j.ijla.20221005.18,
  author = {Lina al-Sheikh Hishmeh},
  title = {Wandering Characters in Shattered Homelands: Between Place and Character in Qassim Tawfiq's Novel Jisr ʿAbdoun/ʿAbdoun Bridge},
  journal = {International Journal of Literature and Arts},
  volume = {10},
  number = {5},
  pages = {321-334},
  doi = {10.11648/j.ijla.20221005.18},
  url = {https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijla.20221005.18},
  eprint = {https://article.sciencepublishinggroup.com/pdf/10.11648.j.ijla.20221005.18},
  abstract = {The novel JisrʿAbdoun/ʿAbdoun Bridge by the Jordanian writer Kassem Tawfīq celebrates the place and makes it a motivation for the characters to search for themselves in the shadow of their correlation with it, revealing the strength of its presence, its influence on them, and its control of their destinies. It also reveals the distortion of the meaning of the homeland within man in this age, in order to push him into alienation and migration and to create feelings of loneliness, isolation, and alienation. This study provides an in-depth analysis of the novel, its characters, and its relationship to the place. It seeks to investigate an individual's relationship with the homeland/place, answering several questions about several issues, including the essence of the relationship between the character and place; the possibility that the place is separated from the character; the character's feelings when defining the features of the place; the extent to which the place controls the character and affects its sensations and interactions with itself and its surroundings; the capability of distorting the self of the character and its alienation; the meaning of 'homeland'; the extent of creating a sense of alienation and loneliness within the human being; man's capability of saving himself from the grip of a homeland with such features; man's ability to create another alternative homeland due to the distortion of his native homeland and the possible location of that alternative. Artistically, the study will examine the technical mechanisms and their employment serving these contents. These techniques include intertextuality, name symbolism, meta-writing, and textual thresholds.},
 year = {2022}
}

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TY  - JOUR
T1  - Wandering Characters in Shattered Homelands: Between Place and Character in Qassim Tawfiq's Novel Jisr ʿAbdoun/ʿAbdoun Bridge
AU  - Lina al-Sheikh Hishmeh
Y1  - 2022/10/29
PY  - 2022
N1  - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijla.20221005.18
DO  - 10.11648/j.ijla.20221005.18
T2  - International Journal of Literature and Arts
JF  - International Journal of Literature and Arts
JO  - International Journal of Literature and Arts
SP  - 321
EP  - 334
PB  - Science Publishing Group
SN  - 2331-057X
UR  - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijla.20221005.18
AB  - The novel JisrʿAbdoun/ʿAbdoun Bridge by the Jordanian writer Kassem Tawfīq celebrates the place and makes it a motivation for the characters to search for themselves in the shadow of their correlation with it, revealing the strength of its presence, its influence on them, and its control of their destinies. It also reveals the distortion of the meaning of the homeland within man in this age, in order to push him into alienation and migration and to create feelings of loneliness, isolation, and alienation. This study provides an in-depth analysis of the novel, its characters, and its relationship to the place. It seeks to investigate an individual's relationship with the homeland/place, answering several questions about several issues, including the essence of the relationship between the character and place; the possibility that the place is separated from the character; the character's feelings when defining the features of the place; the extent to which the place controls the character and affects its sensations and interactions with itself and its surroundings; the capability of distorting the self of the character and its alienation; the meaning of 'homeland'; the extent of creating a sense of alienation and loneliness within the human being; man's capability of saving himself from the grip of a homeland with such features; man's ability to create another alternative homeland due to the distortion of his native homeland and the possible location of that alternative. Artistically, the study will examine the technical mechanisms and their employment serving these contents. These techniques include intertextuality, name symbolism, meta-writing, and textual thresholds.
VL  - 10
IS  - 5
ER  -

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Author Information

Lina al-Sheikh Hishmeh

Department of Arabic Language and Literature, David Yellin Academic College of Education, Jerusalem, Israel

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APA Style

Lina al-Sheikh Hishmeh. (2022). Wandering Characters in Shattered Homelands: Between Place and Character in Qassim Tawfiq's Novel Jisr ʿAbdoun/ʿAbdoun Bridge. International Journal of Literature and Arts, 10(5), 321-334. https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijla.20221005.18

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ACS Style

Lina al-Sheikh Hishmeh. Wandering Characters in Shattered Homelands: Between Place and Character in Qassim Tawfiq's Novel Jisr ʿAbdoun/ʿAbdoun Bridge. Int. J. Lit. Arts 2022, 10(5), 321-334. doi: 10.11648/j.ijla.20221005.18

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AMA Style

Lina al-Sheikh Hishmeh. Wandering Characters in Shattered Homelands: Between Place and Character in Qassim Tawfiq's Novel Jisr ʿAbdoun/ʿAbdoun Bridge. Int J Lit Arts. 2022;10(5):321-334. doi: 10.11648/j.ijla.20221005.18

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@article{10.11648/j.ijla.20221005.18,
  author = {Lina al-Sheikh Hishmeh},
  title = {Wandering Characters in Shattered Homelands: Between Place and Character in Qassim Tawfiq's Novel Jisr ʿAbdoun/ʿAbdoun Bridge},
  journal = {International Journal of Literature and Arts},
  volume = {10},
  number = {5},
  pages = {321-334},
  doi = {10.11648/j.ijla.20221005.18},
  url = {https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijla.20221005.18},
  eprint = {https://article.sciencepublishinggroup.com/pdf/10.11648.j.ijla.20221005.18},
  abstract = {The novel JisrʿAbdoun/ʿAbdoun Bridge by the Jordanian writer Kassem Tawfīq celebrates the place and makes it a motivation for the characters to search for themselves in the shadow of their correlation with it, revealing the strength of its presence, its influence on them, and its control of their destinies. It also reveals the distortion of the meaning of the homeland within man in this age, in order to push him into alienation and migration and to create feelings of loneliness, isolation, and alienation. This study provides an in-depth analysis of the novel, its characters, and its relationship to the place. It seeks to investigate an individual's relationship with the homeland/place, answering several questions about several issues, including the essence of the relationship between the character and place; the possibility that the place is separated from the character; the character's feelings when defining the features of the place; the extent to which the place controls the character and affects its sensations and interactions with itself and its surroundings; the capability of distorting the self of the character and its alienation; the meaning of 'homeland'; the extent of creating a sense of alienation and loneliness within the human being; man's capability of saving himself from the grip of a homeland with such features; man's ability to create another alternative homeland due to the distortion of his native homeland and the possible location of that alternative. Artistically, the study will examine the technical mechanisms and their employment serving these contents. These techniques include intertextuality, name symbolism, meta-writing, and textual thresholds.},
 year = {2022}
}

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TY  - JOUR
T1  - Wandering Characters in Shattered Homelands: Between Place and Character in Qassim Tawfiq's Novel Jisr ʿAbdoun/ʿAbdoun Bridge
AU  - Lina al-Sheikh Hishmeh
Y1  - 2022/10/29
PY  - 2022
N1  - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijla.20221005.18
DO  - 10.11648/j.ijla.20221005.18
T2  - International Journal of Literature and Arts
JF  - International Journal of Literature and Arts
JO  - International Journal of Literature and Arts
SP  - 321
EP  - 334
PB  - Science Publishing Group
SN  - 2331-057X
UR  - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijla.20221005.18
AB  - The novel JisrʿAbdoun/ʿAbdoun Bridge by the Jordanian writer Kassem Tawfīq celebrates the place and makes it a motivation for the characters to search for themselves in the shadow of their correlation with it, revealing the strength of its presence, its influence on them, and its control of their destinies. It also reveals the distortion of the meaning of the homeland within man in this age, in order to push him into alienation and migration and to create feelings of loneliness, isolation, and alienation. This study provides an in-depth analysis of the novel, its characters, and its relationship to the place. It seeks to investigate an individual's relationship with the homeland/place, answering several questions about several issues, including the essence of the relationship between the character and place; the possibility that the place is separated from the character; the character's feelings when defining the features of the place; the extent to which the place controls the character and affects its sensations and interactions with itself and its surroundings; the capability of distorting the self of the character and its alienation; the meaning of 'homeland'; the extent of creating a sense of alienation and loneliness within the human being; man's capability of saving himself from the grip of a homeland with such features; man's ability to create another alternative homeland due to the distortion of his native homeland and the possible location of that alternative. Artistically, the study will examine the technical mechanisms and their employment serving these contents. These techniques include intertextuality, name symbolism, meta-writing, and textual thresholds.
VL  - 10
IS  - 5
ER  -

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