Narratology: A Response to the Theoretical Poverty of Fictional Literature in Iran

According to the Iran Book News Agency (IBNA), the launch and review session for the book “Narratology; Elements of Storytelling in Iranian Fiction Writing,” written by Abolfazl Harri, was held on Wednesday, November 13, 2025 (Aban 21, 1404 in the Persian calendar), at the House of Writers. The event was attended by the author, Hamidreza Shahabadi (writer and researcher), and Mehdi Kaffash (storyteller and instructor of fiction writing).

Abolfazl Harri spoke about his motivation for writing a book in the field of narratology during this session: “I was involved in the field of narratology and narrative research both during my university studies and for my master’s and doctoral theses. From the very beginning, I felt that despite many works translated in the field of narratology, there is a void for a work that uses Iranian examples, especially well-known novels.”

He explained about the choice of samples: “The choice of well-known works was so that the reader would not necessarily have to have read the original work. This does not mean that I only teach the principles on those works; rather, these principles can be applied to other stories as well.”

He added, referring to the brilliant history of Iranian fiction writing in the last hundred years: “I felt that with such a brilliant history that we have in the field of fiction writing for at least the past hundred years, if we had an academic and systematic book to analyze these stories, it might provide a clearer picture, especially for our fiction writing. Of course, I would have liked the title of this book to be ‘Narratology for Fiction Writers’.”

Harri stated that many fiction writers intuitively use narratological concepts: “When I spoke with many fiction writers, it seemed to me that they knew many of these concepts intuitively and used them intuitively. I hope this book can make these concepts available to them in a more conscious way.”

After referring to the book’s compilation process, he added: “The initial version of this book was over 600 pages, which took its current form due to publication considerations. The complementary book to this work has also analyzed theoretical areas of narrative research from Plato to Barthes with Iranian examples. I hope this book will prepare the ground for us to address areas such as post-structuralist psychology.”

Hamidreza Shahabadi began his speech by referring to the “hidden theoretical poverty in the field of fictional literature” and said: “Unfortunately, we suffer from theoretical poverty in the field of fictional literature. This poverty is hidden because, on the surface, numerous works are published, and many people comment on them, but the basis of these comments is usually concepts that are, firstly, not indigenous, and secondly, sometimes misunderstood.”

He called the lack of an “academic approach to the subject of fictional literature” a bitter reality and added: “We do not teach modern fictional literature in our universities in its contemporary sense. Writing in our country is self-taught, and this self-taught nature sometimes devolves into a mere claim.”

Shahabadi stated that in other artistic fields like music and cinema, there are university courses: “We do not have a field of fictional literature, and even the few sparks that ignited in some universities are unfortunately fading.”

He considered the self-teaching nature of the work and its “workshop approach” as other strengths of the book and explained: “The author’s teaching aspect is fully evident in the work. The book constantly asks the hypothetical reader to research, seek information, and study.”

Mehdi Kaffash, in this session, also referred to his teaching background in the field of fiction writing and explained one of his problems with previous theoretical books: “A problem I always had was misconceptions in some books. For example, in Jamal Mirsadeghi’s book ‘Elements of Story,’ there is a very ambiguous definition between plot and structure, and these two are considered one.”

He considered the distinctive feature of the book “Narratology” to be its attention to structure and its ability to differentiate between concepts and said: “This book, for the first time—at least in the works I have read—pays attention to structure, places plot within the structure, and shows the distinction between the two. In this book, we encounter narrative as a macro structure with elements that were previously seen as separate and distinct from the structure. This structural approach has led us to analyze narrative at the level of point of view, temporality, and spatiality.”

Shahabadi, also referring to the book’s title, expressed hope that in the future, we will see deeper analyses of Iranian fictional literature based on these principles and said: “I wished the author, by referring to Iranian fictional literature, would go beyond merely providing examples and also delve into the field of criticism and analysis.”

He referred to the issue of the “unreliable narrator” in Iranian fictional literature and said: “We do not have examples of unreliable narrators in Iranian stories. Our narrator always tells the truth. This, in my opinion, is a flaw.” Shahabadi further stressed the concept of “simply narrated but not simplistic” regarding this book and contrasted it with the “self-taught nature” in Iranian fictional literature. He said: “This self-taught approach in our fictional literature has always been accompanied by a kind of oversimplification. This means it has led us to assume the subject is simple and immediately provide superficial, quick, and clear definitions that can create mental confusion for a long time among readers who are supposed to learn.”

Mehdi Kaffash, in another part of his speech, pointed to another feature of the book: the use of diagrams and tables for better understanding of concepts. He said: “One of the features I saw in the book is the use of visual elements and cues to embed concepts. The book’s diagrams and tables present the complex classifications of the three English, German, and French perspectives and approaches, with representatives like Barthes and Chatman, etc., in the simplest possible way.”

Kaffash discussed the new capacities the book offers to writers and gave an example: “Dealing with a reliable or unreliable narrator was fascinating for me. In ‘The Sound and the Fury’, we have an unreliable narrator, someone who lies, but narrates part of the truth in the layers of his speech. This capacity has been underutilized in Iranian fiction writing.”

Hamidreza Shahabadi, in his concluding remarks, referred to the present era, which he called “an era of one-millimeter deep seas,” and stressed the necessity of a deeper understanding of issues. He said: “We live in a time where everyone likes to get summaries and feel they understand everything by reading two paragraphs on social media. This leads to us seemingly having a lot of information, but not achieving deep knowledge and insight.”