The development of postmodernism in Iran through the work of Mohammad Hasan Šahsavari[L'épanouissement du postmodernisme en Iran à travers l'oeuvre de mohammad hasan šahsavǎri]

Abstract

The late arrival of postmodern American and French novels in Iran explains, clearly, the delay of Persian literature in creating works that would reflect the postmodern world where man has no knowledge of himself. Despite the efforts of young writers, postmodern works have barely succeeded in implementing features of the postmodern novel, and they seem to be rather formal imitations of foreign works. This paper aims to follow the progress of this literary movement in Persian literature and to show, through one of Mohammad Hasan Šahsavai's works entitled The Possible Night (Šab-e Momken) (1971), as a successful example of this kind, how the distinguishing characteristics of postmodernism arise in the Persian novel and to what extent Šahsavari's work is a postmodernist piece of literature. We will explain the mechanisms that the writer activates-on the narrative level as well as the socio-cultural context - in order to prove that this work can appear as a postmodern work. © 2017 Peeters Publishers. All Rights Reserved.