Story Adaptation and Restoring the Narrative with the Model of Post-modernism in Ahmad-Reza Ahmadi's poetry

Ahmad Reza Ahmadi is a poet whose distinctive style employs non-normative techniques, leading some aspects of her poetry to be associated with elements of post-modernism. One of the defining features of Ahmadi's work is the restoration of narrative and storytelling, which aligns with the adaptation component of post-modernism. Ahmadi has established a connection between two literary genres—poetry and fiction—by adapting and modeling the content of narrative texts and incorporating these elements into her poetry. In this research, the types and dimensions of the adaptation and restoration of narratives in Ahmadreza Ahmadi's poetry have been examined using a descriptive-analytical method. The findings indicate that the adaptation of narrative texts in Ahmadi's poetry, while contributing to the development of his themes and expressive techniques, does not adhere to established rules or patterns. Instead, it often occurs randomly and without specific preparation. Consequently, this adaptation exhibits a fluid nature, lacking a uniform form and process, and yields varied and diverse results. This variability is largely attributed to Ahmadi's intentional deconstruction and his avoidance of linguistic norms, which serve to create the uncertainty, meaninglessness, and polysemy characteristic of postmodernism.
Introduction:
Adaptation can be referred to as the re-enactment of a work or the reflection of the works of others in an artistic and literary work. Such a reflective/adaptive work is generally the result of a poet or a writer's special perception and attention to the works of others. Therefore, it does not have a known origin or territory. Sometimes adaptation has a semantic and, sometimes, a content-related aspect. The adaptation can be free or faithful to the original text. Sometimes it can also act structurally, and the adaptor can model the narrative, descriptive, linguistic, and musical structure of a work and create the structure of his work under the direct and indirect influence of the desired model. Even the adaptor can benefit from syntactic and lexical adaptation the manifestations of which are found in New Persian poetry. Due to recalling or the restoration and re-presentation of narratives, adaptation is one of the components of postmodernism, and Ahmad Reza Ahmadi has applied such an approach in contemporary Iranian poetry with his special language and different norms. With this approach, he has achieved a kind of modern structure in poetry. By modeling herself on fictional texts and recreating them creatively and sometimes uncreatively, Ahmadi has been able to establish a continuous conversation in her works with other fictional and narrative texts, which largely relies on irregularity and is counted as an important characteristic of postmodernism.
Methodology:
The present study examines the types and dimensions of the adaptation approach and the recovery of narratives in Ahmad Reza Ahmadi's poetry and studies his approach in this regard. Since fictional adaptation is considered a postmodern component, it aims to provide the audience with an understanding of how this component has found the possibility of being present in Ahmadi's poetry and whether Ahmadi's postmodernist perspective in his works was conscious or it was unconsciously penetrated his mind and language. Therefore, this study shows the way Ahmad Reza Ahmadi has used fictional allusions or the representation of narratives in order to create doubt, uncertainty, and meaninglessness common in postmodernism, , using a descriptive-analytical method. In this study, an attempt has been made to explain and analyze Ahmadi's use of stories and narratives as poetic motifs from the perspective of postmodernism.
Results and Discussion:
Usually, the approach of adaptation and representation of narrative works in Ahmadi's poetry does not follow a specific pattern. Therefore, it has a fluid nature and lacks a disciplined form and procedure, and consequently, has different and diverse results. This is largely the result of Ahmadi's desire and intention to deconstruct or, in other words, avoid linguistic norms. Ahmadi has often used fictional allusions or the representation of narratives in order to create doubt, uncertainty, meaninglessness, and ambiguity, which are common in postmodernism. Sometimes, Ahmadi makes it clear from which works he has adapted by bringing linguistic signs explicitly. In other words, without accompanying his fictional allusions or narrative adaptation with an explanation and interpretation, he suffices with mentioning a specific sign that is related to the text being adapted. In other cases, some words are used that can be considered a reflection of the adapted work. Through these words, the reader's mind is guided to the intended text and its theme. Sometimes, Ahmadi's narrative allusions play the role of a symbolic and interpretable sign. This way, by bringing a specific word, combination, or phrase, he unconsciously guides the reader's mind to the text of the story, or creates an opportunity for the reader's mind to remember and recreate a part of a narrative. With this technique, in addition to reminding the reader of the adapted story, he also creates a basis for the reader's specific mental interpretation and interpretation of the narrative allusions. In addition to the techniques mentioned, Ahmadi is content with an ambiguous allusion - which can have an implicit implication to the narrative text or an event related to the fictional text. This implicit allusion can be an opportunity to refer the reader to the text and message of the story or the content of the narrative and lead a few readers - who are already familiar with the text in question - to associate the scene, event or its characters.
Conclusion:
Ahmad Reza Ahmadi's poetry has inseparable components and elements, and his language is generally complex and unclear. Even in cases where he seems to speak simply, his words lack clear and obvious connotations. This is due to the sudden and unexpected changes of direction, fantasy and surreal imagery, doubt, contradiction, ambiguity and linguistic deviations always accompany his words. These characteristics have made it difficult and sometimes impossible to search for and discover any emotion, meaning and message in Ahmadi's poetry. It has also caused most readers to be unable to find a main and dominant theme or thought in Ahmadi's poetry; Or to identify the signs and threads that cause the structural and content connection of his poetry. Therefore, Ahmadi's poetry is ranked among modern Iranian poetry and he has also been referred to as a postmodern poet. In fact, Ahmadi has adopted a more modern approach than his contemporaries. On the other hand, the main characteristics of his poetry are similar to the central and well-known components of postmodernity, including adaptation or recalling and reviving texts. It is not possible to speak correctly about the origin of such similarity and affinity; That is, the question of whether Ahmadi deliberately adapted the entirety of his poetry to the principles of postmodernism in general and to postmodernist adaptation in particular, or whether he unconsciously turned to it, cannot be answered simply and clearly. Of course, whatever the answer, the adaptation approach should be considered one of the characteristics of Ahmadi's poetry and fictional and narrative adaptation should be considered a facet of this approach. Because its examples can be seen in Ahmadi's poems. In most cases, discovering Ahmadi's fictional adaptations in his poetry is not an easy task. This is because narratives and stories do not serve his poetry in a visible way, and he does not create harmony between the entirety of his work and the parts and elements of the adapted narratives. He rather connects them with the expressive situations of his work and turns them into linguistic signs in the poem and involves them in his own incongruous language games. These adaptations in Ahmadi's poetry ultimately become a kind of reading convention; a reading convention that helps the reader familiar with the adapted narrative text to achieve his desired meaning from the text of the poem.