The steamy glasses of Hedayat: Faucoultian reading of the Blind Owl by Sadegh Hedayat

It is generally acknowledged that Sadegh Hedayat was an intellectual who dedicated his life to fighting against the dictatorship of Pahlavi. According to many biographies written about him، he، belonging to a royal family though، because of his love to the freedom of human being was against Pahlavi dynasty. This article tries to introduce an idea thoroughly opposite to that generally-accepted one. After analyzing his Blind Owl from the view-point of Michael Foucault’ theory of power، especially “panopticism”، the article comes to the conclusion at the end that Hedayat، because of being influenced by the dominant discourses of the era، of which the most widespread one was nationalism، has worked at the service of the dictatorship of Pahlavi. In order to reach to this goal، the research in hand، first of all، defines the theory of power in Faocoult''s works and then follows this theory in the works of the followers of Faucoult، those who have tried to practice this theory in Eropean novels. in the second part، the article investigates the principles of this theory in Hedayat''s the Blind Owl.