Societies in Persian literature

Societies in Persian literature

City and Its Discontents:Narrative Acceleration and Its Relation to Urban-Life Distresses in Hussein Sanapour Studied Based on Gérard Genette’s Narratology

Document Type : Original Article

Authors
atefeh Asali 1
hesam ziaee 2
hossein parsaee 2
1 Ph.D. student of Persian language and literature, Qaimshahr Azad University, Mazandaran, Iran
2 Assistant Professor, Department of Persian Language and Literature, Qaimshahr Azad University, Mazandaran, Iran
10.30488/sipl.2026.553885.1105
Abstract
 Hussein Sanapour’s novels have a modern structure. In his novels, the author depicts cities and all phenomena related to them as unpleasant and chaotic, as well as a reality that alienates human beings. To portray the darkness and disagreeableness of urban life in his novels, Sanapour employs specific narrative techniques, such as the narrative acceleration introduced by Gérard Genette, a French literary critic. Concentrating on the narrative structures of Hussein Sanapour’s novels, the current research seeks to examine the relationship between narrative acceleration and the manner in which a suspicious pessimism is painted about urban life experiences. The study’s analytical approach is grounded in narratological content analysis. In this study, the criterion for selecting the novels under investigation was the frequency of narrative acceleration. The study asks this central question: How has the narrative acceleration contributed to the unsatisfactory picture of the city presented in Sanapour’s novels? According to the study’s findings, there is a relationship between narrative acceleration and the sense of discontent with urban life experiences in Sanapour’s novels under discussion.
Keywords
Hussein Sanapour City Novel Narrative Acceleration Narrative Gé
؛ rard Genette
Subjects
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