دگردیسی، مجازات، و بدن گروتسک: خوانشی نمادین از «شلغم میوۀ بهشته»

In folklore, the grotesque body is always attributed to a deviation from social norms, opposing the concept of “good.” In other words, evil thoughts, evil deeds, and evil words manifest themselves as a physical deformity. That said, classical literature moves beyond the evil manifestation of the grotesque body and explores other concepts, such as curse, emptiness, alienation, and identity crisis. Informed by Bakhtinian and Lacanian theories, this study adopts a descriptive-analytic approach to explore Ali-mohammad Afghani’s Shalgham Miveh-e Beheshte. The present study investigates the process through which a distortion in the Symbolic order (culture and language) manifests itself as grotesque bodies, and reverses the borders between life and death, and human and non-human. In addition, echoing Bakhtinian Carnival and Lacanian Mirror Stage, the study explores the complex correlation between the three Lacanian orders and their effects on subjectification and traumatic experiences. This study concludes that the grotesque body symbolises mankind’s fragility and un-authorised consciousness.

Extended Abstract
1. Introduction
In accordance with different literary contexts, the grotesque body manifests itself as deviation, rejection, and disfiguration. Although folklore treats the grotesque body as punishment for sins or disobedience, modern literature treats the grotesque as a complex representation of identity crisis, intrapsychal distress, or resistance against an oppressive social order. Ali-mohammad Afghani’s Shalgham Miveh-e Beheshte is among the few realist-socialist works in Persian literature. It correlates the grotesque body with psychological, mythical, and social concepts. Informed by Bakhtinian and Lacanian theories, this study adopts a descriptive-analytic approach to explore Ali-mohammad Afghani’s Shalgham Miveh-e Beheshte.
 
2. Methodology
Informed by Bakhtinian and Lacanian theories, this study adopts a descriptive-analytic approach to explore Ali-mohammad Afghani’s Shalgham Miveh-e Beheshte in a psychological and cultural reading.
 
3. Theoretical Framework
The present textual analysis turns around two principles: Bakhtin’s “grotesque body,” which treats the body as open, multi-layered, alive, and in interaction with the world, and “Carnival,” which interprets underground awareness and resistance against a solidified system. On the other hand, there are Lacanian Orders, which treat the grotesque body as a return of the Real through traumas, metamorphosis, and linguistic disorders.
 
4. Discussion and Analysis
In Shalgham Miveh-e Beheshte, Abedin bites the forbidden turnip, given to him by Gol-anbar, which turns him into a disfigured and overgrown monster. This metamorphosis is not a biological or symbolic transformation, but a projection of the Real. His body, from a Bakhtinian standpoint, is an open and incomplete form, which, in turn, leads to a Carnivalesque object that people take to an asylum.
After the metamorphosis, Abedin’s language is reduced to the repetition of a single, personal, and meaningless word: “Ouji.” This transfiguration, according to Lacan, is a refusal of the Symbolic order and the meaning structure. It is a return to the Real which cannot be phrased by language or be interpreted. The Real manifests itself as terror, silence, and trauma.
Gol-anbar’s psychosis symbolises a mental and psychological breakdown caused by sin, regret, and suppression. His experiences of live burial when he was a child, his fear of dark places and the Djinn, his suppressed desires, and a forbidden relationship with Hormouz lead to a mental breakdown. In addition, his temptation to return to the basement and his secret affair are manifestations of Lacanian “repetition automatism.”
 
5. Conclusion
The results of this study show that the manifestations of the grotesque body move beyond a disfigured body to complex correlations among truth/lie, real/imagination, and ethics/pleasure. Not only are these bodies diseased, but they are also hampered by guilt, sin, judgment, awareness, and suppression. The rejection of the Symbolic order, the inability of the society to encounter the Real, and defence mechanisms such as projection and repression create bodies that are terrifying, disfigured, and disclosing. In this regard, Ali-mohammad Afghani’s Shalgham Miveh-e Beheshte is a grotesque dramatic manifestation of social and ethical psychosis.
 
Bibliography
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