Deferment of "Ego" in Mohammad Reza Kateb's Narration

Abstract

Multiplicity of "Ego" and its relationship with pluralistic identities have caused it to be defined differently in various areas. In postmodern narratives, “Ego” is conceptualized based on pluralistic identities and poststructuralist perception as an entity in suspension. This approach is one of the important foundations in the narration of postmodern writers like Mohammad Reza Kateb. Drawing on a descriptive-analytic method, we first, explain the postmodern conception of "Ego", and its Post-structural roots, then we study the deferment of "Ego" in Kateb’s narration. The results shows the fundamental role of "Deferment and uncertainty of "Ego"" as one of the most important techniques of narration in some of Kateb’s stories. Not only this is a superstructure category, but also is one of the most important tools of Kateb in forming the identity of Author-Narrator, Narrator, Narrator-Actor even the Literary Work. This is reflected in different ways such as ontological doubt through indeterminacy of "Ego", and plurality of identities as a result of the multiplicity of subjectivities and decadence of the status of individual to subjectivity, anti-heroism, and even anti-humanism. This issue has led to serious challenges for some definitions of classic narratives.

Keywords

• postmodern narrative
• post-structuralism
• deferment of "ego"
• mohammad reza kateb