Postmodernism in A Lost Highwayman: A Deconstructive Reading

Abstract

This study explores manifestations of postmodern experimentation in A Lost Highwayman by Fahd Al-Atiq through a deconstructive critical approach. It is based on the premise that the contemporary Saudi novel has undergone significant aesthetic and structural transformations aligned with postmodern narrative practices. The research examines the author’s use of postmodern techniques such as metafiction, fragmentation, unreliable narration, temporal disruption, and intertextuality, highlighting their role in reshaping narrative form and meaning. Structured into a theoretical section on postmodern experimentation in Arabic fiction and an applied textual analysis of the novel, the study investigates how these narrative strategies function within the work. The findings reveal that the novel employs postmodern devices not merely as formal experimentation, but as mechanisms for constructing a multilayered narrative space that merges individual and collective memory, reality and myth, and local and global perspectives. Intertextuality emerges as a central narrative strategy through references to folklore, mythology, history, literature, music, cinema, and fictional characters, enriching the textual structure and expanding interpretive possibilities. The study concludes that the novel reflects a sophisticated awareness of cultural systems and demonstrates the ability of the contemporary Saudi novel to engage creatively with postmodern narrative aesthetics while remaining rooted in the Arabic literary tradition.