The Marvelousness and Uncannyness of Place in Hamid Al-Aqabi's Novels

Abstract

The functional and aesthetic character of spatial space is prominent in Hamid Al-Aqabi's novels, where space is not limited to being a backdrop for events but rather transforms into an active element reflecting psychological and existential tensions. The analysis relies on merging the real with the fantastic, forming a metaphor for self-disturbance and identity disintegration.  The "magical place" is a narrative technique that reconstructs the relationship between humans and reality, revealing symbolic dimensions where memory, imagination, and suffering intersect. This research aims to study "The Wonder and Uncannyness of Place in Hamid Al-Aqabi's Novels," as one of the artistic and symbolic components that the novel exploits to embody the crisis of the contemporary self. The research highlights the novels of Iraqi writer Hasib Al-Aqabi as narrative models that employ spatiality in a way that goes beyond referring to events, transforming place into a complex semantic field encompassing psychological, social, and political dimensions. The research is based on the hypothesis that place in Al-Aqabi's novels is not neutral, but rather forms part of the narrative structure that translates the anxiety of Iraqis, their repeated defeats, and the effects of historical transformations on the collective and individual consciousness.  The study focused on three novels: "I Follow Their Footsteps," " Aldale," and "The Necklace," as narrative works that revealed a conscious artistic vision that employs the fantastic and the bizarre to break with the familiar, expose reality, and reshape the relationship between man and the world