A Study of the Connection between Death and Postmodernist Post-mortem Discourse in Mohammadreza Kateb's Fictional Narratives

The theme of death is one of the most important subjects represented in world literature. By simulating death, confronting the readers with multiple worlds and crossing ontological borders, postmodernist writing has moved this theme to the surface of narratives and emphasized its undeniable role in the formation of human stories. Brian McHale, a scholar of postmodernism, has pointed out the thematic connection between death and discourse in different periods, especially in postmodernist literature. Rereading Mohammadreza Kateb’s fictional narratives, this study aims to deal with the following questions: is the above-mentioned connection detectable in Kateb’s narratives? And, in representing the theme of death, has this relationship to postmodernism been preserved? This paper is an attempt to demonstrate the thematic connection between death and post-mortem discourse in postmodernism, and the interdependence of these themes in the fictional narratives of this contemporary writer.