The Characters’ Identification Crisis in the Novel Viran Miaie (i.e. You Are Coming Ruin): A Narratological-Discoursal Analysis

جستارهای نوین ادبی

Article 3, Volume 46, Issue 2 - Serial Number 181, September 2013, Pages 93-120   

Document Type: Research Article

DOI: 10.22067/jls.v46i2.13548

Author

Najme Hosseini sarvari^*

Abstract

The present work is going to analyze the novel Viran Miaie written by Hossein Sanapour. The following reading is a revealing constructivist analysis of a literary text based on Todorov’s theory of narrative. The study shows that all actions in the narration of the novel can be reduced to two concepts: searching and not finding. Then, based on one of the post-structuralistic approaches to the text analysis –i.e. discourse analysis of Laclau & Mouffe about the identity concept – it is suggested that the main characters of the story are seeking to find a new definition for their identity formed by their gender roles and by the family discourse as the only source for stabilizing the characters’ identity in this story. However, inability of the characters to reorganize the equivalence chain which is shaped based on the man/woman master signifiers is interpreted as their failure in taking on the identity they are seeking.

Keywords

narrative pattern of Viran Miaie; Todorov’s theory of narrative; Post-Structuralism; Discourse analysis