A Study of the House Chronotope in Zoya Pirzad’s I Turn off the Lights

The present article addresses the fundamental question of how the house chronotope, as a device for the analysis of text, opens up new interpretive possibilities. Basically referring to the continuum of time and space in literature and art, chronotope implies that time and space are not merely temporal and spatial categories but signify and have values attached to them. Following a descriptive-analytical method, the article has two sections: the first describes and defines the basic elements of the conceptual framework shaping Bakhtin’s discussion of chronotope, and the second examines Zoya Pirzad’s novel I Turn off the Lights in the light of the house chronotope. Moreover, the living room and kitchen chronotopes are examined in connection with the house chronotope (as the basic chronotope of the story). The article also shows that in the novel’s plot and interpretation, the house chronotope establishes a significant interaction with other important chronotopes, i.e., the threshold and encounter chronotopes. The article aims to demonstrate that the house chronotope reveals the characters’ mentalities and inner states by providing a proper space for the occurrence of events, and these events are expressed via temporal signs.
 
Extended Abstract
1.Introduction
The present article seeks to analyze the house chronotope in Zoya Pirzad’s I Turn off the Lights (Cheragh-ha ra Man Khamoush Mikonam) based on Bakhtin’s theory of literary chronotope. We will discuss how chronotope can serve as a tool for the analysis of the text, and will show the different ways in which it can be of help to the critic in analyzing a text. The house chronotope is of great importance in Pirzad’s novel, playing an important role in how the story develops. We have drawn upon Bakhtin’s definitions of different chronotopes and tried to identify their similarities in order study the house chronotope in this novel.
 
2.Theoretical Framework
Chronotope is the interdependence among temporal and spatial relations, arranged through an artistic expression. In a literary or artistic work, different chronotopes and their complicated relationships can be identified. In this relationship, time and space do not exist independently and through specific instances of them, the experiences of characters can be defined in specific times and places. Therefore, it is through this relationship that a specific text offers a meaning to its creator or its readers.
 
3.Methodology
A qualitative study, the present article follows the descriptive-analytical methodology. Bakhtin’s theory of chronotope has been used here as a tool for the analysis of Pirzad’s I Turn off the Lights. The data was collected using the library sources.
 
4.Discussion and Analysis
The house chronotope has been the basis for our analysis of Pirzad’s I Turn off the Lights. Throughout the story ‘house’ is referred to as a place that connotes various meanings, providing us with the possibility of analyzing different layers of the narrative in this novel. The everyday activities of the protagonist and her monologues occur within this chronotope, representing different aspects of her identity. Moreover, the relationship between this chronotope and other important chronotopes has been discussed in this article.
 
5.Conclusion
In this novel, Pirzad strikes a balance between Clarice’s mental life and her inner life, thus making the arrangement of narration in the house chronotope possible. The representation of Clarice’s outer actions in this chronotope enables the reader to read into her mind. Pirzad creates the text based on her specific temporal and spatial conditions, while the readers recreate it based on their own spatial and temporal conditions. In other words, the chronotope turns into a tool for understanding the ways in which the spatial-temporal structures of the novel represent an independent world, the interpretation of which relies on the relationship between two worlds: the world of the text and the world of the meta-text.
 
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