A Lecturer in the Department of Arabic Language Guests at the Iraqi General Union of Writers and Authors

The Iraqi General Union of Writers and Authors hosted Dr. Mahmoud Ramadan Ibrahim, a lecturer in the Department of Arabic Language at the College of Education, University of Samarra, during a cultural session dedicated to celebrating young writers, attended by a distinguished group of authors, critics, and those interested in the Iraqi narrative scene.

The session included two main themes. In the first, Dr. Mahmoud Ramadan Ibrahim presented his vision of the short story as a literary art based on condensation, linguistic economy, and precision in constructing details. He emphasized that this literary genre requires a high ability to control narrative structure and generate meaning within a limited textual space, giving the text the power of suggestion and impact.

The second theme was devoted to a critical reading of the short story “The Drying of the Tigris.” The discussions examined the artistic structure of the text and its narrative mechanisms through the use of fragmented time, flashback and recollection techniques, and the evocation of the grandfather’s memory at the moment of crossing toward the cemetery, allowing an overlap between personal memory and the collective memory of the Iraqi place.

Critical readings also noted that the story succeeded in gradually constructing its psychological dimension through a character experiencing deep anxiety over the transformations affecting both place and people, while the river within the text became a symbolic representation associated with life, loss, and brokenness.

It is worth mentioning that Dr. Mahmoud Ramadan Ibrahim has published several literary and critical works, including five novels and one critical study, in addition to receiving a number of literary awards at both local and international levels.