An Aesthetic Reflection on the Reality and Transcendence of the War Novel

Informed by social aesthetics, the present article investigates ten war novels on the Iran-Iraq War. This study moves beyond single theories and employs several theoreticians and thinkers to explore war novels. The results of this study show that war novels are in no case mir rors to the realities of the “imposed war” but are byproducts of different experiences, complications, worldviews, and fantasies of the war. In this regard, the present article classifies war novels into “idea-oriented,” “detail-oriented,” and “in-between” novels. Although “in-between” novels vary in their degrees of attention to detail, experiences, and absolute representation, all “in-between” novels share a common ground which is the “transcendental” duty to defend the soil.  
 
Extended Abstract
1. Introduction
Informed by social aesthetics, the present article investigates Ahmad Mahmoud’s Zamin-e Sookhteh, Qasem-Ali Ferasat’s Nakhl-hāye Bi Sar, Ismaeil Fasih’s Zemestān-e 62, Seyed Morteza Mardiha’s Dar Sho’leh-hāye Ab, Reza Amirkhani’s Irmia, Davood Qaffar-Zadehgan’s Fāl-e Khoon, Ahmad Dehqan’s Safar be Gerāye 270 Darajeh, Majid Qeysari’s Ziyāfat be Sarf-e Golooleh, Mohammadreza Bayrami’s Pol-e Moa’lagh, and Habib Ahmad-Zadeh’s Shatranj ba Māshin-e Qiyāmat. The novels were selected in accordance with their publisher and prints, date of publication, and technical variation. The reason for such a diverse selection was to paint a well-rounded sketch of the “imposed war” novels. In this regard, the present article classifies war novels into “idea-oriented,” which romantically deals with the battle between good and evil; “detail-oriented,” which realistically and naturalistically deals with the pains and hardships of the war;  and “in-between” novels, which aim to represent both. The main question of this study is how “in-between” novels highlight the transcendental aspect of defending the soil.
2. Methodology
The present study is a social aesthetic reading of the war novel. Social aesthetics is a way of producing, interpreting, or presenting art so connections arise between aesthetic knowledge and the surrounding society. Social aesthetics moves beyond the idea that the literary form must represent the absolute reality of society, it argues that the structure of a novel dialectically correlates with the social structures.
3. Theoretical Framework
Echoing thinkers such as Bakhtin, Lukács, Goldmann, Bourdieu, and Adorno, this study employs terminologies such as “totality,” “the form of the novel,” “social construct,” “reality,” “form of thought,” and “transcendence.” The theoretical framework of this study does not serve as a means of imposing a theory but as an introduction for the upcoming analysis.
4. Discussion and Analysis
The war novels concerning the imposed war do not necessarily paint a unified, linear, and synced narration; in other words, one must expect a diverse and divided narration from the war. Among the ten war novels inspected in this study,  Nakhl-hāye Bi Sar and Irmia are more idea-oriented, Fāl-e Khoon is more detail-oriented, and the other seven novels are “in-between” novels.
5. Conclusion
Although the seven novels vary in their totality, narration, ideological positioning of the author, prioritization, realism, and socio-political orientation toward the war, they share a transcendental element that unifies them. This element correlates with the spirit of the soldiers on the battlefront; it serves as a connecting bridge among narratological elements.
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