A Sociological Analysis of the Drama of “The Story of a Journalist” in association with the Iranian Constitutional Revolution (Mashrooteh)

Sociological criticism of literary and artistic works is not the result of one person’s perceptions, but the product of a large social group or class reaching the maximum possible consciousness and coherent totality. The play “The Story of a Journalist” was written and performed during the constitutional revolution and was one of the successful theaters of that time. Therefore, it can be understood that this play was developed based on its society and time and seeks to give a meaningful response to the situation of its time. The problem of this research is how this well-known work responds to the social conditions of its time and presents its worldview in response to the class system of its time. This research employs Lucien Goldman’s theories and presents the sociological reading of this play and analyzes the way it has meaningfully responded to its time, that is, the constitutional revolution. For this purpose, the analytical-descriptive method was used and various aspects of this play were examined using library resources and the theories of Goldman’s genetic constructivism. Examining the different components of the play in the two layers of Comprehension and Explication has shown that this play narrates the coherent totality of the intellectual class or the new middle class. The characters of the play are the representatives of the mentioned class and consider the newspaper as the solution to their consciousness structures and in this text, the structure of the newspaper is analyzed. In this review, the newspaper was scrutinized to get some of the main concepts of the constitutional revolution, such as the freedom of the pen, confronting oppression, or prohibiting evil. Then the problems of the newspaper and its criticisms were put forward. But in the end, from their worldview, the characters of the play, despite the problems of the newspaper, especially in Iranian society, know its benefits are more than its problems and start a newspaper and recommend it.