Analyzing the ultimate anxiety of death and the ways to deny it in the novels "Zahr al-Laymoun and other stories" and "Telk al-Raeha" based on the theory of Irvin David Yalom.

Analyzing the ultimate anxiety of death and the ways to deny it in the novels "Zahr al-Laymoun and other stories" and "Telk al-Raeha" based on the theory of Irvin David Yalom



Introduction

Death as an inevitable reality is the subject of various philosophical studies. Death and its apprehension and fear are one of the oldest topics in the field of literature and philosophy that man has been struggling with since the beginning. The issue of death in the existential school includes death itself, thinking about death, death-seeking, and fear of one’s own and others’ death. The issue of the apprehension of death and methods of getting rid of it can be examined in various ways. One of the practical sources in this field is literary texts. Sometimes literary texts have themes and concepts related to the field of psychology and psychology, which provides the basis for examining it as interdisciplinary research and based on the theories proposed in the field of psychoanalytic criticism. Fear of death is known as one of the existential disorders. Ervin Yalom, as one of the theorists of the field of psychoanalysis, believes that facing the four components of existence is painful but ultimately treatable. The four certainties from Yalom's perspective are death, freedom, loneliness, and emptiness. Erwin David Yalom is an American psychiatrist who has written books in the field of psychotherapy, the most important of which is "Existential Psychotherapy." The importance and necessity of psychoanalytic criticism of literary texts is that, in addition to discovering the themes hidden in them and familiarizing the reader with the semantic and psychological layers present in them, it can help identify the causes of human psychological problems and dilemmas and find solutions to treat them in the form of a literary text. Therefore, writing such an article can be helpful and beneficial for researchers, writers, and those who suffer from ultimate anxieties, especially the fear and dread of death.

Methodology

In this study, using a descriptive-analytical method, the theme of death thoughts and fear of it and the strategies for getting rid of it in two novels, "Zahr la-laymoun and Other Stories" by Alaa al-Dib and "Telk al-Raeha" by Son allah Ibrahim, has been analyzed based on Erwin Yalom's theory.

Results and Discussion

The psychoanalytic critique of these two novels based on Yalom's psychotherapy components has been effective in understanding the writing style and context of the two authors, Alaa al-Dib and Sanallah Ibrahim, and their intellectual framework, and it also helps the reader to understand the depth of the subject and the main content of the two novels and the internal and psychological conditions of the characters in them. Both authors have tried to portray the mental and psychological conditions of man and the conditions and structure of life in the context of the novel. The characters of the novels "Zahr al-Laymoun and Other Stories" and "Telk al-Raeha" along with two selected stories from it face important factors and problems such as suffering, deficiencies, fear of death, aspects of freedom, loneliness, and emptiness, and the authors, especially Alaa al-Dib, have crystallized it well. Of these two authors, Alaa al-Dib has reflected the four ultimate concerns and their treatment methods in the characters of his novel better and more than Son allah Ibrahim and has imagined them for his audience, which can be due to their intellectual background and approach. It should also be said that psychological criticism of literary texts, unlike the formalist approach, does not contribute to the aesthetics of the text in terms of appearance and external form of language, but by using this type of criticism, one can reach the inner aesthetics and layers of meaning hidden in literary texts and introduce them to the reader of the text.

Conclusion

_It can be said that living in the difficult and unfortunate conditions of Cairo and enduring the pain and suffering caused by imprisonment and the tyranny that dominated society during the reign of Gamal Abd al Nasser led the two writers to contemplate death, which was crystallized through the characters in the story.

_ The studies conducted revealed that death contemplation and fear of death exist in both the novels “Zahr al-Laymoun and other stories” and “Telk al-Raeha”. However, regarding the strategies for getting rid of death contemplation and fear, it should be said that these strategies were seen only in the novel “Zahr al-Laymoun and other stories” and no examples of these strategies were found in the novel “Telk al-Raeha”. Among the methods determined by Yalom for denying and getting rid of death phobia, strategies such as hope for an ultimate savior, regret, creating waves, and being creative were seen only in the novel “Zahr al-Laymoun and other stories”. For example, Fathi, as one of the main characters in the story "Al-Qahirah", struggles with fear of death in various situations. He has shown the solution of hoping for the ultimate savior as one of the methods of reducing the fear of death in court and with the hope of being saved from possible death caused by retribution by the grace and care of God. He also crystallizes the method of creating waves and being creative by trying to develop his abilities and manifest some good and desirable traits. Sheikha, as one of the main characters in the story "Al-Qahirah", also uses this method to reduce the anxiety of death by expressing remorse and regret for her past.



Keywords: psychotherapy, death anxiety, Zahr al-Laymoun and other stories, Telk al-Raeha, Irvin David Yalom.