The Structure of Narrative Time in Tahsin Navshki's Novel 'Vida'

Abstract

This research, titled "The Structure of Narrative Time in Tahsin Navshki's Novel 'Vida'," analyzes the various structures a novelist employs to construct the narrative's temporal framework. Novelists emphasize certain structures to build their timeline, some rooted in classical texts and others in modern and contemporary fiction. The study's central inquiry is whether the novelist has successfully utilized a diverse range of temporal structures or has primarily adhered to a conventional, linear progression. The methodology, grounded in the theoretical perspectives of the "New Novelists," focuses on the internal architecture of the narrative specifically, how time is constructed and organized from within the text itself. The analysis is divided into five parts, each examining a distinct temporal model. These include: the linear structure, which moves sequentially from a designated beginning to an end; the circular structure, which starts from the story’s conclusion and eventually returns to its origin point; the embedded time structure, where one story unfolds within another to thematically illuminate the main plot; the parallel time structure, featuring two separate but coexisting storylines; and the interwoven time structure, which deliberately disrupts chronological order through literary techniques such as flashback and flash-forward. The study ultimately concludes that the novelist has skillfully employed all these varied temporal structures throughout the novel, using them as a sophisticated and modern technique to enhance the work's overall aesthetic construction.