The Dominant Epistemological Element in The Novel "Conversation of the Great Wizard with the Queen of the Island of Colors" by Jamshid Khanian

Ever since Brian McHale emphasized the modern epistemological and ontological element in the separation of the modern novel from the postmodern novel, the subject of the dominant element has been considered in most postmodern research. McHale believed that in modern novels the dominant element is epistemological issues. Postmodern novels, on the other hand, pay more attention to ontological issues. Epistemology is a part of philosophical knowledge that has gained special importance during the last three centuries and its subject is the study of the issue of cognition and its characteristics. McHale believed that modern novels address questions in both content and structure that revolve around the issue of cognition. Questions such as how is cognition achieved? Where is the scope of awareness? What is the structure of knowledge? The novel "The Great Magician's Conversation with the Queen of the Colorful Islands" tells the story of a day in the life of a teenager named Rahi who becomes a guest of a family that has lost its child. In this work, the author has made the subject of cognition the subject of narration both in content and structure. The present study has used a descriptive-analytical method to study the dominant epistemological element in this novel. The results show that in this work, Khanian has examined the characteristics, conditions and scope of cognition by using approaches such as the function of linguistic signs in the matter of consciousness, the issue of intentionality and the subject of dynamics in consciousness.