The Main Fantastic Characters in Basim al-Qatrani’s Narrative Discourse

Abstract

The character is a central element in narrative works, particularly novels, as it constitutes one of the most essential narrative components forming the body of the novel. Texts cannot dispense with characters, for the main character is the vital component of narrative that breathes life and movement into the story. It is an inseparable part of the other narrative elements, all of which work together to construct the text.

Basim al-Qatrani’s narrative discourse is considered one of the important contributions to Iraqi narrative writing, as he has taken a distinctive approach, employing the fantastic as a writing technique to convey what cannot be expressed through a narrative rooted solely in the realm of the natural and familiar. Among his novels imbued with a fantastic quality is Midnight Museum, which tells the story of the teacher “Saber Fayyad,” whose characters from his own novel Majnoon x Junoon rebel against him. In this work, al-Qatrani grants paper characters a human dimension, rendering them as beings the size of a fist.

Similarly, in his novel Ten O’Clock Washington Time, laden with fantastic events, al-Qatrani portrays the crisis of modern humanity through the main character “Barnaw

the Cat,” who can transform from a thirty-year-old man into a black cat. Al-Qatrani employs the symbol of the black cat, which carries multiple layers of interpretation.