A Narratological Analysis of Prophet Yusuf's Story Using Zheplint Volt's Theory

A branch of literary criticism is narratology and the analysis of the syntax dominant in narrative stories. One of the characteristic features of the Qur'an is its use of narrative elements in story processing. The present descriptive-analytical study aimed at analyzing the narrative method of the life story of Yusuf (PBUH) using the theory of the French scholar Zheplint Volt. It specifically analyzed story elements such as point of view, plot, structure and narrative type. In this fashion, given the practical difference between the narrator and the actor, two main forms of narratives, comprising similar and dissimilar narratives of the world of story, are defined. From the perspective of narrative type, the story of Yusuf (PBUH) is dissimilar, narrated integrating author and actor. The point of view is third person omniscient. The pattern of the story plots has a complete structure except the pattern of the first plot (i.e. Yusuf's dream) that has no structuring force and is resolved via the last pattern of the story, (i.e. Jacob's journey to visit Yusuf), where in other words the artistic manifestations of the narration reaches its climax. The pattern role in adventures of the life of Yusuf (PBUH) familiarizes the audience with the most informative exegetic interpretations and the omniscient depicts some manifestations of achieving perfection, spirituality and spiritual conduct in the most difficult areas of individual and social life through a desirable processing and an artistic structure in the narrative elements, and thus makes the Qur'anic language communicative and eloquent.