esmaeil najar

This investigation applies Spivak's "Subaltern Theory" to undertake a comparative examination of Mastaneh, the History of the Forgotten and Nine Parts of Desire. Spivak maintains that comparative studies in world literature are currently predominantly conducted in accordance with the logic of globalization during the capitalist era. She is of the opinion that the field of literature is currently only used as a means to ensure the survival of Western powers. When they wish to investigate other cultures, they refer to them as "Third World" and regard them as an undeveloped "other." These criticisms are exacerbated when the Western world interacts with subordinate subjects, particularly the female gender. Due to the fact that they only provide an appearance of the situation of women in relation to their objectives. For the sake of its own objectives, it only presents a semblance of subalterns, particularly those of the female gender, and achieves an idealistic and essentialist policy. However, the subaltern subject is aware that a gender that is both expanding and developing is the most advantageous scenario for her when she speaks and behaves as a woman. It is regrettable that the subjugated and marginalized individuals should disclose another history of the oppressed, which has been neglected, in the shadow of this game. Through an examination of a selection of Spivak's theoretical works, including "Can the Subaltern Speak?"(1985), Death of a Discipline (2003), and "Rethinking Comparativism"(2009), this research will demonstrate that the Subaltern can articulate her pure experiences and self-expression through literature without the assistance of global powers, correction, or assistance.

The Seven deadly sins are considered part of the religious thoughts of the Catholic faith, usually used as a storytelling tool to manifest human vices and virtues in various literary forms. The presence of these thoughts is not primarily due to religious beliefs, but is admired for symbolization and a different perspective on the development of fictional characters in literature and story-focused media worldwide. The authors of this article analyze and compare the characterizations in two Iranian and American crime thriller films, exploring the concept of the seven deadly sins and how it is utilized in shaping the characters of these works. The plot of the film Seven (1995) is based on the concept of the seven deadly sins, with each of the story's victims representing a symbol of these sins. In the film The Sinners (2011), the use of this symbolism may not be overt, but the suspects in the story each possess tendencies and specific character traits in line with the concept of the seven deadly sins. This comparative study utilizes the ideas of Thomas Felty on the seven deadly sins. The research is conducted using a descriptive-analytical method within the framework of American comparative literature. The symbolism of the seven deadly sins in these films has directly and indirectly helped characters to move beyond one-dimensional portrayal and uncovering deep psychological and social layers.

The harrowing memories of lynching as a method of historical implementation of terror and violence imposed on generations of Afro-Americans have been portrayed in numerous dramatic works. Lynching is generally referred to as a quasi-ritual and extra-legal act of punishment and retribution, which has been exercised throughout history as a method of intimidation. What should be accentuated is the far-reaching impact of such an atrocity on its victim's mentality and identity. Collective trauma and agonizingly invisible memories of humiliation, exploitation, racial discrimination, physical assault and sexual abuse experienced by black people resonate in dramatic renderings of many black playwrights. This article investigates the long-term impact of lynching and racial atrocities on the black collective psyche and the mechanisms through which one can articulate traumatized memories and experiences. By examining black people's traumatic encounter with savagery and coercion, this research explores its ensuing psychic impact on the black community. For this purpose, Angelina Weld Grimke's Rachel (written in 1916 and published in 1920) and Adam and Adrienne Kennedy's Sleep Deprivation Chamber (1996) are analysed in order to trace the footprints of ubiquitous racism and its jarringly traumatic impact on the black psyche. The horrendous account of police atrocity, the 'modern day lynching', against Teddy Alexander, a black youngster, and its subsequent repercussions in the private and public lives of his black family finds its way in the fragmented pieces of memory and repetitious moments of nightmare. Psychological and emotional effects of lynching resembling permanent burns inscribed both on black bodies and black minds are reflected in Rachel's traumatized mind colliding with many rising conflicts in a white supremacist society that eventually leads to her total abandonment of sexual life and motherhood. Theories of Christina Wald, which rely heavily on the psychological and psychoanalytical aspects of dramatic works, will be employed. By explaining and defining "Trauma Drama", Wald has striven to discover and analyse the hidden traces of racial violence on the soul and psyche of the victim's personality and its conspicuous impact on the quality of life and decision making in the real world. This study also explicates the psychological effects of racially motivated hatred and hostility toward black people and illustrates how the characters of the aforementioned plays face racist assault and agonizingly atrocious behaviour from the white supremacist society through expressing their lived experiences derived from trauma and post-traumatic aftermath of the racist incident in the form of linguistic mechanisms. What the authors of this article, by providing concrete examples, is to depict how the characters of the aforementioned selected plays attempt to assert their traumatized personality through remembering first-hand accounts of racially motivated attacks and strive to elicit empathy and understanding from both people surrounding them and the audience.

Psychoanalytical exploration of literary works in our contemporary era has prominently increased and indisputably Freud's theories on dramatic characters played a significant role in this momentum. Eric Erikson, one of Freud's prominent students, was the first psychoanalyst who introduced the concept of identity crisis into the world. He selected an experimental approach towards human life and studied human life and psyche in totality by classifying it into eight distict stages: infancy, early childhood, preschool, school age, adolescence, young adulthood, middle adulthood and maturity. In his theory, he proposed concepts such as epigenetic principle, ritualization, ritualism and psychosocial moratorium. In this research, we will analyze "Mr. Stevens" as the main character of The Remains of the Day and "Kathy" the main character of Never Let Me Go from the standpoint of Erickson’s theory and will thoroughly investigate the relationships between characters and their societies to illustrate how they mutually affect one another. We conclude that this reciprocal encounter of characters with both society and environment lead to the characters’ identity crisis.

This article delves into the distinguishing features and textual structure of documentary drama by reviewing and comparing the theories of Derek Paget and Carol Martin. The docudrama is a genre that utilizes real and historical events like interviews, documents, and newspaper informations to explore the real life events and people. It usually revolves around the political and social themes and issues and claims to revolve around truth and authenticity. The article explicates that documentary drama relies on three types of discourse: the discourse of factuality, the discourse of fictional drama, and aesthetic and analytical discourse. In the twenty-first century, with the proliferation of technological tools, documentary drama has been increasingly employed and recognized as a theatrical genre that can impart historical knowledge. This article provides a comprehensive analysis of the multifaceted dimensions of documentary drama, including the significance of collectivism and the preference for reporting over recording. It argues that documentary drama has the potential to establish intimate connections among the audience, artist, and documentary subject, and its scope extends beyond mere education. Finally, this article underscores the importance and value of documentary drama in contemporary society and advocates for further research to explore its potential to engage audiences, stimulate critical thinking, and inspire social change.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Conducting comparative studies is one of the prevalent approaches in literature. American school of comparative literature provides a suitable framework for research on themes, opinions, and hidden concepts of works irrespective of their original language. In this article we compare, Eye for an Eye by an Iranian playwright Gholam Hossein Saedi and The Tempest by Aime Cesaire, a French Black writer and poet. This research by drawing from Foucault's ideas scrutinizes the similarities and differences between these two plays. In Discipline and Punish: The Birth of the Prison, Foucault explains governments' methods of punishment throughout history. People in power, by using their own approved system of thoughts and punishments, put common people of society under pressure and chastise them. Foucault does not necessarily think these punishments are deterrent or adequate to the crime committed by a criminal, yet his/her body is used as a penal and correctional system. It will be examined that in these two cases the kings’ presence as the highest office of power is the only determinant of punishment. The absence of a judiciary system in both plays highlights the fact that much of the government's actions are biased. In Eye for an Eye, the dominant system prefers corporal punishments whereas in The Tempest play it privileges the mental/psychological one. Foucault believes that dominant institutions sometimes use punishment for its dramatic nature in order to intimidate people. This nature of punishment is represented and noticeable in both of our selected plays.

The screenplay’s opening scene is a significant part of the film`s narration, which reflects the screenwriter’s technique in setting off the story by shaping its opening scenes. This expressive method of the opening scenes and the exposition depend hugely on the screenwriter’s style, which shapes the conceptual aspects of the film. In a screenplay, opening scenes have a narrative and a visual aspect and thus make up the exposition’s main elements. The expression method used by the screenwriter to begin his narration creates various opening scenes. This research aims to study structural and narrative elements in addition to visual aspects or stylistic systems in the exposition and opening scenes that create concepts and meanings. In other words, the present research aims to highlight that expressive and visual elements could be analytical in screenwriting. Archival studies along with a descriptive/analytical method are used in our analysis. This study’s main issue is how expressive and semantic features of the exposition and the opening scenes are explained based on the study or by the stylistic and narrative system extracted from the Neo-Formalist approach. The theoretical framework is based on the Neo-Formalist approach, which examines the narrative and stylistic structures of the films. The stylistic system is related to all elements that form the image, which is called, as Thompson puts it, ‘cinematic material’ and includes mise-en-scène, graphics, sound, camera, and editing. To implement its theoretical findings into practice, this research studies the narrative structure of exposition and opening scenes in the screenplay of The Past (2009), written by Asghar Farhadi. The analysis of The Past indicates that exposition and opening scenes, due to stylistic and narrative system analysis, encompass meanings and an expressive function. And they can be analyzed separately. The analysis of The Past shows that the screenwriter can use most cinematic materials to create stylistic elements. Analysis of the work’s stylistic and narrative systems reveals specific characteristics of the writer’s style, which shows how Farhadi employs both systems to create an appropriate opening scene that serves to convey the story’s underlying themes. In The past, a specific implied meaning could be inferred through stylistic and narrative elements that originate from both stylistic and narrative systems.

The Narratology of Drama has been one of the challenging topics of study in preceding years. Theorists like Brian Richardson and Ansgar Nunning, by publishing multiple books and papers about narratology of drama, attempted to detach the narratology from the restrictions of fiction. Along with Richardson and Nunning, Monika Fludernik used structural narrative concepts to establish an approach that highlights narrative possibilities in playscripts. Fludernik’s propositions, her analysis of dialogues and exploring the roles of different narrators in plays, has been a huge step towards narratology of drama. Researchers in this article will study and analyze Majles-e Ghorbani-e Senemmar by employing Fludernik’s approach in order to explain the narrative structure of this play and to illustrate the practical functions of Fludernik’s approc. Majles-e Ghorbani-e Senemmar is one of those plays with a narrator as a personage narrating the story for the audience. Types of narrators, presentational models of narrating, types of character introductions, use of metonymy, setting, time\space, and finally different types of representation of speech, are characteristics that Fludernik emphasizes on as categories of narrativity. These elements can be traced and explored in the aforementioned play by Bahram Beyzaei. Fludernik’s approach helps us to discover fresh aspects of Beyzaei’s oeuvre that have been overlooked since now.

Magical realism with its specific features, particularly the occurrence of believable magical incidents (with willing suspension of disbelief), is one of the popular genres of fictional literature, both for writers and readers of stories. Types, structures, and forms of magical realism are fostered either deliberately or unintentionally within the works and oeuvre of various authors. In this research, we examine Paulo Coelho’s novel The Alchemist and Bakhtiyar Ali’s My Uncle Jamshid Khan, Whom the Wind Always Takes Away from the standpoint of American school of comparative literature, and within the perspective of magical realism, to see how and where they compare and contrast with one another. The researchers conclude that although both of the aforementioned works utilize the technique of transforming humans into wind, and inevitable they have some similarities, they use significant takes and narratological decisions to foster their narratives in order to make their readers pursue the story.

Abbas Nalbandian, a modernist, surpassed the classical dramatic features in his plays by providing distinct form and structure, empowered the experimental writing in Iranian drama. Nalbandian wrote his play Gheseh-e- Gharib-e- Safar-e- Shad… (1973) in his mid-career and in which he utilized distinct and prominent narrative features (including but not limited to combined/multiple points of view and flexibility of time and location). In this research, despite of situating Nalbandian’s works in a chained sequence, we examine the experimental aspects of his themes and narrative style in the aforementioned play. By drawing from Gérard Genette’s theory of narrative, we explore the narrative time and focalization features in this text, and we depict how Nalbandian put the subject of death at the core of the play for the sake of dramatic expression of the temporal and narrative structure. Nalbandian in Gheseh-e- Gharib-e- Safar-e- Shad… develops his narrative from a focused point with the bases in characters and goes beyond it to a point where dramatic features with multiple narratives are set. In this process, each feature as a vehicle for focalization has a role to convey a part of the narrative and without emphasizing a sole character, each individual as a part of a whole plays his role in the development of a central situation as a human’s confrontation with death. In this dramatic technique, because of the exertion of various idiosyncrasies by focalizing features, the issue of death will be explored from different angles and leads to polyphony in the play which is a modern characteristic of literature.

The idea of duality and the mythical pattern of the cosmic battle is one of the major religious themes of Iran, which can be seen both in the content and in the executive structure of the Iranian theatrical traditions. In this mythical plot, two characters with opposite natures or opposing goals duel with one another, and in result, a kind of creative consequence such as liberation of water, liberation from captivity, moving from chaos to order, or a fertility of the world might occur. In some theatrical traditions of Iran, we trace the similar reflections of cosmic battle, a battle that symbolically represents a mythical primordial event, and via this imitable pattern, people, objects, and places of performance transcend each part of which becomes a manifestation of the sacred act/object. In this article, an attempt was made to take advantage of the mythological roots to examine the manifestation of the sacred in traditional performances such as “Sukhan-vari”, "Daeeshmeh Ashiq", "Pahlavan Kachal" and "Mir-e Nowrusi” through the perspective of Mircea Eliade’s historiography. The researchers tried to explore how this pattern, particularly the concept of cosmic battle, is represented in a series of traditional performances that have been considered as a part of idiosyncratic and life necessity in popular culture.

In this article, we explore the concept of criminal psychology and will explicate some of its major tenets in characterization of Hercule Poirot. Using an interdisciplinary approach, by close reading and drawing from crime and psychological theories (especially Behaviorism), we investigate the criminal profiling techniques in Agatha Christie’s detective novels. Particularly, we adduce Ian Marsh’s theory in introducing a set of explanations for criminal behavior and Westera et al.’s propositions in identifying features that make a detective’s endeavors effective. We focus on the psychological procedures that exist in the process of mystery (making and solution), as well as on the detective’s task to decodify riddles in light of the internal and external forces acting on him and how these affect his final decision. Then, we expand the notion of profiling as conducted by a detective and will illustrate some of the recurring biases that influence the final verdict about a case. Finally, we depict how the abovementioned proceedings are implemented in Murder on the Orient Express (1934), The A.B.C Murders (1936), and Hickory Dickory Dock (1955), three of Christie’s best-selling novels with Hercule Poirot as their leading character. The character of Poirot, with his immaculate criminal profiling, bears witness to how Christie drew from and, at the same time, contributed to the concept and practice of criminal psychology in fiction.

Agatha Christie (1890-1976), as one of the most prominent writers of crime fiction genre, has created many works that can be examined from the perspective of criminal psychology and criminology. One of her most difficult and complicated novels, in terms of plot, is the Ten Little Indians, which was originally published in 1939. This novel, like many other novels of Christie, raises this question that “Who is the murderer?” and with focalizing this question/suspension Christie keeps her audience attracted to story from the beginning to the end. The novel narrates the life of a murderer who invites his victims to a ceremony but secretly kills them. His victims have one experience in common: a murder. The central killer of this novel chooses his victims from characters who can be classified under the gray category. They have committed crimes in the past and due to their crimes, victims are left behind, yet these criminals have not been punished. Now, all these criminals are called as ordinary people on a mission outside the city’ they are going to be be punished though none of them knows what awaits them. On the other side of this comparative study is the Iranian novel The Alphabet of Death, written by Mehrdad Morad and published in 2017. In this novel, Morad, with a similar style to Christie, put this question in the core of his plot: "who is the murderer?" The Alphabet of Death unfolds the story of several detectives who work day and night to find a serial killer, who lives in the shadows. His victims, like the victims of Christie's novel, are criminals and have committed various crimes.

This study has used a descriptive-analytical method, for which archival studies have been conducted, especially through the perspective of criminal psychology. In this research, and with close archival reading, the researchers attempted to answer the following questions: What are the characteristics of the murders in these novels? What factor or factors made them a criminal? How does victimization affect a person's delinquency?

In both novels, there is a serial murderer who chooses his victims among the villains and criminals. Yet they have different reasons for killing and to execute it. As Raymaund Gassin  classifies it, crimes are divided into two categories: deception-oriented and violence-oriented. Judge Wargrave’s, Christie’s villain, crime falls into the category of phosphoric and deceptive crimes, because his delicacy and his attention to details allows him to commit murders in an unpredictable and flawless manner. Also, he takes action for each person according to their personality traits, which shows his great intelligence, genius, and using the power of reason. As a result of his creative plans, no one suspects him, and if it was not for the found letter, no one would have known the silent murders of those ten people on the island. On the other hand, in The Alphabet of Death, Khosrow Kouhyar's crime is in the category of calcium crimes and is carried out with violence. He carries out all his murders with physical force and uses weapons. He is eventually arrested because of his not-so-conscious plans and because of the smartness of the novel’s detective. The killers of both stories, despite their differences, have commonalities in neutralizers. They both are aware of their vicious acts and violating the law, but by making excuses, they continue committing murders. They do not regret to become notorious or to be called a serial killer, as they think their killings are justified because their victims deserve death. As mentioned above, despite the similarities between both killers, in etiology of crime, their contradictions become apparent. Judge Wargrave suffers from an antisocial and slightly narcissistic personality disorder, which is due to the violent nature he had experienced since his childhood. People with this type of personality think they have to seek justice in the world. They might attempt killing several offenders in order to establish justice in the world. At the end of the novel, Wargrave commits suicide to complete this masterpiece of art. His behavior is a perfect example of the behavior of an untreated patient who has an easy access to social facilities and that put them in trustworthy position and they easily can harm individuals. He did not have a partner to help him to reach his goals, until he needed someone to be a part of his own dramatic murder, he chose Armstrong. On the other hand, Khosrow Koohyar is not sick. He is a victim himself. A person who loses the ability to come to terms with the truth following a criminal incident. Because of not going through a mourning period and being instilled in a period of anger, he engages in revengeful behaviors. Yet, he shows some traces of thoughtfulness: he chooses a partner and adopts an identity of a dead person and hides in some places. But in the end, all his plans are revealed. It could be said that his only goal is to punish the villains and to prevent their criminal acts. He acts completely emotionally. In contrast to Wargrave, he is not aware of other aspects of his plans. Both stories are written in such a way that readers follow them with curiosity from the beginning to the very end. In this process many people are under suspicion. Yet. there are significant differences between the two texts as well. Agatha Christie's work focuses on characterization; she delicately portrays the killers as well as the central character. Her attention to psychological matters in characterization, the use of appropriate suspensions, accuracy in the characters' criminal behavior, and apropos resolution in the story, has distinguished her from the other writers in this genre. One of the points that makes this novel distinct from the other works of Christie is the absence of a detective and that the murder is solved by the hands of the main killer. On the other hand, Mehrdad Morad's novel can be called a plot-oriented work. A work that accompanies the audience with its story and does not provide accurate information about the characters. What attracts attention in this novel is the presence of several detectives. Although the absence of a detective in Agatha Christie's novel does not damage the essence of the story, it can be boldly said that Mehrdad Morad's story depends on the presence of detectives and they play the main role. One of the features of this novel is gripping story line, the appropriate complications, and creating enough drama, which is less visible in Christie's work. Ultimately, it is not farsighted to say that The Alphabet of  Death is influenced by Agatha Christie. This can be seen in the general form of the narrative, which is looking for the killer. Also, the name of the work reminds us of the Christie’s novel A, B, C Murders, in which the killer finds his victims in alphabetical order, and this feature is also seen in the murderer's character of Morad's work. What distinguishes his novel from the Ten Little Indians is his attention to the progression of the story through cause-and-effect relationships and minimal focus on the characters in the story.

In The Ten Little Indians and The Alphabet of Death, some serial killers secretly choose their victims and create ambiguity for other characters in the story. The similarity between the two characters is that they think to be rightful. According to Matza and Sykes' theories on the neutralization of crime, they use reason and excuses as neutralizers in their consciences to remove the sense of remorse and achieve a criminal purpose by justifying themselves. But the difference is that the character of the murderer, in Morad's novel, is one day traumatized by a criminal, and also with the loss of his wife, he decides to kill the criminals, which is the result of his grief crisis. The murderer in Christie's novel committs the crimes as a result of psychological factors and due to the existence of a mental disorder in him which is revealed at the end of the novel. Criminological perspectives such as "neutralization techniques," which are based on the perpetrator's wisdom, fit well with the actions of the main characters in both novels. The five techniques that criminals use in their minds before committing the crime to justify the criminal act in their mind and to commit it as their inalienable right have been examined in this article. Also, the theory of "routine activity", which is based on the convergence of three factors in the occurrence of the crime, is analyzed in these crime novels and examples of these convergences and heterogeneity are observed in the mentioned works.