English abstract
This study seeks to explore new depths in the art of biography manifested in (childhood narrations) that has become a literally-prolific phenomenon in modern Omani literature by studying the works of three writers: Mohamed Eid Al-Eraimi, Abdullah Al-Balushi and Adel Al-Kalbani.
The study is made up of an introduction, foreword, four chapters and conclusion. The foreword addresses the essential tensions surrounding the concept and autobiographies in the western, Arabs and Omani literary traditions.
Chapter one highlights the difference between childhood literature and childhood narration and touches on the first ever Arab childhood narration - Al-Ayam "The Days" – the distinct work by the great author Taha Hussein as well as Omani authors' literary contributions to childhood narration.
Chapter two mirrors the question of remembrance and forgetfulness in autobiographical art. Human memories in general and particularly childhood memories relating to autobiographical writings usually require strong memory. For the writer to recall special past events or memories is not always easy without memory slips and lapses which are beyond the control.
Since the autobiographical text is basically a narrative discourse that depicts the past life of the writer, it must be narrated in an artistic fashion. Therefore, chapter three embarked on the artistic elements of the narrations of the three writers - Al Eraimi, Al-Balushi and Al-Kalbani.
Chapter four focuses on the impulses of the above three writers to their narrations - of course the reason vary substantially from one writer to the other including logical reasons such as justifications, testimonies, emotional imperatives and the search for true self. However, different they might be, but their thematic issues remain the same and revolve around two fundamental issues which are the educational and social realities in their various manifestations.
The study raps up with a conclusion that highlights the most important findings established by the researcher.
