A Sociological Study of Iranian Women’s Role in Fictional Literature in the Recent Two Decades

Authors

1 M. A in British Studies, University of Tehran

2 Assistant Professor, French Studies, Faculty of World Studies, University of Tehran

Abstract

Fictional literature has experiencedan increasing and stunning growth
of women writers in the past two decades. In terms of quality and quantity, the
increase was to the extent that nowadays women’s names are mentioned sometimes
even more than men’s amongthe distinguished writers ofcontemporary Iranian
literature. On the other hand, these authors have often chosen the novel as
their main literary form. From the sociological view of novel and of critics such as
George Lukacs, the growth of women in fiction writingsmake sense in the context
of social and cultural developments of contemporary Iran,finding ways to pass the
society toward modernity. In fact in this paper we assume that this unprecedented
growth is due to the general conditions dominant over the intellectual and social
environment of Iran and the transition of the society from traditional to amodern
one; and amongother important factors regarding modernity, in this paper individuality
is considered as the main element whose formation and evolutionthrough the
history of modernity in Iran, has eventually led to a phenomenon we face today,
i.e. the dramatic growth of female writers. In other words, individuality or female
individuation is the factor that has moved its way inspite of various political, cultural
and social changes, and brought along other results which led to the stunning
emergence of women in writing.

Keywords