Intertextual analysis of the mythological narrative of the well of Babel novel

Subject Areas : Social (with literary and artistic features)

Leila Rahnama ¹ , Nozhat Noohi ² , Mehri Talkhabi ³ , Heydar Hassanlou ⁴

1 - Islamic Azad University, Zanjan branch
2 - Zanjan Islamic Azad University ,Zanjan,Iran
3 - Assistant Professor, Department of Persian Language and Literature, Zanjan Branch, Islamic Azad University, Zanjan, Iran.
4 - AssistantProfessor.DepartmentofPersianLanguage andLiterature.Zanjan Branch.Islamic Azad university.Zanjan.Iran

Received: 2023-04-04 Accepted : 2024-09-25 Published : 2024-09-25

Keywords: Intertextuality, postmodern, narrative, myth, well of Babel, ,

Abstract :

Intertextuality is an important term in contemporary literary theories that refers to the relationships between texts; According to this theory, literary texts are not formed in isolation and they cannot be read and interpreted without communicating with each other. After the Islamic revolution and especially in the last two decades, we see the use of intertextual relationships in the works of many contemporary authors. Intertextuality in postmodern era has an inseparable link with other features of these texts, such as temporal discontinuity, non-linear narration, vicious circle, etc. In this article, by using the descriptive-analytical method and using the theory of intertextuality, the effectiveness of the narrative of the Well of Babylon from the myth of Harut and Marut has been investigated and analyzed. The results of this study show that the characters, actions and events of the story of the Well of Babylon have many similarities with the mythological narrative of Harut and Marut, both in form and content, and the use of mythological elements such as motifs, characters and symbols has turned the Well of Babylon into a mythological narrative. In this story, the fluidity of the narrator's mind in mythological intertexts has created a postmodern narrative of the world that is full of suffering and torment that characters has endured. This article has analyzed the novel of Well of Babel with the aim of representing the role of intertexts in the narrative of the postmodern novel and its relationship with other features of this type of texts.