Manifestations of Textual Thresholds in the Collection Nofathat Jarrah by the Algerian Poet and Painter Amer Chaabani: From Sensory Reception to the Reader’s Hermeneutic Awareness

Abstract

This study moves away from closed structural and semiotic approaches to textual thresholds in order to examine the concept of ‘thresholds’ in the collection Nafathat Jarrah by the Algerian poet and painter Amer Châabani, adopting a phenomenological-hermeneutic perspective. The research examines how paratextual thresholds (title, cover, dedication) evolve from mere linguistic or visual signs into ‘phenomenological stimuli’ that influence the reader’s sensory and aesthetic perception, shaping their preconceptions before they engage with the main text. Drawing on phenomenological reception theory, especially that of Roman Ingarden and Paul Ricoeur, the study investigates the experience of reading the threshold as the initial gateway to consciousness. It stretches between what is narrated and what remains unsaid, where the visual and linguistic dimensions converge to evoke and interpret human suffering.