1. A Discussion of Postmodernistic Elements in Ali Bader’s
Masabih Ourshalim
Dr Hamid Gittan Jewad
University of Kerbala/ College of Education for Human Sciences/ Department of English
2. There are many differences between postmodernist, classic and modern novels and attention to
elements of these kinds of novels help some readers to comprehend them and find the cultural
and social atmosphere that the novels have found in. The most particular of the postmodern
novel is protesting against traditional literature and realistic novels.
The current paper tries to shed light on elements of postmodernism in Masabih Ourshalim.
Ali Bader is a famous Iraqi modernist, novelist, poet, poetry translator, critic, regarded as the
most significant writer in the Arabic world, in the last decade. He is the novelist of 15 novels
and works also as editor in chief of Alca Books, His works of fiction are fourteen and several
works of non-fiction. His works are making a vital contribution to contemporary Arabic
literature. In 2006, Bader published his novel Masabih Ourshalim.
3. This novel includes three main parts: the first part is about the writer describing the differences
between Edward Saed and Iraqi academic Kaanan Makkyyeh. Saed was against the American
attack on Iraq but Makkyyeh was the supporter. The second part is about Iman Maqdasi trip to
Jerusalem, this part is important because the writer denied Israel's myth about the Beit of
Moghaddas.
The third part of the novel talked about many documents about Moslems, Christians and Jewish.
In the present study, the researcher uses analytical and descriptive methods, we firstly study
postmodernism as a theory and the history of Arabic postmodern novels, secondly, we
investigate the postmodernist elements like intertextuality, permutation, polyphony,
indeterminacy, monologue, temporal and local disorderly, open ending, surprising and absence
of rule in narrating of events. This study focuses on the postmodern themes and strategies
employed in the Masabih Ourshalim.
4. 2 Research Question
What are the postmodern techniques and elements that Ali Bader relied on
and used in writing Masabih Ourshalim novel?
5. 1.4 Ali Bader
He is an Iraqi novelist, born in Baghdad in the eastern Karrada region in
1964, and graduated from the French Literature Department at the University
of Baghdad in 1985 with a BA degree. He joined the military service until
1991 and spent half of his service in the Iran-Iraq war. After completing that
service, he entered specialized courses in manuscript verification and repair
at the National Manuscripts House in Baghdad in 1992. After that, he travelled
to Belgium and graduated in philosophy from the University of Brussels.
Bader has gained widespread fame due to his novels also his literary works.
6. 2. The features of postmodernism in the novel Masabih Ourshalim
1 Paradox
2 Deconstruction
3 The randomness of time and place in the narration of events
4 The Self talk
5 Thought Absorption
6 Skepticism
7 Create ambiguity
2.8 Polyphony
7. 3 Conclusion
From the novel, Ali Bader was able to reveal his aesthetic and human project, as well as other
metaphorical and demonstrative forms of expression.
Ali Bader's novels produce new narrative techniques, a kind of implicit rebellion against the
traditional narratives represented by the experiences of Arab novelists.
His novels are based on an important theoretical aspect, this aspect is summarized in the
theory of postmodernism and the central idea put forward by Jean-François Lyotard, which is
the idea of falsifying the major narratives, as Ali Bader bases his novels on a satirical narrative
that destroys the official narratives made by official and recognized cultures.
There is a narration in the technical sense that we know and Ali Bader uses to stylize all the
voices of the novel, where the narrator recounts all the events that the heroes lived without
giving them the opportunity to express themselves, and this method allows the narrator to
describe and contain all the events listed in the past and from a transcendent perspective.
8. In the novel the Masabih Ourshalim, Ali Bader uses the most prominent techniques of the
postmodern school, which means disintegration, the creation of characters, the randomness of
time and space in events, self-talk, deep thought, skepticism, creating ambiguity, polyphony,
negligence and a stream of events to create the Masabih Ourshalim novel. He records the
mental experiences of the fictional character buried in thousands of folds of the subconscious
mind on paper, without any notice and regularity. Rather, the mental states of the characters
are placed in front of illusion and doubts, and that the writer in this novel does not speak of any
firmness and strictness, nor any feeling and knowledge.
The Masabih Ourshalim novel is a list of baseless methods for enlivening the voices of the
oppressed in social, cultural and political life.
