Al-Bandari Dhaifallah Al-Mutairi
Associate Professor of Literature and Criticism, Department of Arabic Language, Faculty of Science and Arts in Sajer, Shaqra University, Shaqra, Saudi Arabia
Issue: 35 | Pages: 158-173 | June 2025 | https://doi.org/10.54940/ll80917273 | PDF
Received: 21/11/2023 | Revised: 07/10/2024 | Accepted: 05/02/2025
Corresponding Author: [email protected]
Abstract
This article aims to unveil the environmental presence in the novel "Al-Khalq Al-Jadeed" “The New Creation” by the Saudi novelist Ahmed Al-Hakil, employing an ecocritical approach and its critical tools. This approach allows the researcher to explore the environmental representation in the novel through narrative structure. It emphasizes the environmental presence manifested in the narrative techniques, the environmental presence associated with the description of novel characters, and the environmental presence in the prominent features of the plant, animal, and terrestrial (inanimate) aspects of the environment. The study then reveals the characteristics of natural environmental phenomena conveyed through the narrative discourse in the novel under study. It concludes that the active presence of the environment in "Al-Khalq Al-Jadeed," highly influence the plot, events, language, and characters. This influence begins with the novel's thresholds, evoking traits of verdancy and joy. It is extended to the characterization of the novel figures, exposing the human-environment relationship and attachment. The characters also embody various environmental attributes connected to the environment and its natural elements. Furthermore, the study highlights the environmental presence in the vocabulary associated with animal and plant life, as well as the terrestrial environment. Natural phenomena are depicted as environmental elements supporting their presence in the novel, enhancing the natural surroundings inhabited by living beings. This is achieved through contrasting dualities such as verdancy and aridity, movement and stillness, silence and speech, joy and sorrow. All of these emerge from a major duality representing life and death, dominating the novel's details.
Keywords
Ecocriticism, Thresholds, Characters, Environment, Nature.
How to Cite
Al-Mutairi, A. Environmental Presence in Ahmed Al-Hakil’s Novel "Al-Khalq Al-Jadid": An Ecological Approach. Journal of Umm Al-Qura University for Language Sciences and Literature. 2025 June; (35): 158-173. https://doi.org/10.54940/ll80917273
License
1658-8126/© 2025-by the Authors. Published by-J. Umm Al-Qura Univ. Lang. Sci. and Lit.-This is an open-access article distributed under the terms and conditions of thehttps://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/-