An Analysis of " the Voice of Narrator" and " Focalization" in Houshang Golshiri's Shazdeh Ihtejab

Shazdeh Ihtejab by Houshang Golshiri is one of the most valuable examples of Iran’s fictional literature in terms of its use of narrative techniques and devices. Golshiri in Shazdeh Ihtejab has benefitted from various narrative elements; however, it can be argued that the complexity of the narrative techniques of the work is to a great extent due to his use of two elements of “the voice of narrator” and “focalization.” Selecting the limited third person narrator which is restricted to the minds of two main characters of the work (Shazdeh Ihtejab and Fakhri) and offering the thoughts and sayings of these two characters in direct and indirect discourse has caused the voice of the narrator or narrators to be mixed with the perspective of the focalizer or focalizers and has rendered understanding the relation between narrator and focalizer and the difference between the two difficult. Based on this, in the present article, the two elements of “voice of the narrator” and “focalization” in the narrative text of Shazdeh Ihtejab are discussed in order to present the artistic use of the two elements in the narrative text of Shazdeh Ihtejab.