التفاعل بين السارد و الفضاء في يوميات رشيد يحياوي

الملخص EN

This study attempts to investigate the interactive dimension between the narrator who is identical with his reader and the Egyptian (Cairo) and Moroccan spaces, in both Rachid Yahyaoui’s diaries “The Other Cairo”, published by the Arab Press Agency in 1997 and “Cairo as I lived”, published by Dar Al-Tawhidi in Rabat in 2016.

The narrator Rachid moved from the Moroccan city of Benslimane to Cairo to pursue his postgraduate studies at Ain Shams University.

So, he seized the opportunity of his stay there to document his academic and personal experience and monitor his admiration for the cultural and social Egyptian milestones and his emotional inclination to the Morocco terrains, where he opened his eyes to life.

In view of a lack of critical studies to define the book and to reveal its scientific value and where it fits in the circle of the diaries genre, this paper comes to inquire about Yahyaoui’s conception of the boundaries that separate it from other genres.

The Paper also highlights the relationship between the narrative self with space.

On these grounds, the paper investigates the consciousness and manifestations of space in the author’s sentiments, according to the descriptive approach, supported with a psycho-structural analysis, the manifestations of space-related polarities and how they overlap, and the aspects of the working memory in expressing the feelings of alienation and nostalgia for the family and the homeland.

Among the conclusions the paper has made is that these diaries project a new conception of self-writing according to this literary genre, which should receive a creative and critical attention at a time when the individual initiatives and personal writings surfaced up and when the fast-unfolding daily events and developments are exhausting the memory.

This calls for writing diaries, not only by following its traditional documentary pattern, but also by following its new trend, which Yahyaoui desired to consolidate when he invested in the memory with the support of imagination, when he capitalized on the distinctive features of the art of travel, the biography and the novel, and when he wrote in a certain narrative style that is worthwhile to be read and to be critically read.

This is not unusual if the critic is quite knowledgeable on the literary genres, their boundaries, and the historical developments they have undergone.

It is hoped that this study will instigate other investigations that can shed light on the issues relevant to the two books and their intricate problems and that can strike a balance between the characterization of Cairo in these diaries and other writings produced on such an ancient city.