مطالعات بینرشتهای ادبیات، هنر و علوم انسانی (Oct 2024)
The Iranian Other in the Novel El Maestro by Saad Al-Qorash based on Bakhtin’s Theory of the Self and the Other
Abstract
The attitude towards "the other" forms the foundation of cross- cultural communication on diverse issues. The Iranian other becomes one of those "others" in the novel El Maestro, a dialogue-oriented novel in which different cultures come into contact with one another. Mikhail Bakhtin's theory of the self and the other is a proper space for the colorful presence of the” other” in the process of shaping one’s identity and self. Imageology is one of the most extensive areas in the field of comparative literature in which the "other" plays a special role, and there is also a close connection between the imageology and Bakhtin’s theory of the self and the other. Saad al-Qorash is a prominent Egyptian writer whose novel El Maestro is a meeting place of different cultures. The Iranian other is one of the examples of the cultural others discussed in the novel, affirming the importance of the other in contrast to the self. In this research, the "self" has a fluid meaning, in such a way that sometimes an Iranian and an Arab confront as the self, and sometimes, as the other of each other, similar to a westerner being placed against another person as the self. Thus, the present research aims to analyze the Iranian other in the novel El Maestro by applying Bakhtin’s theory of self and other via a descriptive-analytical approach. The findings of the research prove that there is an inseparable connection between imageology and Bakhtin's theory. El Maestro is a proper space for critical, cultural and interdisciplinary studies, especially a study on Iranian culture in which opposing and supporting ideologies are present without the involvement of the author, a situation which is a prominent foundations of Bakhtin's theory. Therefore, this research offers a new comparative reading of El Maestro based on Bakhtin's theory of the self and the other.
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