Fictional Uncertainty in Modern Persian Literature: Polyphony, Becoming, and Ambiguity in Shahriar Mandanipour's Work
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Fictional Uncertainty in Modern Persian Literature: Polyphony, Becoming, and Ambiguity in Shahriar Mandanipour's Work Item Type text; Electronic Dissertation Authors Sarvestani, Mehrak Kamali Publisher The University of Arizona. Rights Copyright © is held by the author. Digital access to this material is made possible by the University Libraries, University of Arizona. Further transmission, reproduction or presentation (such as public display or performance) of protected items is prohibited except with permission of the author. Download date 28/09/2021 02:11:49 Link to Item http://hdl.handle.net/10150/596122 FICTIONAL UNCERTAINTY IN MODERN PERSIAN LITERATURE: POLYPHONY, BECOMING, AND AMBIGUITY IN SHAHRIAR MANDANIPOUR’S WORK by Mehrak Kamali Sarvestani __________________________ Copyright © Mehrak Kamali Sarvestani 2016 A Dissertation Submitted to the Faculty of the SCHOOL OF MIDDLE EASTERN AND NORTH AFRICAN STUDIES In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements For the Degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY In the Graduate College THE UNIVERSITY OF ARIZONA 2016 Kamali 2 THE UNIVERSITY OF ARIZONA GRADUATE COLLEGE As members of the Dissertation Committee, we certify that we have read the dissertation prepared by Mehrak Kamali Sarvestani, titled Fictional Uncertainty in Modern Persian Literature: Polyphony, Becoming, and Ambiguity in Shahriar Mandanipour’s Work and recommend that it be accepted as fulfilling the dissertation requirement for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy. ______________________________________________________________Date: 05/07/2015 Kamran Talattof ______________________________________________________________Date: 05/07/2015 Ann H. Betteridge ______________________________________________________________Date: 05/07/2015 Leila Hudson ______________________________________________________________Date: 05/07/2015 Yaseen Noorani ______________________________________________________________Date: Final approval and acceptance of this dissertation is contingent upon the candidate’s submission of the final copies of the dissertation to the Graduate College. I hereby certify that I have read this dissertation prepared under my direction and recommend that it be accepted as fulfilling the dissertation requirement. ______________________________________________________________Date: 05/07/2015 Dissertation Director: Kamran Talattof Kamali 3 STATEMENT BY AUTHOR This dissertation has been submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for an advanced degree at the University of Arizona and is deposited in the University Library to be made available to borrowers under rules of the Library. Brief quotations from this dissertation are allowable without special permission, provided that an accurate acknowledgement of the source is made. Requests for permission for extended quotation from or reproduction of this manuscript in whole or in part may be granted by the major department or the Dean of the Graduate College when in his or her judgment the proposed use of the material is in the interests of scholarship. In all other instances, however, permission must be obtained from the auhtor. Mehrak Kamali Sarvestani Kamali 4 ACKNOWLEDGMENT The writing of this dissertation has been one of the most significant academic challenges I have ever had to face. Without the support, patience and guidance of the following people, this study would not have been completed. Firstly, I would like to express my sincere gratitude to my advisor Professor Kamran Talattof for the continuous support of my Ph.D. study and related research, for his patience, motivation, and immense knowledge. His guidance helped me in all the time of research and writing of this dissertation. Besides my advisor, I would like to thank the rest of my dissertation committee: Dr. Leila Hudson, Dr. Ann Betteridge, and Dr. Yaseen Noorani for their insightful comments and encouragement, but also for the hard questions which incented me to widen my research from various perspectives. Kamali 5 DEDICATION To my wife, Parvaneh, without whom this effort would have been worth nothing. Her love, support and constant patience have taught me so much about sacrifice, discipline and compromise. To my mother, Ferdos, who has been always worried about my education, my career, and me. Kamali 6 Table of Content Abstract 9 Chapter One Introduction 11 Definition of Terms 12 Theoretical Framework 18 Methodology 24 The Importance of this Research 25 Review of Literature 25 The Structure of the Work 39 Chapter Two Emergence of Fictional Uncertainty as a Literary Technique 41 Emergence of Modern Persian Literature 42 New Fictional Themes 49 Narrator and Narration 52 Changing Formal Rules 60 New Ways of Literary Creativity 64 Point of View as the Main Constitutive Element of Modern Persian Literature 67 Conclusion 70 Chapter 3 Fictional Uncertainty in Shahriar Mandanipour’s Short Stories: Violence, Infidelity, and Revenge 72 Shahriar Mandanipour’s Fictional Uncertainty 73 Kamali 7 Literary Background 81 “Sayeh-i az Sayeh-ha-ie Ghar” (“A Shadow of the Shadows of the Cave”): Limited Point of View and Language Ambiguity 84 “Beshkan Dandan-e Sangi Ra” (Shatter the Stone Tooth): A Story of Loneliness and Archetypes 87 o Parallel Points of View, Analogous Chronotopes, Multiple Themes 90 o The Community Need for Violence and Victimization 95 o Scapegoating Ritual 97 “Baz Roo beh Rood” (Again Facing the River): Fictional Uncertainty in A Historical Context 100 o Experimental Aspects 103 o Historical Context 107 Conclusion 110 Chapter 4 Dili Dildadigi (The Courage of Love): Fictional Uncertainty and Social Instability 112 Dili Dildadigi (The Courage of Love): Uncertain Interactions between Fictional Characters and Archetypes 113 o Characterization 117 o Point of View and Narrative Structure 121 o Four Main Archetypical Themes 122 1. Adam’s Creation Legend 123 2. Feeling of Guilt 125 Kamali 8 3. The Four Classic Elements 130 4. External and Internal Conflicts 133 Conclusion 137 Chapter Five Censoring an Iranian Love Story: A Turning Point in Mandanipour’s Experimental Approach 139 A Shift in Shahriar Mandanipour’s Writing Style 144 Fiction against Totalitarianism 148 Characterization 152 Narrative Strategy 154 Shahriar as a Source of Uncertainty 156 Uncertainty and Transition from Utopianism to Individualism 159 Conflicts and Contradictions 160 Conclusion 166 Conclusion 167 Appendix A English Translation of “Baz Roo beh Rood” (Again Facing the River) by Shahriar Mandanipour 175 Bibliography 188 List of Tables and Pictures Table 1. Fictional Devices in Thirteen Scenes of “Again Facing the River”103-105 Picture 1: Las Meninas, Diego Velazquez. (1656) 141 Kamali 9 ABSTRACT Fictional uncertainty is a complex technique that utilizes literary devices such as changing points of view, multiple themes, and fluid characterization. Fictional uncertainty enables an author to create a layered narrative based upon multiple perspectives and a deep look into the characters’ individual personalities and inner lives. Every work of fiction involves some amount of uncertainty, but in modern Iranian literature there was a distinct transition in the late twentieth century from greater realism to greater uncertainty. Indeed, the mode of fictional uncertainty is central to Iranian authors’ modernist project, focused as it is on the psychological aspects of the characters’ lives and narrative aesthetics. Fiction prior to the 1979 Islamic Revolution usually focused on sociological matters, but post-revolution modernist fiction has been distinguished by emphasis on the deeper realities of characters’ individual lives. Fictional uncertainty is the most significant literary technique that authors have used to portray the complexity of Iranians’ post-revolutionary experiences. It has provided a tool for a number of Iranian writers to oppose the dominant social, cultural, historical, and religious certainties of post-revolutionary Iranian society. Shahriar Mandanipour, one of the greatest users of this technique, has extended the boundaries of Persian fiction through his experimental fiction. Although Mandanipour does count some traditional realist fictions among his works, his efforts in applying fictional uncertainty make him unique and exemplary. Under the influence of Russian Formalism, Mandanipour mostly uses his content as a pretext for formalist fictional experiments. Mandanipour’s focus on “literariness” is the basis of his interest in the technique of fictional uncertainty and his understanding of the essentiality of “form” in fictional works. Kamali 10 Fictional uncertainty is not always guided by one particular ideology or discourse, but rather by the ways in which devices such as changing points of view, multiple themes, fluid characters, and unstable settings function in the text. In the case of post-revolutionary Persian literature, fictional uncertainty has also provided authors a way to investigate and recreate the complex dynamics of revolutionary and post-revolutionary life, which is to some extent ultimately related to ideology and discourse. A close reading of Mandanipour’s short stories and novels will show that his application of fictional uncertainty is related to the Bakhtinian concepts of “polyphony, dialogue, unfinalizability”1 and becoming, which are embodied in the plots, characterizations, and points of view in his works. Using these fictional devices, Mandanipour portrays an atomized Iran full of violence, despair, fear, infidelity, revenge, and loneliness. However, his works