Motaleat-e-zaban-e-farsi

Motaleat-e-zaban-e-farsi

The Evolution of Women’s Sources of Authority and Agency in Four Decades of Narrative Fiction (From the 60s to the 90s)

Document Type : Original Article

Author
somayeeh sharooni
Assistant Professor, Department of Persian Language and Literature, Persian Gulf University, Bushehr, Iran.
10.22034/jmzf.2026.582936.1272
Abstract

1. Introduction
This study seeks to examine the trajectory of changes in women’s forms of capital in four novels belonging to the 60s through the 90s. Its main concern is how various forms of women’s capital are represented and how their social, cultural, and symbolic positions have evolved within the context of transformations in Iranian society. Since female characters in fiction are reflections of social structures and power relations, studying these works can demonstrate the extent to which women in each decade have been portrayed as possessing resources, status, and opportunities for agency, and what transformations this representation reflects. In fact, the fundamental questions of this study are: What trajectory have women’s sources of authority followed from the 60s to the 90s? Which forms of capital have been more prominently represented, and which forms of capital have been marginalized? The main objective of the study is to analyze the transformation of women’s forms of capital in the selected novels and to explain the relationship between these transformations and the social and cultural changes of the 60s through the 90s.

2. Methodology
This study was conducted using a descriptive and analytical method, based on library research and centered on the novels “Touba and the Meaning of Night” (1367), “The Wandering Island” (1372), “My Bird” (1381), and “The Snail Day” (1392). The criterion for selecting the works was the centrality of women’s lives.

3. Discussion
The novel “Touba and the Meaning of Night” presents an excerpt from the lives of several women in the late Qajar period and the Pahlavi era. In this work, negative capital and the fear institutionalized within women’s existence prevent them from having an influential presence in society, and there is absolutely no discussion of competition for the acquisition of capital; rather, the sources of women’s authority are clearly hereditary. Men’s treatment of women is humiliating. In “The Wandering Island (the 70s), Hasti possesses valuable social capital. She wants to be a modern woman; therefore, she confronts the patriarchal discourse of society and strives for women’s identity formation in society. The fields of politics and science are the principal fields in this work. In the novel “My Bird”, the women in the story enter no field other than the family field. The most prominent field in the story “The Snail Day” is the field of science, with a focus on the university environment, where women are active as faculty members. This field is an arena of competition and scientific conflicts among professors. The virtual space is another field that is, in a sense, among the newest fields and arenas of women’s activities.

4. Conclusion
Overall, the findings show that women’s sources of authority have undergone many transformations over the course of four decades. The trajectory of changes in women’s forms of capital in these works can be described as follows: in earlier periods, women either inherited their economic capital from their fathers or acquired it through marriage to a wealthy man; however, gradually, women entered the field of business, and their economic capital became the result of their own efforts and activities. Women’s symbolic capital in different periods has increased significantly in the fields of family and society. Women’s social capital has also increased considerably over time. In the early periods, despite women’s limited presence in the field of science and their limited familiarity with professors and friends, female characters show no inclination to make use of these forms of social capital; however, in later periods, the extent to which this capital is utilized and employed increases day by day, to the extent that in the novel of the 90s, the female characters move away from the family field and rely more heavily on the social field and their social capital. Women’s capital has followed a completely upward trajectory during these years, and their agency in various fields—with the exception of the religious field—has increased.



Keywords
Novel
Women Writers
Pierre Bourdieu
Capital
Field
کتاب­شناسی
الف: کتاب‌ها
1)      ایوبی، حجت­الله (1401)، به طعم فرهنگ: جامعه­شناسی سیاسی پی­یر بوردیو، چاپ دوم، تهران: ثالث.
2)      پارسی­پور، شهرنوش (1368)، طوبا و معنای شب، چاپ دوم، تهران: اسپرک.
3)      پرستش، شهرام (1393)، روایت نابودی ناب: تحلیل بوردویی بوف کور در میدان ادبی ایران، چاپ دوم، تهران: ثالث.
4)      دانشور، سیمین (1372)، جزیرۀ سرگردانی، تهران: خوارزمی.
5)      عبدی، زهرا (1396)، روز حلزون، چاپ دوم، تهران: چشمه.
6)      وولف، ویرجینیا (1384). اتاقی از آن خود، ترجمۀ صفورا نوربخش، چاپ دوم، تهران: نیلوفر.
7)      وفی، فریبا (1384)، پرندۀ من، چاپ پنجم، تهران: مرکز.
 
ب: مقالات
1)      ابوالقاسمی، سیده مریم و کنعان، آیات (1403)، «بررسی نقش تحولات اجتماعی و سیاسی در رمان نقره، دختر دریای کابل اثر حمیرا قادری»، فصل­نامۀ بین المللی مطالعات زبان فارسی(شفای دل سابق)، دورۀ 7، شمارۀ 17، صص 35- 1.
2)      مشفقی، آرش و دوستی، زهرا (1396)، «بررسی جامعه‌شناسی رمان پرندۀ من اثر فریبا وفی براساس نظریۀ عمل پی یر بوردیو»، نشریۀ پژوهش‌های نقد ادبی و سبک‌شناسی، شمارۀ 4(پیاپی 30)، صص 167- 145.
3)      نرماشیری، اسماعیل، کرمی، زهرا (1401)، «تحلیل ایدئولوژی شناختی رمان جزیرۀ سرگردانی بر اساس انگارۀ استعارۀ مفهومی»، فصل­نامۀ بین­المللی مطالعات زبان فارسی (شفای دل سابق)، دورۀ4، شمارۀ 10، صص 147- 115.
 

  • Receive Date 25 January 2026
  • Revise Date 27 May 2026
  • Accept Date 02 July 2026