The Carnivalesque in Doktor Noon Zanash ra Bishtar az Mosaddeq Doost Darad

Through the genealogy of novelistic prose, which is a ground for polyphony, an objection to idealism and cultural monophony in every society, Mikhail Bakhtin examines the phenomenon and notion of “carnival”. According to Bakhtin, a novel, just like carnivals of old times, as the domain of togetherness of all dominant and submissive voices, is the presence of all rejected forms of human beings and languages and ideas, and is a domain where democracy is manifested along with freedom from every constructed hierarchical subjugations. In his theory of the carnivalesque, the novel’s capacity to oppose any dominion along with a capacity for critical thinking, lies the ability to construct a network of polyphonic items, grotesque realism, vulgar language, alienation, crowning and eviction. Through developing indeterminate subject, threshold chronotope and contrastive plot, Shahram Rahimian, in his novel Doktor Noon Zanash ra Bishtar az Mosaddeq Doost Darad (Dr. N. Loves His Wife More than Mosaddeq) manages to create a carnivalesque universe which challenges many ruling discourses and constructed norms. This article starts with a brief introduction to Bakhtin’s carnivalesque theory and offers a re-reading of the abovementioned novel through this theory. The findings of this critical view on the novel confirm the dominance of the discourse of “commitment” in Iranian contemporary history, the development of self-consciousness in the reader towards the possibility of subjectivity and his/her ability to leave behind the boundaries of dominion, and the interaction between society’s political sphere and critical thinking.