Heterotopian Spaces in Shahriar Mandanipour’s Fiction: A Spatial Study

Shahriar Mandanipour is one of the contemporary writers who was experimental in structure and form. For this reason, the reader is challenged with spaces in his stories that are essentially an arrangement of mixed and various spaces. Dealing with this type of space in a theoretical and sometimes practical way can be observed in Michel Foucault's approach, which he calls it heterotopian or other spaces. In this regard, this study first describes these types of spaces through writings of Foucault and other thinkers who have explored in this field. Then, it analyzes these spaces in the fiction of Mandanipour including Mummy and Honey, Midday Moon, Violet Orient, and Ultramarine Blue. This study concludes that Mandanipour, by bringing up such spaces in his stories, points to the hidden truth behind the homogenous structure of one space. Moreover, introducing a new way and knowledge beyond the limitations in homogeneous spaces, heterotopian spaces help the characters from the limitations not only in understanding themselves but also the world.