Analyzing the components of surrealism in the novel "Abvab al-madinah" by Elias Khoury

Surrealism was formed in the early 20th century with the aim of changing people's attitudes towards the industrial world and fighting against it. The goal of the surrealists was to change the world based on their own ideas and somehow return to the original human nature. Although this school of literature mostly dealt with poetry, it gradually entered the literary world of modern novels as well and raised opinions on the literary type of the novel and the closeness of its language to poetic language. Elias Khoury, a contemporary Lebanese writer, uses surrealist elements in his novel "Abvab al-madinah" to narrate the protagonist's unsuccessful attempt to reach an unknown city, and finally, with the destruction of the city, he challenges contemporary man's efforts to achieve his desires. The present study aims to investigate the surrealistic characteristics of this novel in a descriptive and analytical way. It seeks to state what components of surrealism are present in this novel and how they are used in designing its themes. The fact that there is a lack of independent research on this literary work, coupled with its surrealist background, shows the necessity and importance of this research. The obtained results show that "Abvab al-madinah" is based on a surrealist foundation. Components such as surreal images, love, imagination and dreams, automatic writing, complexity, and ambiguity are among the most important features used in conveying surrealist meanings to readers in this novel.