Polyphony in the Novels of Ahmad Mahmoud, Based on Bakhtin’s Theory

Bakhtin's theory of 'polyphony' effectively studies realistic and community-oriented novels that represent the intellectual and cultural life of nations as well as the changes they experienced. Ahmad Mahmoud is one of the representatives of the social realist novel in contemporary Persian literature. He depicts Iranian society and its changes in a part of the contemporary history, especially in his four novels Neighbors, The Story of a City, Zero Degree Orbit and Scorched Earth. However, so far, his works have not been studied with a polyphonic approach.This article has studied these four novels by using a descriptive-analytical method based on Bakhtin's theory of 'polyphony.' The result firstly proves that these novels are polyphonic. On the other hand, the changes, intensifying or reducing of the three voices of "Islamism," "Marxism" and "Nationalism" in the three novels Neighbors, The Story of a City and Zero Degree Orbit, has been shown. In "Scorched Earth", the events occurred in a different situation, during the Islamic Revolution and the war between Iran and Iraq. So, in this novel there are two opposite voices: agreement and opposition against war.
Introduction
The novel is the literary form of the modern world, maintaining a profound connection with history, society, and social events. Mikhail Bakhtin (1895-1975) conceives of the novel as a site of endless confrontation among individuals who hold differing beliefs and attitudes, and who come together within concrete, tangible events. He employs the term "voice" to refer to these ideologies; "polyphony" itself—originally a concept from music theory—was adapted by Bakhtin for literary analysis. By examining the reflection of various ideologies, or more precisely, the different voices of society within the novel, Bakhtin regards this literary form as an apt space for polyphony. This is infact the reflection of the diverse dimensions of a society's ideology and thought. The examination, comparison, and analysis of the voices reflected in novels constitute a valuable resource for investigating the trajectory of political, social, and cultural transformations across nations.
A significant number of the prominent novels produced in contemporary Persian fiction have adopted a social realist approach and have been shaped against the backdrop of the political and social developments of recent decades. Among such works, mention must be made of the novels of Ahmad Mahmoud (Ahmad E’ta, 1931–2002), one of the most active writers in the domain of social realism. In four of his works—The Neighbors, A Story of a City, The Zero Degree Orbit, and Scorched Earth—he narrates a substantial portion of contemporary Iranian history, spanning from the late 1940s to the late 1970s.
This period in Iranian history marked the emergence of new voices and novel approaches that transformed the country's political and social life and left a profound imprint on many contemporary works of fiction. What distinguishes Mahmoud's works from those of many other writers is the space he creates for the encounter of diverse voices and ideologies within his novels. The space that Ahmad Mahmoud has constructed for dialogue among characters holding different, and at times contradictory, beliefs may provide the groundwork for the emergence of polyphony in these works. To determine whether such a space has indeed given rise to polyphony, it is necessary to examine and analyze these novels according to Bakhtin's model of polyphony. Furthermore, by studying the rise and fall of the voices reflected in these novels, one can identify and elucidate the evolution of ideologies and prevailing discourses in Iranian society of that era.
The principal research questions that this study seeks to answer are as follows:

Can Ahmad Mahmoud's novels be considered instances of the polyphonic novel?
What factors have contributed to the creation of polyphony in Ahmad Mahmoud's novels?
Which voices receive greater reflection in these novels?
What are the contexts and trajectories of the rise and decline of voices in these works?

Methodology
The present article adopts a descriptive-analytical method and applies Bakhtin's theory of polyphony to examine the aforementioned novels by Ahmad Mahmoud. The statistical corpus of this research comprises 3,225 pages of text across four novels—The Neighbors, A Story of a City, The Zero Degree Orbit (a three-volume set), and Scorched Earth—which have been examined in their entirety in order to identify and categorize the representatives of different voices and ideologies as they emerge from within the dialogues.
Analysis and Findings
Ahmad Mahmoud should be regarded as one of the creators of the polyphonic novel in contemporary Persian literature, who, influenced by the political and social conditions of his time, succeeded in reflecting the dominant voices of society in some of his novels. By enabling free dialogue among characters holding opposing beliefs, creating crowded and populous settings, utilizing the functions of collective spaces such as coffeehouses, and emphasizing dialogue through the use of quotations, he has managed to produce polyphonic works.
As noted earlier, Ahmad Mahmoud's works are primarily influenced by the social atmosphere of his own time; therefore, it is possible to trace the footprints of the voices prevalent in Iranian society of that era within these novels. The three main voices that echoed in Iranian society during the three decades preceding the victory of the Islamic Revolution were: the voice of religion (Islamism), the voice of leftism (the Tudeh Party), and the voice of nationalism (patriotic intellectuals). An examination of Ahmad Mahmoud's novels reveals that the principal voices he represents in these works are predominantly these same three voices of Iranian society of that period, which engage in dialogue either alongside or in opposition to one another.
Conclusion
An analysis of the four novels—The Neighbors, A Story of a City, The Zero Degree Orbit, and Scorched Earth—indicates that, with the exception of A Story of a City, which exhibits a weak manifestation of polyphony only in a brief section of its second part, the remaining novels can be considered instances of polyphony. The voice of religion (Islamism) is dominant in all of the novels, though it is more pronounced in Zero Degree Turn and Scorched Earth, both of which were written after the Revolution. The Neighbors is the only work in which a critical voice against religion is heard. The voice of leftism is dominant in the three novels written before the Revolution—The Neighbors, A Story of a City, and The Zero Degree Orbit —with its most prominent manifestation appearing in A Story of a City. The voice of nationalism is extensively reflected in “The Neighbors” through the struggles for the nationalization of the oil industry and support for Mosaddegh. In The Zero Degree Orbit, a serious opposition is established between the voice of "the government" and that of "the leftists," on the one hand, and between the ideologies of "leftism" and "nationalist centrism," on the other. In this novel, for the first time, Ahmad Mahmoud introduces characters as representatives of the government's voice within the narrative. In “Scorched Earth,” the main opposition is between the voices of proponents and opponents of the war. The proponents, who are committedly concerned with national interests and the deliverance of the city from the enemy, and the opponents, who either think of their personal gain or hold no hope of victory in the war.