Analysis of the Novel “Sālmargi” Based on Michael Riffaterre's Theory of Intertextual Semantics

Intertextual semiotics is one of Michael Riffaterre's achievements in the field of intertextual criticism. He made effective efforts to apply the theory of intertextuality in texts and to discover the semantic and implicit implications of texts through discussions of non-grammatical, interpretive, hypogrammatic and matrix topics. In semiotic reading, the audience initially faces with non-grammatical issues encountering the text. The critic, then, can reveal the semantic and implicit implications of non-grammatical issues to achieve the “matrix” or the core of the text by examining the “accumulation”, “descriptive systems” and “hypograms”. Asghar Elahi's novel, “Sālmargi”, has been analyzed in present study using intertextual semiotics. The study of the non-grammatical elements of the novel leads to accumulation (death and life) and a descriptive system (death). Then, “the problem of death and its inevitability” would be obtained as the matrix or infrastructural element of the novel through exploring and reading of hypograms. This study also shows that the actual narratives of the matrix, or hypograms, relate with some mythical concepts such as “immortality”, “invulnerability”, “deterioration”, “original sin”, “fate”, “fear of death”, etc. with a range of beliefs in Shahnameh about the death and stories such as “Rustam and Sohrab”, “Rustam and Esfandiar”, and “Afrasiab and Siavash” in a way that all the characters of the novel are somehow involved with their own or others' death.