The parallelism of the novel "The Lost Lamb of Ra'i" with the pluralistic nature of modernity

Document Type : Original Article

Authors

1 Assistant Professor of Persian Language and Literature, Literary Studies Department, Institute for Research and Development in the Humanities (SAMT). Tehran, Iran.

2 Phd in Social Sciense, Shahid Beheshti University, Tehran, Iran.

Abstract

In the transition from the old world to the new world, two grand narratives were formed based on the concepts of "break" and "connection". The idea of discontinuity considered the new world as a process of rationalization and transition from tradition; But incompatible strains such as "romanticism, nostalgia, and nihilism" were born. The attachment concept also highlighted the extension and expansion of theological and cultural traditions in modernity, and their continuity. By juxtaposing these two concepts and their different strains, the pluralistic nature of modernity and its different and contradictory experiences can be better understood. Although the multiplicity and inner contradictions of modernity can be found in Iranian modernity as well, we rarely see its representation in Persian fiction. The novel "The Lost Lamb of Ra'i" by Houshang Golshiri, unlike most traditionalist fiction works of the 40s and 50s, offers a rare example of Plural understanding of modernity and carries the maximum possible awareness of this category in the 50s. In this novel, Golshiri does not seek to praise or negate the old world and the new world, but presents a critical, coherent and thoughtful account of the dialectic of attraction/repulsion of the past and the present.

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