Time in the Modern Novel between Imagination and Argumentation: Ahmed Saadawi's Novel "Frankenstein in Baghdad" as an Example

Abstract

This scientific contribution aims to explore the concept of time and its manifestations in narratives in general, and in what has been  described as the "thesis novel" specifically. It also examines the argumentative aims of the various narrative techniques on which time is  based in the modern novel. Time is seen as a principal structure and an important element in the narrative process. It is the vessel that  contains the lives lived by the characters in the work of fiction. The intersections of creative narrative events move within it. With its  functional diversity, the ways in which it is approached vary, as do the points of view regarding it. This is the particular rhythm with which  each novel organizes itself individually. Overall, in order to understand the importance of time firstly, then its structural elements and,  thirdly, the creator's desired objectives in employing it, we have chosen to work on a modern novelistic model. It is based above all on the  miraculous and the strange. The novel in question is "Frankenstein in Baghdad" by Iraqi writer Ahmed Saadawi. It's a novel that  manages to break the monotony of the traditional narrative, creating different temporal contexts in front of the reader that go beyond  the monotony of the classic Arab narrative.