Cognition and Poetics conference 2013, from 25 to 27 April 2013 in Osnabrück, Germany.
The Macrofiction Structure in “Hunting the Shadow”, by Ebrahim Golestan
Leila Sadeghi
Department of Linguistics, University of Tehran, Iran
Abstract
According to Van Dijk, all phenomena have macro and Microstructures. This paper examines the interaction of these structures, leading to an innovative one: the structure termed Macro-fiction. It is a layer of patchy structures, joined together to build an untold story. Separate stories are connected through the cohesive elements they share. Moreover, the cognitive mechanism and information structure of a story on the level of the Microstructure is in harmony with the plot and the general idea of the fiction. This idea is inspired by specimens from classical Persian literature such as “The Conference of the Birds” (1177) and continues well into contemporary literature. This paper demonstrates the nature of macro-fiction and the process by which it may be formed in a fictional discourse such as that found in Ebrahim Golestan's story cycle, “Hunting the Shadow”.
Keywords: Macrostructure, Microstructure, Macrofiction, “Hunting the Shadow”, Ebrahim Golestan.