Matn/Pizhūhī-i Adabī (Dec 2021)
An Analysis of some Contemporary Persian Novels’ Titles based on David Lodge’s Theory
Abstract
The Metaphoric and Metonymic Poles is one of the Famous Contemporary Linguistic Theories Attributed to Romagna Jacobsen, one of the Famous Theorists in this Field, who Believes that every Discourse Driven from one of the two Metaphoric or Metonymic Poles. He Holds that the Metonymic Pole of Language is Used in Prose while the Metaphoric Pole is a Feature of Poetry. David Lodge, the Contemporary Literary Critic and Novelist, has Analyzed Roman Jakobson’s Theory, Expanding it. Interpreting Jakobson’s Theory, he Maintains that in Prose, in Addition to Contiguity Relations and the Metonymic Pole of Language, the Metaphoric Pole Also Exists. Lodge Sees the Modernist Fiction as a Blend of Similarity and Contiguity Relations, or Metaphoric and Metonymic Poles. In his View, Although the Metaphorical Pole is not Explicitly Manifested in Modern Novels, their Authors Draw on Techniques Through Which Prose -which is Essentially a Metonymic form- Takes a Metaphorical form and as a Result, the New Novels have Metaphorical Titles. Our Main Question in This Research is: in Contemporary Persian Novels, How are the Titles of the Story and the Text, Based on David Lodge's Linguistic Theory, Influenced by each other Linguistically and Semantically, and how did the Narrative Style Play a Role in the Formation of the Title? the Present Research has Applied David Lodge’s Theory to Six Prominent Persian Novels, Namely “Symphony of the Dead”, “the Blind Owl”, “the Last Game of the Lady”, “Nocturnal Harmony of Lumbers’ Orchestra”, and “the School Principal”. This Research Shows that this Theory can be Applied to Analysis of Novel Titles Based on the Metaphoric and Metonymic Poles. Therefore, Novels with Modernist Features that are Shaped According to the Metaphoric Pole of Language have Metaphoric Titles, and Novels in which Elements are Created Metonymically have Metonymic Titles.
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