The aesthetic and artistic dimension of the Saudi women’s novel - the structure of textual thresholds

Abstract

ABSTRACT: Textual thresholds are everything that surrounds the text from titles, colors, the writer's name, and the introductory dedication... They are what open doors for the reader and recipient to enter the content of the text, search for its meanings, and decode its codes. In addition, there is a dual relationship between the thresholds and the text that leads to understanding its internal components and secrets. The threshold discourse is one of the elements of the parallel text, and this study seeks to monitor the connotations of textual thresholds in the Saudi women's novel, as these thresholds represent important procedural keys to enter the world of the text and influence the recipient. The study also tried to reveal the extent to which female writers invest in these thresholds in conveying and expressing their experiences and human issues. This study used the mechanisms of semiotic criticism through two levels of reading: horizontal reading, which examines the components of the structural threshold, and vertical reading, which seeks to link the threshold to the body of the text; in order to reach the semantic dimension. The nature of the subject of this study required that it be in the following axes: First: Introduction. Second: External thresholds (title, cover) Third: Internal thresholds (dedication, introduction, and internal titles) This study concluded the role and importance of textual thresholds in the processes of creativity and reception, and their role in the world of the novel.