Palestinian Novel & Modes of Oral Narration: al-Wārith (The Heir), a Novel by Khalīl Baydas as a Model

Abstract

This research studies al-Wārith, a novel by the Palestinian novelist Khalīl Baydas published in 1920. The introduction points at the consequences of the absence of the novel from critical studies for a long time until it was re-published in 2011, and hints at other studies that are mainly dependent on Dr. Nāsir al-Dīn al-Asad’s summary of the novel, and consequently, on his comments and interpretations. In its first section, the research deals with al-Asad’s study of the novel, and uncovers its recurrent impact on latter studies. Then, it proposes another interpretation based on the fact that the Palestinian society, at the turn of the twentieth century, was an oral one, or in its best conditions, an oral society impregnated with writing. In its second section, the research introduces a theoretical framework on which this different interpretation is based which comes in two parts. The first part discusses Baydas’ theoretical concepts of the novel/story and its implied reader, and brings to attention the overall circumstances during which al-Wārith emerged. The second part exhibits the various distinctive features/modes of oral production. In its third section, the research transforms these oral features into thier applicable sphere by following their appearance in the novel; thus, explaining Baydas’ concepts and the critics’ repetitive comments. Finally, the research concludes that al-Wārith did not totally divert from the modes of oral narration and the controls of its production that were absent from studies concerned with Palestinian literature at the beginning of the last century.