A Gadamerian Analysis of Dialogue and its Narrative Function in a Comparative Study of Abul Alaa Ma'ari's Risalat al-Ghufran and Sadegh Hedayat's "Asking for Forgiveness"

Comparative literature can be considered as a medium for dialogue among different ways of thinking of different nations. Narratively, the dialogue is a textual means of focalization used by an author to concretize the events of the narrative, to get closer to the reader, to free up space for the reader's participation and to share private and public beliefs. The current research aims to use a comparative approach to examine the dialogues of Risalat al-Ghufran by Abul Alaa Ma'ari and "Asking for Forgiveness" by Sadegh Hedayat. To this aim, the paper, first, draws on the Gadamerian model to compare structures of dialogues, and secondly, it compares the function of this narrative structure employed by the two authors. Since Gadamer pays great attention to the role of dialogue in social communications, another benefit of employing this model would be for sociological readings of the two aforementioned narratives. The results of the current research indicate that the use of dialogue in these two works show common functions, including, a return to the past, characterization, telling instead of showing, expression of confessions, and the correction of misconceptions about the dead. Finally, "openness" as the foundational principle of the Gadamerian dialogues is seen in the dialogues of both works.