L’attente en captivité, une déformation de la perception du temps Al-Qawqa‘a de Muṣṭafā Ḫalīfa

The analysis of the time of waiting in the Syrian prison novel Al-Qawqa‘a by Muṣṭafā Ḫalīfa (2003) is based on the evolving system of perceiving prison time made up of three cycles highlighted by Manuela Ivone Cunha. In the narration of Al-Qawqa‘a, the three moments can be read and oppose each other: after the impatience and revolt at the start of incarceration ­comes resignation and the wise ­conviction that nothing can change the present, and finally the bitterness of despair and indifference to everything.