The Study of “the World as an Image” in the Narrative of “The story of Siavash” Using Genette’s Theory

Narrative process and its narrative mechanisms help the reader make sense of the way events happen in a story. Using repeating images in the text of a story is a method of narrative development.  In Shahnameh, dealing with the world and images it gives rise to is one of the central motives of the text. The narrator in different parts of the poem seems captivated by the image of the world and this fact impedes narrative progress. This article intends to analyze “the images of the world” in “the story of Siavash” in Shahname from Gerard Genette’s perspective, employing his five narrative features. This narrative by the use of prior narration, repeating narration and focalization presents an image of the world, this technique also pinpoints the way a specific image of a special theme has the potential to reduce the speed of reader comprehension by tampering with the order of events narrated or actions or by disrupting narrative time, and as a result it can boost the texts suspense or the reader’s interest in knowing how the events will evolve.