Authors
Assistant Professor of Persian Language and Literature, Islamic Azad University, Marand Branch, Marand, Iran
Abstract
Esfar-e-Kateban (The Script of the Scribes) won Mehregan Prize in 2000 for its author, Abu-Torab Khosravi. This work which consists of various narrative layers, in its first layer attempts to tell the story of Said and Eklima’s acquaintance. In the other narrative layers, it rereads the old texts such as Masadig-al-Asar of Sheykh Yaha Kondori or Mozaffari History and the life of Saint Shedrek. This characteristic which is seen in postmodern fiction, is called mise-en-abyme. Esfar-e-Kateban which includes the description of the greatness of Khawjas and saints has the features of a magical realist fiction. Magical Realism is an oxymoron that consists of magical+real elements. Many writers, have used this genre for studying the clashes between colonial, postcolonial, and imperialist powers with their society. And sometimes they have revisioned the harsh realities of history using Magical realism. The present study after examining mise-en-abyme in Esfar-e-Kateban and mentioning the characteristics of magical realist fictions such as the irreducible element, the phenomenal world, unsettling doubts, merging realms, disruptions of time, space, and identity according to Faris’ classification, finds the mentioned novel a magical realist one and then it expresses the revisionary nostalgia of the writer in order to rewrite the historical narratives of the lives of Shah Mansour Mozaffari and Saint Shedrek.
Keywords
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