Analysis of the War in "Haras (The Pruning)" According to the Reception Theory

Reception theory, places a premium on and holds the role of reader in interpreting the text in high regard. Wolfgang Iser is one of the founders of this theory, which believes a text has two artistic and aesthetic poles and relegates the role of meaning creator to the reader. The texts classified as War literature have always had their audiences in the Persian contemporary literature. By having a critical approach to the Iran-Iraq war, different content and a new structure, "Haras (The Pruning)"of NasimMar’ashi, has managed to change the horizon of expectation of Iranian readers concerning War literature. In this paper, the two artistic and aesthetic poles of this novel will be analyzed based on Iser’s views on the reception theory and then we will refer to the elements that have influenced the interaction between readers and the text, leading to a new perception of war. Furthermore, this article attempts to analyze how this text has managed to satisfy the curiosity of contemporary readers by using modern and original elements.