Time in the novel The Smell of Details by (Suleiman Al-Saddi)

Abstract

•Suliman AlSsadi (the Syrian Novelist) has been chosen as a research field, for the novel (the smell of the details) because of the coherent artistic technique to a large extent that his novel bears, as well as the overlap of time, which in turn led to the many chronological paradoxes, as the novel fulfills the writer’s vision.•Though, the research main objective is to study the element of time in terms of analyzing the texts of the novel, explaining its artistic and aesthetic dimensions, and revealing the indications that resulted from it.•The research was based on three topics, under the title (defining the concept of time in the novel), and the first topic objective is to study (types of time), in terms of natural time (historical and cosmic), and psychological time, while the second topic included a study about the (time technologies) In terms of retrieval and anticipation, the third topic came to study (acceleration of time) in terms of summary and deletion.•The research relied on an analytical study of texts that included the element of time, due to its importance in the narrative text, by revealing the aesthetic values and connotations it expresses.•Time played an important role in the development of events and their course from the beginning of the novel to its end, as its nature and techniques cannot be revealed except by dismantling the temporal structure of the novel in its entirety and in detail.•The deletion played an important role in accelerating the narration in the novel, as the narrator crossed periods of time to leave the reader the freedom to interpret the events. We also find that the declared deletion was more present in the novel than the implicit deletion