A Review of the Short Story Collection "Land Trapped" by the Libyan Writer Omar Al-Kikli.

The binary of the writer and the text is no longer the sole concern of literary criticism. Instead, the receiver, or the reader, has been added as a crucial element, thus forming a new binary: the reader and the text.

Reception Theory...

This is one of the most important post-modern theories, which restored consideration to the reader as a primary partner in the creative process, after being overlooked by structural and contextual methodologies. This theory originated at the University of Konstanz in Germany under two professors, Hans-Georg Gadamer and Wolfgang Iser.

Gadamer, who introduced terms like the "horizon of expectations" and "aesthetic distance" to determine the aesthetic value of a text, and Iser, who was interested in "filling the gaps" and the "implied reader".

This is clearly visible in the work we are examining today, "Land Trapped" by the Libyan author Professor Omar Al-Kikli.

I don't claim that Al-Kikli had the reception theory in mind while writing his stories, but his creativity made me think of it spontaneously.

The text could have been studied using modern external contextual approaches - social, psychological, historical, anthropological - as they are clearly present in the work.

Or it could have been interpreted from a modern structural perspective that focuses on the rich language and the aesthetic quality of its vocabulary and impressive structures.

However, doing so would also do the text injustice, sidelining its strengths which lie in everything previously mentioned and more that we will discuss later.

In one of his published articles, Professor Omar Al-Kikli says:

"I always say that I consider myself fortunate that a significant amount of my initial readings in short stories happened to be Libyan, contrary to what many Arab intellectuals believe (and doubt). Many Libyan stories, since their mature inception in the early 1950s, belong to the finest written in the Arab region. Libyan writers primarily shaped my aesthetic vision and motivated my efforts in it."

Someone reading this statement might think the author is biased and excessively proud. However, once you begin the first lines of the collection, which comprises twenty-three stories, you realize he was fair and just in his claims.

You will not accuse him of vanity when you read how he describes himself in the collection but will agree with him and add that he is confident and knows his worth.

In the story "Settling Account 35," he says: "I too wasn't an ordinary person you should remember or else what attracted you to me?"

In the story "Building the Chair," he says: "Considering that I see myself as an extremely alert person..."

In another story, "In Defense of Pigeons," he says: "I am no less than James Thurber." Referring to the renowned American short story writer, James Thurber.

In the story "Virtues," he says: "I was certainly younger in age than the man and definitely more handsome."

The author here leads you to the edge of a cliff, and just before you fall, he pulls you back. He places you at a crossroads with multiple paths, each with its own title, leaving your imagination to decide which one to take. The surprises that hit you differ based on your preconceived expectations and the horizon of the text, making you as a reader interpret the narrative differently.

The writer's engagement with an implicit, carefully chosen reader, one he envisions during his writing process, becomes evident. This reader is guided internally to understand the text and is also presented with areas of ambiguity; gaps that he/she should fill based on their interpretation.

By doing so, the writer elevates the reader from mere understanding to admiration, going beyond mere appreciation or disapproval, reaching a higher level of interpretation and discovering different meanings and interpretations for the text.

In essence, an aesthetic distance is created, making the text more creative and enjoyable, making the reader a partner in the creative process, even another creator of the text.

He often initiates imaginary dialogue with the reader, as evident in the phrases surrounded by quotation marks.

The language, with its vocabulary, structures, and sometimes its local dialect, adds a purposeful dramatic dimension to engage you in interaction and astonishment.

The internal titles, the choice of the work's title, even the order of the stories and the intertwining literary genres, both prose and poetry, have their unspoken objectives, which you won't consciously recognize, but they will infiltrate your mind and spread in your imagination, taking you to horizons you've never approached before.

He often describes a progression from a high point to a base, hoping to reach an endpoint or settling for the least, constantly reminded by the reality's sting, inseparable from it, drawing all progressive ideas from it, even if they were just part of a dream that is considered another reality, parallel in strength and existence, as in the story "Realizing the Dream".

He won't let you read, deduce, and merge in the conventional known ways, but will keep you alert all the time. You will be constantly accompanied by tear-stained smiles and subdued astonishment behind the veil of pleasure.

To be continued in Part Two...