Abstract

Abstract:Modern studies agree on distinguishing between the inside and outside of the text, or what surrounds it. There is a crossing point between the inside and outside of the literary text, where the text and its surroundings converge in order to reveal the hidden barriers and implicit meanings. This is what is referred to as textual thresholds. Covers, titles, introductions, dedications, and internal illustrations form narrative worlds that reveal the features of what will come within the text, carrying expressive energies and important communicative functions that compel the recipient to enter the world of the text with a preconceived vision that often resides in their consciousness. In his novel "In the Presence of the Phoenix and the Faithful Vine," the Kuwaiti novelist Ismail Fahd Ismail utilized a cover featuring "The Sleeping Gypsy," a painting by the French artist Henri Rousseau. This painting served as a revealing sign for all the secrets of the novel. It visually unveiled the novel's problem, allowing us to trace everything mentioned in the text back to this artwork. Despite its length—the novel reached 392 pages in medium format—it is essentially an interpretation and reference to that painting. The novel's title also revealed another aspect of its manifestation, as the title, with its employed colors, uncovered the novel's dilemma. Furthermore, the important introduction, "Jealousy," presented by Saadia Mufarreh, embodied the events and manifestations mentioned in the novel.

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The article was added to IASJ on 2023-07-11

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