The Elements of Absurdity in Bahrām Sadeqī’s Malakut

Abstract

Contemporary Iranian fiction writers are undoubtedly influenced by Western literature. In the 1950s, the Theater of the Absurd became one of the first and most widely recognized literary traditions in theatre, affecting both English and other languages. There are a number of Iranian writers who are influenced by that movement, including Bahrām Sadeqī. The aim of this article is to address the following questions: "Do elements of absurdity exist in Malakut?" Accordingly, “Could it be considered an absurd story?” The present article first examines the social, political, and literary contexts of the Theater of the Absurd in Europe, followed by a description of its historical accounts and its early practitioners. In addition, it is vital to analyze the appreciation and implications of absurdity in literature based on earlier credible studies of the Theater of the Absurd. The third step is to gather different examples of the selected elements from the story text, each followed by an explanation. Due to the use of many of the important elements of absurdity in his work, the writer has been able to create characters and worlds that are intricately woven with their innermost temperaments and predispositions. Thus, Malakut can be considered one of the most prominent examples of Persian absurd fiction.

Keywords

• absurdity
• contemporary persian literature
• bahrām sadeqī
• malakut