A Master’s thesis was discussed at the Department of English Language, College of Basic Education, University of Mosul, on Monday, August 24, 2026, in Umm Al-Rabi‘ain Hall.

The study, submitted by the student Maryam Amer Mahmoud Al-Sultan, aimed to investigate perspective shifts in William Faulkner’s novel The Sound and the Fury and analyze their impact on discourse coherence. It also examined how Genette’s narratological categories and the theory of focalization can be employed to analyze the relationship between narrative perspective and discourse organization.

The study adopted a mixed-methods approach, analyzing twenty-five selected textual samples from the novel through a hybrid analytical framework that combines Genette’s narratological categories with the theory of focalization.

The findings revealed that perspective shifts play a central role in linking narrative structure with discourse coherence. They affect discourse coherence through their influence on discourse centers and transition patterns. The study also demonstrated that discourse coherence is achieved through the interaction between structural continuity and multiple perspectives, requiring readers to make inferences and trace shifts in perspective in order to reconstruct meaning.

The discussion committee consisted of:

• Prof. Dr. Luqman Abdul-Karim Nasser — Chair, University of Mosul / College of Arts
• Asst. Prof. Dr. Omar Dawood Omar — Member, University of Mosul / College of Basic Education
• Asst. Prof. Lubna Zuhair Mahmoud — Member, University of Mosul / College of Basic Education
• Prof. Dr. Mazin Fawzi Ahmed — Member and Supervisor, University of Mosul / College of Basic Education

Media and Government Communication Division