EXISTENTIAL MOTIVES IN M. SELIM’S COLLECTION OF SHORT STORIES SECRET TUNNEL

Abstract

The article is devoted to a study of existential motifs and the problem of the search for identity in Mustafa Selim’s collection of short stories “Secret Tunnel”. The aim of the study is an analysis of the artistic means by which the author reveals the inner world of the characters, their existential crises and attempts at self-determination in the context of modern social transformations. The methodological basis of the study is a combination of narratological and phenomenological approaches, which reveals both the formal features of the text and the deep philosophical meanings of the works. With the use of narratological analysis, the structure of the narrative, the features of the plot and the temporal organization of the narrative were studied. The phenomenological method was used to deconstruct the subjective experience of the characters, their experience of time, space and corporeality. The study reveals the key themes of the collection: loneliness, alienation, the search for the meaning of life and one’s “Self”. Special attention is paid to the study of the author’s narrative strategies, in particular the use of the stream-of-consciousness technique, fragmented narrative and symbolic images. It has been found out that the fragmentation of the narrative reflects the disintegration of the characters’ consciousness and the crisis of identity, while the symbolic images of water and desert function as metaphors of the constant transformations of identity in the modern world. Mustafa Selim skillfully uses symbolism, metaphors and the technique of the stream of consciousness to reflect the existential states of the characters, keenly combining traditional Arabic literary forms with modern techniques. The author’s use of the “stream of consciousness” technique in combination with traditional Arabic narrative forms is particularly innovative and creates a unique artistic synthesis. The article analyzes in detail the relationship between the characters’ personal crisis and broader cultural transformations in the Arab world and examines the specifics of the adaptation of Western philosophical concepts in the Arab cultural tradition.