Sociological criticism of the novel “A World Without Maps” by Jabra Ibrahim Jabra and Abdul Rahman Munif (based on Goldman’s structuralist approach)

Abstract
Sociological criticism is one of the effective methods for criticizing literary texts, especially novels. This approach seeks to explore the relationship between the structure of the novel and its content with the circumstances and transformations of society and the environment in which it was born, and the method of artistic reflection and echo of society in the fictional and literary world is criticized and studied. The novel is considered the best genre for the political and social study of the history of contemporary countries and is in fact the artistic expression of the events of the social environment. Discussing the structure of the literary work and finding its relationship with the overall social conditions of the society in which the novel was created in that specific time period is the main goal of social criticism. The authors of the novel "A World Without Maps" in the fictional world, due to their joint work with the artistic representation of the details of the wars of 1948 and 1967, dealt with the sociology of people in their time and in their hypothetical and fictional prose, presented their critical vision of the current issues of the Arab world. This study addressed the content of the novel and its mutual relationship with society based on the descriptive-analytical approach and by referring to Goldman's structural models and revealed a clear form of the authors' universal vision and its application with their social class. The results of this study indicate that the authors have tried to draw the major issues and problems of their age in the fictional place of Amouria, which cannot be drawn on any geographical map according to the metaphorical meaning of the title of the novel (A World Without Maps) so that it becomes a symbol for all the important cities of the Arab world and its political and social issues can be generalized and useful to all.
 
 Keywords: Novel, Sociological Criticism, A World Without Maps, Jabra Ibrahim Jabra, Abdul Rahman Munif, Goldman.
 
Introduction
Goldman's structuralism: Perhaps modern sociology of literature is based on a basic assumption that literary creativity is a symbol of social life in all its different dimensions, and this assumption allows the researcher to perceive the features of literary effects and the features of societies in general by relying on the application of the dynamic structural approach, which was explained by (Lucien Goldman) in the studies he collected in his book (Dialectical Research), which includes in one of its first parts a chapter entitled (Dialectical Materialism and the History of Literature) and (The Concept of Expressive Structure in the History of Culture). There is a third study that is considered an application of the structural approach and its title is (Sexism and the Tragic Vision of the World).
The individual alone cannot achieve a certain vision of the world, as this vision is achieved in many cases by a group of individuals with a certain connection to all the elements that constitute reality. Therefore, attempts to interpret literary works in light of the author's personal life, or to depict his private social environment, are futile attempts, given that the relationships that arise in the field of literary works, or rather the relationship between the individual and society, are complex relationships, such that they cannot be interpreted mechanically, nor can all the elements of interpretation known to the author's life be obtained. This attempt does not enable us to reach what is essential, that is, to discover the nature of the relationship between the literary work and the worldview related to some social classes. For this reason, we cannot pay attention to the intentions that afflict the author's conscience and have determined their type in constructing the artistic or literary work. Since the relationship is close between the individual, society and culture, and this relationship is not achieved in the field of abstract thought, but can be clearly achieved in the field of literary or artistic work, that is, it can be achieved at the cultural level of these three poles (culture, individual, society)
 
Materials & methods
Lucien Goldman finds that talking about the issue of the relationship between the individual and the work, imposes on us to distinguish between the personal role of the blog writer, and the function of his individual behavior on the one hand, and the philosophical or literary content on the other hand, as the objective function of the individual behavior of the author is in fact nothing but his role. The researcher in this field does not aim to discover the role of the writer or his behavior, but rather aims to discover the meanings or connotations contained in the work itself. The literary work has its own internal logic, this is the essential field to which the researcher directs his attention. So what is the method that should be applied? (Lucien Goldman) answers that it is the structural approach, as it is more suitable for highlighting the internal coherence of the literary work, and in his opinion, it is usually characterized by the presence of a set of necessary relationships consisting of the elements of form and content. Studies that attempt to research some elements of the work without considering the other elements that form its parts, fragment the unity of its structure and distance the researcher from discovering its objective connotations, as each element has a function directly related to the structure with overall connotations.The main questions of this article based on its central topic and according to the aforementioned interpretations are the following:
1- To what extent were Jabra and Munif able to highlight the problems of Arab societies and their social and political disturbances in the novel using their literary and narrative abilities and taking a useful step towards improving the conditions of society?
2- What is the universal vision inherent in the novel "A World Without Maps" and how can this universal vision be described as a coherent whole in relation to one of the social groups?
 
Discussion & Result
As for the literary genre of the novel, it is more related to society and its formation, and it is basically a protest against bourgeois society. The emergence of the novel in its modern sense is influenced by certain social circumstances, just as society is influenced by the novel and the ideas of novelists as well; the novel "A World Without Maps" is no exception to this rule. Its authors have tried to present an image of the turbulent period of Arab societies during the years 1948 to 1979 in the fictional and fabricated world of their works with a social theme. They dealt very intelligently with the sociology of people in their time. 2- The writers' insistence on committing to expressing social commitments is very clear, which could be their motivation for writing this work. They used different methods to return to the past, internal monologues, and the stream of consciousness style, and created a coherent and harmonious prose with the subject, and opened a new window before the reader's eyes and made their vision of world issues prominent. Aladdin is the narrator and the main character of the novel and he is the same problematic hero (the problematic man) who cannot be indifferent to cruelty. He pointed out this importance in Goldman's structural method of analyzing the text as much as he could.
 
Conclusion
The results of this study indicate that the authors have tried to draw the major issues and problems of their age in the fictional place of Amouria, which cannot be drawn on any geographical map according to the metaphorical meaning of the title of the novel (A World Without Maps) so that it becomes a symbol for all the important cities of the Arab world and its political and social issues can be generalized and useful to all.