Narrative Modalities and Levels of Reception: A New Reading in "The Wretched of the Earth" by Taha Hussein

Narrative Modalities and Levels of Reception:
A New Reading in "The Wretched of the Earth" by Taha Hussein
Ahmed Shehata Mohammed Alwany
Department of Arabic Language, Faculty of Arts, Benha University, Egypt.
Email: ahmed.alouani@fart.bu.edu.eg
Abstract:
This study aims to provide a new reading of the narrative modalities and levels of reception in (The Wretched of the Earth). It is a collection of short stories for "Taha Hussein", in which sometimes he narrates, and other times he talks to the reader in a prolonged speech, in an effort to direct and control the reader’s thoughts. He tries to imagine the reader’s potential reactions, and prepares himself to answer his thoughts and questions, whom he, the author, believes him unable to understand his narration. Thus, he discontinues his narrations, and the text then seems abrupt. The approach of this study is based on reading and reception theories, as we try to observe the levels of reception in the story of “Saleh”, as an example of the whole collection. They study of (The Wretched of the Earth) reaches to the conclusion that it’s not part of the author/narrator’s role to disclose the details of the situations, or to justify the reactions of the characters or even explains the details of story itself. This role is saved to the reader, as he should understand the text and fill in the gaps within it, in order to improve his perceptive and interpretative abilities.
Keywords: Narrative modalities, levels of reception, implicit author, reader response, narratives.