Razi University

   The novel "A Mask the Color of the Sky" represents a distinguished narrative model in contemporary Arabic literature, revealing an advanced artistic awareness in employing narrative structures and textual relationships within a complex narrative fabric that blends the real and the symbolic. Based on this awareness, this study, entitled "Narrative Techniques and Intertextual Relationships in the Novel 'A Mask the Color of the Sky'," aims to analyze the novel's artistic and semantic structure by examining the mechanisms of narrative techniques and intertextual relationships that shaped its aesthetic and intellectual features. The study adopted a descriptive-analytical approach to uncover the nature of the narrative structures upon which the author based his text, and the relationships the novel weaves with other texts, whether religious, literary, historical, mythological, or cinematic, and how these relationships were reflected on the semantic and aesthetic levels of the text. The results, at the level of narrative techniques, showed that the author adopted a tightly constructed narrative structure based on multiple voices and diverse narrators, which provided the text with a broad dialogic space that reveals the depth of the human experience. The study also revealed that the novel's character structure adopted a symbolic character, embodied in the mask technique, which served as an artistic tool for revealing both collective and individual consciousness. Narrative time was characterized by the interplay between past and present through flashbacks and foreshadowing, while setting formed a multi-layered semantic space reflecting the psychological and social transformations of the characters. Dialogue was characterized by its dual function of disclosure and silence, lending the text interpretive depth. The plot was built upon gradual progression and narrative tension, guiding the reader toward exploring the novel's symbolic structure. Regarding intertextual relationships, the study demonstrated the author's skillful symbolic use of religious texts—the Quran, Hadith, and the Prophet's biography—to deepen the spiritual and intellectual dimensions of the novel. Literary and cultural connections served to expand the text's scope and link it to Arab and international poetic and narrative traditions. Historical and mythological connections further enriched the novel's interpretive dimension, connecting the past with the present and reinforcing awareness of identity and collective memory. The study concluded that the novel "A Mask the Color of the Sky" represents a mature narrative experience in contemporary Arabic fiction. Through it, the author successfully blends textual reference with artistic innovation, employing narrative techniques and intertextuality as artistic means to produce a text rich in multiple voices and meanings. This text combines aesthetic structure with intellectual awareness, reflecting the depth of the human experience in its realistic and symbolic dimensions. Keywords: Narrative techniques, intertextuality, Basem Khundakji, A Mask the Color of the Sky, identity, intertextuality, Palestinian novel, prisoner literature.