Document Type : Research paper
Authors
1 Associate Professor, Department of Arabic Language and Literature, University of Kurdistan
2 Department of Arabic Language and Literature, Faculty of Language and Literature, University of Kurdistan, Sanandaj- Iran
Abstract
The novel functions as an open semantic space, allowing for multiple interpretations through diverse semiotic, linguistic, and hermeneutic approaches. Sidi Wahdaneh exemplifies narrative texts that transcend traditional storytelling to construct a complex symbolic structure, open to a range of interpretive possibilities. This study analyzes the novel by examining the components of semantic construction arising from the author’s use of religious heritage, with particular attention to the mechanisms of its deployment, the nature of meaning generated within the text, and the limits of possible interpretation in relation to the reader’s engagement with cultural references. The novel is approached as an open text, in the sense defined by Umberto Eco, employing a descriptive-analytical method. The analysis is guided by key theoretical concepts, particularly the understanding of religious heritage as a symbolic and interpretive repository, an active semiotic mechanism within the text, and a semantic construct that generates meaning. The study’s findings indicate that meaning in the novel extends beyond verbal structures or surface-level semantics, engaging the reader in a complex network of symbols and meanings that requires active interpretive participation. Drawing on Eco’s theory, the novel demonstrates a flexible narrative structure that reappropriates religious heritage within a dynamic semantic system, open to multiple interpretations and interactive engagement. The author weaves religious symbols drawn from the Qur’an, the Prophetic biography (sīra), and popular mythology into a semiotic network that reflects transformations of identity and imparts a metaphysical dimension to the text, transcending conventional narrative forms. The interplay between the sacred and the sensory, as well as between the ritualistic and the mythical, underscores the text’s ceremonial dimension—particularly in the depiction of Mecca, which is represented not merely as a sacred site but as a symbolic space where individual experience intersects with collective identity. Through this structure, the novel presents religion as a dynamic domain for generating meaning and reconfiguring the relationship between the self and the sacred within an existential framework.
Keywords: Sidi Wahdaneh, religious heritage, interpretation, semantics, novel, Umberto Eco
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