Literary Historiography in Contemporary Persian Novel: A Study of S. Rahimian’s Dr. Noon Loves His Wife More Than Mussadiq

Document Type : Original Article

Author

1 Candidate of Gemma Erasmus Mundus Master's Degree in Women's and Gender Studies, Department of Women's and Gender Studies, University of Oviedo, Asturias, Spain

2 MA in English Language and Literature, Department of English, University of Kurdistan, Sanandaj, Iran

10.34785/J014.2020.606

Abstract

The present research seeks to investigate Shahram Rahimian’s Dr. Noon Loves His Wife More Than Mussadiq [1] based on the literary historiographical theory of Hayden White. The central argument of this analysis is to demonstrate how Rahimian represents the history of Iran’s 1953 coup in his novel through mentioning an Iranian historical figure, Dr. Mussadiq, and his relationship with other members of the political party. The history of Iran’s coup and especially that of Dr. Mussadiq have been an interesting subject for most of the historians and writers. Rahimian in his novel impressively addresses the historical facts of the period and endeavors to focus on the realities and at the same time to create a new version of the events by fictionalizing the way he presents his characters. He attempts to convey to the readers that it is possible to have different versions of the apparent historical facts. This novel provides corresponding peculiarities with the postmodern approach of historiography that is presented by Hayden White particularly in his remarkable work, Metahistory (1973). White contends that there could be different versions of historical facts and it is the task of the historian and the writer of historical fiction to interpret the realities and to make his/her own version of the past. Employing White’s significant concept of emplotment, the study explores the way Rahimian depicts the Iranian socio-political and cultural scene of the early 1950s in his novel from a historical perspective.



[1]     All translations from Persian to English have been made by the present author.

Keywords

References

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Critical Literary Studies
Volume 2, Issue 2 - Serial Number 4
September 2020
Pages 197-215

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History

  • Receive Date: 11 April 2020
  • Revise Date: 15 September 2020
  • Accept Date: 25 September 2020

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