Asst. Prof. Dr. Sari Salim Abdul Shahid Al-Ma'mar

Abstract

Textual thresholds in the Iraqi novel constitute a major entrance to understanding literary texts and contribute to their analysis and realization of their deep meanings. Through studying the novel "Ya Maryam" by Sinan Antoon, textual thresholds appear as an important critical tool that sheds light on multiple aspects of the text, such as the cover, title, and colors, which arouse the reader's curiosity and direct him towards exploring the contents of the novel. The novel is a world rich in knowledge and aesthetics. It is an expressive means characterized by a special artistic flavor and a delicious world in which conflicting and especially similar literary genres intersect at the same time. Textual thresholds are one of the most important issues raised by the new critical awareness; Due to their effectiveness, cognitive value and importance in illuminating the text and revealing its depths, textual thresholds are the main gateway and central entrance that leads the recipient to read the text, interpret it and realize its semantic dimensions, and determine the elements framing its architecture, and then realize the real and imaginary dimension that leads to the multiplicity of the text with the multiplicity of its readers. The study aims to shed light on an important aspect of the creativity of the Iraqi novel, which is the textual thresholds in the novel "Ya Maryam" by "Sinan Antoon". The study shows that textual thresholds are not just decorative elements, but rather powerful expressive tools that add new dimensions to the text and help the reader interpret it better, which makes analyzing these thresholds a necessary step to understand literary works more deeply.