The Actress of the Words: Theatricality, Femininity, and Creation in The Last Game of the Lady

In spite of the growing acceptability of the works of women novelists in Iran، literary criticism of these works suffers from significant shortcomings and limitations. The most prominent of these shortcomings is the critics’ lack of interest in separately analyzing each novel as a distinct literary unit in order to appreciate its singular literary excellence and uncover those aspects that are less likely to appear in the literature of men. Above all، feminist literary criticism of Iranian novels lacks an approach to focus on the notion of femininity as an indispensible part of the narration that can offer new literary potentials both for the writer and the reader. The present study uses concepts from poststructuralist psychoanalysis، especially Lacan’s theories of mirror stage and femininity as pretense and Irigaray’s theories regarding mimesis، difference and the development of the feminine subject، to discuss the function of game playing in Belgheis Soleimani’s novel، The Last Game of the Lady. Golbanoo، the protagonist، through her games and theatricality، manages to take what Irigaray believes to be the first step in challenging the phallocentric discourse: the strategy of subversive mimesis of that discourse to open a space for a new definition of femininity that allows for the development of the female subject. Her last game، which is the game of the narrative، is in fact the beginning of her victory. Golbanoo and the novelist join forces to playfully crack the phallocentric mindset and achieve feminine subjectivity by means of creative production.