Rethinking the Narrative Text: From the Centrality of Meaning to the Infinite of Interpretation

Abstract

This article
discusses theoretical shifts in the approach of the modern narrative text,
from structuralist perceptions that have made meaning a fixed and closed center, to post
structuralist perceptions that have opened the text to a plurality of interpretations and an
infinite connotation. The research proceeds from the works of Roland Barthes, Umberto
Eco, Jacques Derrida, Wolfgang Eiser, and Paul Ricoeur, to follow the path of the
transfer of power from the author to the reader, and from one meaning to the open text,
as well as in the Arab context, the principle of polysemy is evident in the critical heritage
through the rhetorical perception of Al-Jurjani and Al-Jahz..., where the meaning is
linked to the context and probability, before it is newly re-activated within contemporary
Arab criticism, with Kilitu, Said Yaqtin, and Al-Ghadami, a trend that consecrates the
open text and the productivity of reading.