A study of Reflection of the Unknowable in Form and Content of Aboutorab Khosravi's Story, "Picnic"

The contemporary era is the period of centrality of the Unknowable in human life and experience of extreme fear. One of the most important manifestations of this subject is modern fiction. In order to understand modern man more precisely on the one hand and to properly understand modern fiction on the other hand, it seems necessary to analyze how these works are affected by the Unknowable. In this study, by combining Ludwig Binswanger's Daseinanalysis and Roger Fowler's linguistic theory, a model is proposed for comprehensive study of the reflection of the Unknowable in modern fiction. Then, according to it, the story "Picnic" by Abutorab Khosravi, one of the major writers of our time who has a deep look at human being's fears is analyzed. The purpose of this study is to investigate the origins of fear in this story and to analyze the relationship between its form and content and the Unknowable. This study is conducted using content analysis method. It is argued that the narrator/ main character of the story is trying to figure out the Unknowable in the visible environment around him and experience angst in the form of fear of death. He has fallen apart; his tormentors are fragmented pieces of himself. The way narrative components are picked and arranged clearly shows the fragmentation of the narrator. Contradictions, repetitions and ambiguities have removed unity from discourse and text. It could be said that the Unknowable has seeped into form and content shaking them to the roots.