Narrative Foundations in Razgar Gestehei's "Under the Shadow of the Mountain"

Abstract

This research is an effort to extract the narrative principles in Rizgar Kestay's memoir, "Under the Shadow of the Mountain," exploring how a personal testimony becomes a literary-historical document of the Kurdish resistance. The researcher attempts to answer the hypothetical question of how Kestay managed to present narrative principles within his Peshmerga experiences. The author employs a collective voice, positioning himself as a witness to history and creating a world of marginalized geography. The book not only records events but also explores social trauma, survival strategies, and human dynamics in the context of war. Kestay uses literary techniques such as dialogue, imagery, and cinematic narration to draw the reader into the scenes. The theoretical framework of this study provides a summary of the role and importance of memoirs, while the practical framework analyzes the narrative principles within the aforementioned book. The study reaches the conclusion that these memoirs are considered a project of self-identification and the preservation of untold history, bridging the gap between generations and preserving a cultural heritage for the future.