From Gothic to Surrealism in The Story of the Woman Behind the Bronze

TThe Woman Behind the Bronze Door" is one of the stories in the "Doors and the Great Wall of China" collection written by Ahmad Shamlou. From the reading of the story, it appears that in writing this story, Shamlou has used the features of the Gothic and Surreal schools, in a way that it can be said, he has turned the characteristics of the Gothic school towards the Surrealism school with a kind of artistic transformation. This research aims to show the most important effects and dimensions of these two schools in the story with an analytical method. The findings of the research show that on the one hand, using an atmosphere full of ambiguity and mystery, otherworldly events with anxiety and fear, fearful place, fluidity of time, morbid and chaotic characterization, nightmare, superstitious beliefs and boundless fantasy of a full-fledged Gothic story. has created and on the other hand by creating something wonderful and extraordinary, subconscious mind, illusion, dream and surrealist objects, automatic writing and surreal love, he has written a surreal story. The content of the story is a mixture of dreams and reality in an inflammatory and melancholic atmosphere, and at the same time, the border between the two is not clear. Based on this, it can be said that Shamlou has reached Surrealism from the Gothic passage and has reached the peak of the connection between these two schools, and his innovation in creating a work that is a combination of the two mentioned schools is a remarkable experience in the tradition of Persian story writing.