The Discourse Function of the Place in Haras Novel

In Haras, written by Nasim Marashi, the place has an important role in making subjective conditions. This paper, by applying the semiotics analysis to the novel’s text, tries to show how place and placiality participate in forming the textual subject identity. By using a descriptive-analytical approach which is based on tensive-shushi discourse analysis, it seems that place and placiality are converted to space, which make tension in the sensory-perceptual conditions of the subject. This means that the subject of woman s is disconnected from her mythical and symbolic place (Khorramshahr), and is not, however, stabilized in her new place (Ahvaz). This leads to pre-tension, post-tension, place disconnection and identity disconnection. Thus, the subject cannot make a here-now relation with the new place, and make an attendance- absent relation instead. As the results, the subject of the act creates a transcendental place converting from place to space, naming Dar al-Tala'a, where wandering subjects consider it as a place to create new values. The research results show that place transcendence is a fictional stategy that help the subject of the act to overcome the identity disconnection, which is made by disconnecting any relation from the actual place.
Introduction:
In Haras, which is a written novel by Nasim Marashi, a number of subjective conditions have been illustrated in which the notion nof place has been given a dominant role with respect to their formation. The novel story concentrates on the life of a woman named Nawal and her family, who forced to move from Khorramshahr city to Ahvaz city due to war, but she cannot separate herself from the Khorramshahr life memories. The objective relationship between the female subject and the objective place of Khorramshahr, which has lost its placiality nature, is disconnected. Thus, she cannot establish a relationship with Ahvaz, her new objective place. These conditions cause the subject to experience a crisis in her personal life. Thus, in this novel, the place has become an important element in the formation and destruction of the textual subject identity.
Methodology:
Considering the Semiotics perspective, space and place are formed by the presence of the subject. In some cases, the space dominates the subject in such a way that the subject loses its control over the place. In some other cases, the subject dominates the space and applies its actions to the place. Due to the mutual influence between man and place, the place can have a discourse application. The place transforms raw nature into culture and is the product of cultural activity in space. In addition, the place can classify and give meaning to the empty space. The place formation, as a symbolic system which is in a two-way interaction with the formation of cultural subcodes, makes the place relations meaningful. In this paper, it will be shown that how the female subject in the novel "Prune (Haras)" establishes a discourse relationship with the place and can create a transcendental place despite the identity disconnection.
Results and Discussion:
In this novel, the element of place has been given a conceptual function and the content of the text is written based on it. The place becomes especially important in this novel, because leaving the hometown is its main core and the human is encountered with movement and place change during travel. Human and place influence each other, which means the place is a factor in giving identity to human and the human also gives identity to the place. Every experience happens in a place and the place gives meaning to the related characters and actions. When external issues, such as natural disasters or war, cause a temporary or permanent place change, the sense of place becomes more apparent. Among the investigated places, Dar Al-Tala, which is the main place of the story, is transcend to such an extent that at the end of the story, the place object becomes the owner of the human subject and Nawal is introduced as "property of the palm trees". This is in exact contradiction with the normal situation in which palm trees belong to humans, and the humans own palms and objects.
Conclusion:
In the provided research, a semiotic-based analysis has been applied to the notion of place and its discourse function in the novel based on the theoretical concepts. Transforming the place into the space leads to tension in the sensory-perceptual conditions of the subject, in such a way that the female subject is disconnected from her previous mythical and symbolic place (Khorramshahr) and is not however stabilized in the new place (Ahvaz). This leads to pre-tension, post-tension, place disconnection, and identity disconnection. Consequently, the subject could not establish a here-now relationship with the new place. Her relationship with the new place is an attendance- absent one. As a result, the subject of the act creates a transcendental place naming Dar al-Tala'a. Transcendental space provides such kind of presence in which imaginations and subjectivities lead subject towards what she desires. Nawal's presence in Dar al-Tala'a and her attachment and attention to the palm trees make them sprout and this place turns from a physical place into a transcendental place.