Unnatural Embodied Worlds: A Three-layered Framework for Analysing Postmodern Novels

Postmodern novels disrupt classical narrative conventions by constructing “unnatural worlds” that challenge conventional notions of time, causality, and identity. These narrative strategies not only expand formal possibilities but also raise fundamental questions about embodiment, perception, and power relations. This study employs a three-layered analytical framework for understanding such worlds, which consists of “unnatural world-building,” “embodied experience,” and “biopolitics and posthumanism.” The research employs an analytical-qualitative and textual approach and examines ten representative novels by both Iranian and Western authors. Findings reveal three major types of unnatural worlds: echoic worlds, body-centered worlds, and textual-architectural worlds. Across all types, the body functions simultaneously as a medium of perception and as a site of power, while sensory materiality plays a crucial role in sustaining narrative coherence and credibility. The study concludes that postmodern narratives cannot be fully understood without addressing the interplay of embodiment and biopolitics. Beyond its theoretical contribution, the proposed framework offers practical applications for comparative literary studies, academic teaching, and the analysis of digital or multimodal narratives.
 
Extended Abstract
1. Introduction
Due to their disruption of classical narrative rules and creation of new forms, Postmodern novels play an important role in the history of contemporary literature. One of the most prominent manifestations of these innovations is the emergence of “unnatural worlds,” in which the natural laws of narrative, including causality, linear time, and identity, collapse and, through this rupture, a different experience of reality is exposed to the reader. The importance of this phenomenon extends beyond the formal and aesthetic level and has broad epistemological, social, and philosophical implications, as these worlds raise fundamental questions about the body, perception, and power. However, previous studies have often examined only one of the dimensions mentioned above and have rarely addressed the triple nexus of world-building, embodiment, and biopolitics. Aiming to fill this gap, the present study presents a three-layered framework for analysing postmodern novels, which considers these three levels simultaneously and allows for a multidimensional examination of unnatural worlds.
2. Methodology
The present research employs an analytical-qualitative and textual approach and examines ten representative novels by both Iranian and Western authors. These works include: The Blind Owl (Sadegh Hedayat, 1315 [1936]), Metamorphosis (Franz Kafka, 1915), Blindness (José Saramago, 1995), House of Leaves (Mark Danielewski, 2000), Pale Fire (Vladimir Nabokov, 1962), Hopscotch (Julio Cortázar, 1963), If On a Winter’s Night a Traveler (Italo Calvino, 1979), The Crying of Lot 49 (Thomas Pynchon, 1966), White Noise (Don DeLillo, 1985), and Khāneh-ye Edrissi-hā (Ghazaleh Alizadeh, 1370 [1991]).
3. Theoretical Framework
The theoretical framework of this research is informed by three theoretical domains:
Unnatural Narratology: the study of techniques that violate the rules of narrative and through which alternative worlds emerge
Phenomenology of the Body: attention to the body as a medium of perception and an active agent in the production of meaning, inspired by Merleau-Ponty and contemporary reinterpretations
Posthumanism and Biopolitics: focusing on the body as a propitious platform of power, control, and the redefinition of subjectivity in the context of technology and social relations, echoing the ideas of Foucault and Deleuze/Guattari

In this regard, a three-layered model is formed:

Unnatural World-building: processes that break narrative rules and create new structures
Embodied Experience: the role of the body and senses in understanding and organizing non-natural worlds
Posthumanism and Biopolitics: power relations and body control in these worlds

The two analytical axes of “scale” (from individual to collective and network levels) and “sensory materiality” (sound, image, space, and smell) link these three layers together.
4. Discussion and Analysis
 Findings reveal three major types of unnatural worlds:

Echoic Worlds, which rely on repetition, reflection, and the rupture of time. Hedayat’s The Blind Owl and Cortázar’s Hopscotch, with their repetitive and uncentered structure, are examples of these worlds.
Body-centered Worlds, in which the body and sensory experiences are the foundations of the narrative. In Kafka’s Metamorphosis, the sudden transformation of the main character’s body into an insect determines the structure of the story’s world, and in Saramago’s Blindness, collective blindness creates a simultaneous physical and social experience.
Textual-architectural Worlds, in which the materiality of writing and page layout is the main factor in world-building. Danielewski’s House of Leaves and Nabokov’s Pale Fire are prominent examples of this category.

A review of these works reveals that the biopolitical layer is prominent in most of the texts. In Blindness, quarantine and government surveillance of bodies are evident; in The Blind Owl, the body becomes a consumerist object and a commodity and in Hopscotch, the body is exposed to the dangers of technology and networked data. Similarly, Pynchon’s The Crying of Lot 49 depicts the world as a complex network, in which individual subjectivity collapses under the pressure of communication systems.
Furthermore, the analysis of the sensory dimension of the texts shows that sound, space, and smell play a fundamental role in creating the believability of unnatural worlds; for example, in The Crying of Lot 49, sound and musical elements are key factors in understanding the hidden networks of the narrative, and in The House of Leaves, the dark and endless architecture of the house creates a physical and frightening experience for the reader. The study of the ‘scale’ also shows that individual experience always finds meaning in connection with collective or network structures; for instance, in Blindness, blindness goes beyond a personal crisis and reflects the collapse of the social order.
5. Conclusion
The present study concludes that the three-layer framework of unnatural worlds can be an effective tool in analysing postmodern novels. By classifying the types of world-building types and linking them to embodied experiences and power mechanisms, this model allows for a more comprehensive understanding of the literary text. From a practical point of view, the proposed framework can be used in comparative studies, academic teaching of contemporary literature, and analysis of digital and multimedia narratives. Since the research is limited to the selected works, it is suggested that this framework be explored in the fields of cinema, theater, and digital literature in future research.
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