Social Criticism on Works of Contemporary Women Story Writers

Goldmann’s genetic structuralism approach is one of the literary critique approaches and believes that the literary text are derived from the ideology governing the classes of society, and focuses on study of stories and their structures to know the social structures. A review of the changes made in the themes and subjects of the works of the Iranian story writers that most of them are from the middle class of society, indicates the growth of awareness and understanding of Iranian women about their identity and individuality and the achievement of conditions beyond what they are. Although in popular stories, most Iranian female storytellers are still interested in the reproduction of traditional gender stereotypes, but female storywriters in the field of transcendental literature have entered the changes made in their cognitive realm to the actions of characters of their stories. This reveals that they seek to understand their own self and place in the world around them. Love and loneliness resulted by the confrontation between men and women are a common theme in these works that have been narrated on the various issues arising from the family and social relationships of women.


INTRODUCTION
The sociology of literature in our time first founded at the beginning of the nineteenth century.For the first time, Hippolyte Taine, the French thinker of the nineteenth century, defined the scientific definition of sociological critique (Gordon, 1992:37).By emphasizing on three concepts of race, environment and time (wellek,1999:47), he introduced the literary works as the result of interactions between biological (racial), cultural, and historical factors.(Alaei, 2001:23) Then Madame de Stael, in her book named "Literature in its relations with social institution", explained the interplay of religion, customs and rules on literature.(wellek, 2000:, 260) With the beginning of the twentieth century, most of all, the Marxists tried to consolidate the sociology of art and literature.(Fazeli,1996:13) Marx believed that the economy is the substructure of politics, rule, law, art, and literature.He called literature as a weapon of struggle and an honest reporter of social reality.(wellek, 2000:260) Among the remarkable writers in the Marxist critique, we can name Georg Lukacs.He cited it in his literary papers and in particular in the novel of Social and Literary Development", and discussed the literary structure and a stage of historical dialectics of philosophy to connect them in one whole.Lukacs believed in a social history with a literary form, and considered mental structures to be the creator of collective consciousness and aesthetic structures to be the creator of the work of art.In his view, literary works are not only a reflection of collective consciousness, but also they are the creator of these structures and their inseparable part.(Goldmann and others,1999: 85) Lucien Goldmann, in order to study the human and social realities, formed the method of genetic structuralism based on the theories of Marx, Hegel, and in particular Lukacs and the epistemology of Jean Piaget, the Swiss psychiatrist.He was for some time Piaget's assistant who considered mental -physical and individual behaviors as the result of human relationships with his environment, and divided the impact of these relationships on two complementary processes -the "adaptation of environment with plans of individual's thought and act" and "replication of these plans with the structure of environment ". (Goldmann and others,1998: 204) Goldmann in " The Hidden God" which was his treatise as the doctoral thesis in field of study of French literature in 1956 stated the economic-social equivalence with literary works for the first time.(Fazeli,1996:119) he was influenced by Lukacs' and believed in a general, pervasive and coherent structure, and called the review of the work's structures and the interpretation of the cause of these structures with regard to historical and social conditions, and in more general structures, genetic.(Goldmann,1978: 104) Goldmann considers the flow of literary analysis to be two stages: the description of the inner coherence and its de-scription, which requires the linking of the inner structure to the inclusive structures.In fact, to understand the text, it is necessary to examine the main idea, the form and content of the text in relation to the general structure in which the text was created.
There are two universalities among other the possible universalities that are interconnected in the processes of reception and explanation and have particular importance for Goldmann: the meaningful structure and the ideology.(Zima,2002: 135 -136) The meaningful structure means organic unity of the components of a work and their intercommunication to reflect the ideology of a group or class that are now the constructive elements of the imaginary world of text of a literary work.(Selden and Widdowson,1999: 113 -115) An ideology ingrained with a text is a meaningful generality of values and norms that does not reveal the real and experimental consciousness of the members of a group, but is the ideal and unconscious consciousness of the group that the sociologist of literature analyzes and rebuilds it.(Zima,2002: 136 -137) Moreover, explains how the ideology of a particular social class or group in a literary work becomes the constitutive elements of the imaginative world of a text.(Selden and Widson,1999: 113 -115) Of course, from Goldmann's point of view, the concept of ideology differs from its traditional concept and it is not consciously and voluntarily but it is a method by which a reality is perceived and felt, or is a system of thought that leads the way of the completion of the work (Pascadi,1998: 61) Considering the Marxism theory, Goldmann knows the social classes as the basis of philosophical, literary and artistic currents.He believes that the ideology of the social classes forms the structure of the work, and the author belongs to a social class, and whether or not, it reflects the ideology of the same class and a social class creates the artwork, not an individual.(Goldmann,1999: 66 -67) He believes that the artist in the literary works creates a coherent imaginative world that has a structure in line with the group to which it relates.(Goldmann,1993: 321) He also believes that the mental structures of the creators of the artworks are ultra-individual, Goldmann,1998: 322) and imposed on individuals and social classes.Goldmann,1998: 251) In this paper, the author intends to study the works of women story writers considering the Goldmann's theory of genetic structuralism in the field of bestselling popular and award winning literary works that the elite admire them.The author has reviewed these literary works from the beginning of story writing as today, i.e. from 1921 to 2011 by the library research method to interpret their intellectual and social structures, explain their reflection in literary works, and show the evolution of women's social concerns within the changing themes.The author of the article tries to answer the following questions during this paper: What subjects and themes have been more attentive to women writers in modern times?Are the themes in conformity with the social class of writers and the ideology of their period or not?

THE THEME OF THE WORKS OF WOMEN STORY WRITERS
Having a look at the first works left by the women story writers makes it clear that from the very beginning, story writing was an opportunity for them to retell their problems and criticize what kept them from having a favorable living environment.
Their social class is an educated and aristocratic class of society that could follow education.This is why we can mostly see the living conditions and problems of the middle and most affluent social classes in the writings of this group of writers.A large part of the works of Iranian female story writers during the years 1921 up to the revolution in 1978 can be influenced by social romanticism with a little realism.Some of these works look like many funny writings that were published by male writers during these years and are referred to as market novels and footnote writing.However, these works are not worthy in terms of stylistics and literary terms and opinion of the elite in the relevant field, but they are noteworthy due to their popular content and themes.

Dokhtar-e tir-e bakht va javan-e bolhavas [The stories of
The Miserable Girl and the Capricious Guy] (Teymourtash: 1930), Aros-e siyahpoush [The Bride in Black] (Qaffari,: 1950), Sanjagh morvarid [The Pearl Pin] (Tavalloli: 1959) are among the first popular works of contemporary women's story writing, and the subjects and themes of these stories are mostly about love, betrayal, loneliness, the confrontation between men and women and the lack of mutual understanding, the critique of the traditional society, Maternal love and affection, wanderings, marriage and abuse and deceit of women.In the early decades of women's story writing, Simin Daneshvar is the first Iranian woman who published a series of short stories called Atash-e khamosh [The Extinguished Fire] in 1948.Although, the critics believe that some of the stories of this collection are superficial and journalistic, (Novin,2009:128); but this collection has a particular importance because it is the first collection of stories from the female writers.Most of the stories in this collection reflects the interaction of women in the community and family with other men and women.The desperate love of men, the abuse of women and drag them to abyss of corruption, treason, suicide, poverty and prostitution, male sexual diversity, and the marriage of the poor young women with wealthy old men are the most common themes in such stories.All what can be seen in all these stories is the feminine feelings that have recently emerged in story writing in Iran.(Mir abedini, 2001:195) One of the most commonly used images of women in contemporary literature is the prostitute's woman; but in the works of female story writers, a prostitute has no extensive presence and just a few stories have been devoted to this issue.However, during this period, female story writers, like men writers "influenced by the French romantic writers, tried to return the human worth of the prostitute women in the aristocratic world," (ibid: 54) but there is no description, such as that of men writings, of the prostitutes women' life and conduct in writings of women of this period.In general, obscene and erotic images, as seen in men's writings, are not in the works of women.This category of women in society is merely mentioned in the works of women, and the reasons for their fall and their problems are revealed.
Moreover, continuing to study in a large part of the stories of the early decades of this century is one of the women's concerns of the story, which correctly reflects the conditions of the society of the time, and the obscurantism that men had for education of their daughters or wives at that time.According to the articles published in the journals of this era about encouraging the girls and families and helping them to educate, it is possible to find out unawareness of the families about this as well as the restrictions they imposed on girls in this regard.Some researchers believe that in traditional societies, because of the type of work and roles assigned to women, they always needed a minimum of education, so the predictions and measures needed for education of women have rarely been raised in the social system of such societies.(Bernard, 1983:123) At the beginning of this era, if there are resistances to women's literacy from social mores, years later, what is controversial about this is the issue of continuing university studies at the university for women.Such problem has not been seen since 50s, and the confrontation between men and women in romantic relationships attracted the attention of writers more than anything else did.About the atmosphere of the formation of romance, in the first stories according to the conditions of the community, most of these acquaintances occur in the kinship situation and the place the family live together.Little by little, by entering the women to universities and offices and social jobs, new spaces are founded for meeting each other and emotional encounters.In the works of Farideh Golbou, Khatereh Parvaneh and Mansoureh Hosseini, we can see the situations for men and women to meet each other.In these works, authors' critique toward inhuman traditions and social injustice in relation to women in the family and society is also mentioned.
The description of the social atmosphere during the 1940s, such as the chaos and death, famine and disease, and the representation of political and social issues, the repression of the society, the critique of consumerism in the staff class, as well as the attention to the mental states of the characters and the psychological damages caused by political and social issues in those years are evident in women's stories since 1970.These stories criticize the political and social issues of the democratic society and depict a vision without any hope and brightness from the perspective of the characters.Addressing romantic relationships that are not protected against politics and leave loneliness and a bitter fate for lovers, has also been noted in many stories since 1970.Although all the writings with the theme of power are political, and the political novel narrates the story of revolt, war and escape and violent experiences of the hero whose life is linked with political power.However, even if a story tries to keep its audience away from politics, it is political in a way.(Abul-hamd, 1988:36) Women are usually away from the political events due to the nature of their lives and being supported in the traditional society.(Miles, 2001:137) But in some historical periods, they had a significant and effective presence in the political campaigns of the traditional society, which arouses the amazement of many Europeans living in Iran at that time.As Mary Schille, the wife of British Foreign Minister at Nasser-al-Din Shah era wrote in her memoir that the secrecy of Iranian women beyond hijab does not mean that they are out of the political and social arena.(Schille, 1990:175) In Iran, the presence of women is mostly seen especially after the Constitutional Revolution such as: managing bulwarks by women wearing chador in Tabriz (Pavlovich, 1978:55), and the military presence of female farmers, while the babies were closed on their back, (Kermani, 1984:457) and the protest of women in Tehran and Kerman for killing the women of Makou for protesting for the lack of codification of the constitutional amendment by Iqbal al-Saltanah (Malekzadeh, 1993:26) and their serious presence of the events leading up to the Islamic Revolution on 1978 as well as their role during wartime.Sociologists have named the characteristics of political participation that are political and executive position, being an active member of a political organization or pseudo-political, and eagerness to participate in political activities (Rush, 2013:111).They believe that participation generally occurs at two levels: the populace, such as participation in elections, parties, associations and social experiences, and the elite such as presence in the parliament, executive branch and having high official position.(Kazemipour, 2004:217) the researches show that women, because of different socialization and gender stereotypes, which are induced through the process of socialization and through educational institutions, consider politics as masculine and have no tendency for political participation, especially in the field of power and high political positions.The origin of many social inequalities is in the gender stereotypes of society and not in the law, and it is reproduced and continued through the family, education and the media.(Nazari, 2013:161 -162) In contemporary history of Iran, there have been various currents and parties, such as religious movements, leftist tendencies and monarchists.The Leftist thoughts had a great deal of attraction for intellectuals and opponents of the royal government during the Pahlavi era.The main body of the leftist thinkers was formed of the theorists and leaders of the Tudeh Party.(Dorosti, 2002:115) The Tudeh Party is one of the first organizations to bring women into politics and encourage them to spread political and social rights.(Abrahamian, 1999:304 -305) In female story writers, women's political participation has remained at the populace level.For example, in the book of Cheragh ha ra man khamosh mikonam [I'm turning off the lights] (Pirzad, 2001), one of the female characters has social and political activities that is at the populace and is referred to as an informed and aware woman.In Ngaran nabash [Do not worry] (Mohebali: 2009) too, the mother of the main character has experienced political struggle in the past, but the reader is unaware of the details of her political behavior and thoughts.In the meantime, Simin Daneshvar cites women's political and social struggle more than other women story writers do.In the story of Souvashon (Daneshvar: 1969), the main character of the story tries to protect the family from the damage of political currents of the day, but ultimately, when she loses her husband, she reaches the political aware-ness.In Souvashon, both national and libertarian struggles and the social status of women are discussed.Also in Jazir-esargardani [The Wandering Island](Daneshvar: 1994), the writer tries to portray representatives of various political parties and depict their thoughts.Atr-e raziyane [The Fennel Fragrance] (Sari: 2000) tells about the historical event of December 7, 1953 and death of students.The story of Atlasi (Saberi, 2001) also narrates the story of a young girl who comes to political struggles under her stepfather's teaches and attempts to transform her surroundings.Besides, Belqais Soleimani in her trio of Bzi-e akhar-e bano [the Last Game of Lady] (2005), Baziy-arosh o damad[the Game of Bride and groom] ( 2006) and Khal-e bazi [Aunt of the Game] (2006) writes about the events of 60s of Iran and the political atmosphere of those years.In the study of these works, it seems as women are influenced by their husbands in political activities, (Bashirieh, 292: 1996) the women tend to their husbands' political orientations, and are much affected by them.Dog and Long Winter (Parsipour: 1976) (Hajizadeh: 2000), all the mentioned books are the stories about the romantic relationships that had no happy ending with political activities.The works with war theme, written by women although show a high social participation of the Iranian women in society, but it is a description of the loneliness and deep suffering of women of this land in the absence of their husbands.Mahboubeh Mirqadiri, has a new look at the war in her stories, and describes the human and inner feelings of the women affected during this period.
The confrontation between men and women in love and the loneliness as its result, is still the common theme of the works after the Islamic Revolution in Iran, and the concern about the loss of love among the spouses in the middle age, is seriously in many stories from the 60s, like the works of Zoya Pirzad, Mihan Bahrami, Mansoureh Sharifzade and Tahereh Alavi.
In terms of styles of story writing in the decades after the revolution, although more story writer women are portraying the novels of social romantism and realism, but gradually we see the prevalence of magical realism and the mixing of mystical and mythological thoughts in their works.One of these works is Touba va manay-e shab [the Touba and the Meaning of the Night] (Parsipour: 1998), which tells about the time of the constitution to the revolution of 1978, and in the end, the only way of sliding for the women is love and adhere to nature.This writer, in her other book named, Zanan bedon-e mardan [Women Without Men] (Parsipour: 1989) also illustrates the passage of various stages of love.
In the same years, Goli Taraghi writes about the nostalgia and childhood memories in the Scattered Memoirs (Taraghi: 1994).Stories like Jazir-e sargardani [the Wandering Island] (Daneshvar:1993) speaks about wandering among the political currents.The authors of the stories of the Drowning People (Ravanipour: 1991), el-e folad [Heart of Steel] (ibid: 68), Morvarid Khatoun (Sari: 1995), Atr-e raziyaneh [The Fennel Fragrance] (Sari: 2000), zenegi byad kad [Should be live].(Etehadieh: 1997), narrate the sorrows of the urban and rural girls and women during the social, historical and political changes of the traditional Iranian society.Nevertheless, in the case of popular novels published after the revolution, it is necessary to explain that although in most cases and in terms of subjects and themes, it seems to be a kind of continuation of the pre-revolutionary market and footnote literature, but because of the changes occurred in the society, there are changes within their themes.Moreover, the writers face some constraints and restrictions in addressing some of the themes.Perhaps the least difference with pre-revolutionary works is that there is no possibility of erotic descriptions with the new political and social atmosphere that has emerged.Therefore, the authors must seek other strategies and ideas for the greater attractiveness of their stories, and this can result to create the various themes in their works.The love, the maternal affection, the confrontation between men and women, and women's efforts to find an identity independent of men are the subjects of public stories, in which the villager's immaculacy and purity are usually gone by facing an attractive, but vibrant urban life full of various problems.The years after 1997 may be the culmination of women's story writing in the whole history of story writing regarding quantity and quality, which naturally includes popular literature, too.In popular and market stories of these years, there are still the theme of male deceit and seducing young girls.Arezou Kariman: 1998) is one of the best examples of these works.In the stories of the 60s, although girls tend less to forced marriages and usually experience romantic marriages, but these romantic marriages do not usually lead to happiness for women due to treason or violence of men.In addition, it is in some way a confirmation of the common beliefs about traditional marriages and the sustainability of marriages that the experience of the family discerns.The most prominent example of such stories is Bamda-e khomar (Haj Seyyed Javadi: 1996) and Dalan-e behesht [the Corridor of Paradise] (Safavi: 2000), which have been very popular and bestseller.During this period, the promotion of traditional and patriarchal thoughts and the belief in the good fortune of good men and the punishment for bad men is a common theme in popular stories.The women of these stories are aimless and weak-kneed and their only concern is identity through marriage, which is, of course, a decision made specifically with fathers.
Although, the great acceptance of market literature reflects the desire of many readers who seek peace and happiness among the irritating realities of real life, but their inappropriate teachings should not be ignored that are related to the traditional look of authors of these works.In these stories, the verbal and physical violence of men exists as a normal and natural phenomenon, and the compromise of women with any kind of insult or humiliation by the hus-band is a kind of moral virtue.One of the popular things in this era is the market literature.Variety in subjects and womanish detailism, as well as detailed descriptions of the feelings of the characters of popular stories, have led to the validity and prosperity of such works from the readers' opinion.In this context, what psychologically causes many women to tend to such stories is considerable: "More than 50 % of women read romantic and love novels.But it is no coincidence that most readers are girls and middle-aged housewives.These two groups feel more clearly than other women that it is impossible for a woman to succeed.The fact that women read romance novels is a scale to measure their deep dissatisfaction of persuasion to male gender, as well as the desire for identification with the narratives of the submissive femininity that promote these writings."(Lite, 2003:195) In such novels, as stated, the traditions and beliefs of the community are usually reflected and the author confirms it as the story goes.Of course, in some popular stories changes can rarely be seen in the theme.For example, the male violence against his wife, especially in pre-revolutionary popular stories, was justified and sometimes praised as a manly behavior and as a result of bias or zeal, but nowadays and in some writers' opinion; it is defined as a psychotic behavior.(Qasemi, 2001) Popular stories in the years after 2001, although sometimes the author talks about new and contemporary thoughts by characters, but since it does not find expression in the characters' actions, and the whole text is not influenced by it, so these modern female thoughts are ineffective in changing the reader's social thought and remain in the shape of slogans.
The novel of Darya (Moeini: 2010) and the Girl in Mist (Hamzehloo: 2009) and the My Share (Seniei: 2003) are among popular novels in the years after 2001, which despite the modern atmosphere, repeat and confirm the same stereotypical and traditional beliefs.
In the case of elitist stories and transcendental literature, the years after 1991, especially since 1996, should be considered a boom in Iranian women's story.A period that, along with an increase in the number of writers, there is a great deal of variation in the subjects and themes.This variation in the writings of women and the wide range of female readers during this period, due to the growth of the middle class, creates a thriving market for the works of women story writers.
Goldmann believes in two fundamental dimensions in the human being: the tendency to adapt to reality and to exceed the limits of reality.To go to the possibility, and to create oneself leads to a static adaptation, and the exceeding the reality and rebellion leads to dynamism.In Goldmann's point of view, what leads rebellion and go beyond reality is awareness.Compatibility does not bring the transformation for the society, but awareness makes the possibility of going beyond position."People tend to move toward a different balance, which is often more remarkable."(Goldmann, 1991:139 -140) During these years, there is adaptation in women's popular stories, and in elitist and transcendental stories, we can see moving beyond social and family reality.Referring to the mutiny of artists, which is described by Goldmann in two forms of rebellion in the structure and contumacy in the theme of the works.(ibid: 142) Iranian women story writers have turned to rebellion in content rather the rebellion and contumacy in style and structure of the story.In stories written in the years before 1990s, story writers have mostly focused on the apparent relationships between husband and wife, but since 1995 onward, most women writers describe the inner feelings of a woman toward her husband and child.Mahnaz Karimi and Mitra Davar in their stories describe the psychological disruption of women in dealing with misconduct in men.Women' stories show remarkable changes in the relationship between mothers and their children.Although addressing the issue of maternal affection and custody of children are common themes in the early years of the prevalence of women's today story, the tensions with children, especially the boy's, are gradually being referred to in these stories.Little by little, women' story writers world experience the women writers who distance themselves from the stereotypical and prevailing role of the earlier narrative texts and seek attention to their own mental and physical needs and asks men for greater affection and care to the children of the family in their writings.
In the stories of the early decades of women's story writing, addressing the relationship between mother and child was limited to describing motherhood and abuse of this feeling by others to harass them and criticizing the social laws relating to child custody.While addressing emotional tensions between members of the family and especially the dissonance of children especially boys, have been featured in the stories of the years after 2001 and some story writers such as Mahsa Mohebali, Tahereh Alavi and Mehrangiz Sharifian paid attention to such themes.
In addition, from 1996 onwards, for the first time in the stories of women, there are new perspectives on the relationship of women with their husbands and children that emerged from the current life in society, indicating a move towards finding a meaning for life without stereotypical roles of being a mother and a wife.Since 2001, compared to previous years, women story writers describe the theme of love and loneliness caused by the confrontation of men and women with more diverse topics.Parallel relationships and re-marriage, the problems of being a second wife, the decline of romantic relationships between men and women and the weakness of family foundations, and the attempt to achieve individual and independent identity, are among the themes of works by writers like Fariba Wafi, Mitra Eliati, Tahereh Alavi and Mahmonir Kahbasi.
Changing the pattern of choosing a spouse in stories of these years and how girls and boys are getting familiar in recent years is also interesting.These acquaintances happen more in the university and more than that on the street.Women of these stories have less maternal self-sacrifice and are more in outdoors and out of kitchen spaces.These women are trying to get out of their traditional shells and abandon the role of stereotypes.Their lives are more out of the house and in restaurants and shopping centers of cities. Adat mikonim [We get used to] (Zoya Pirzad: 2004) is one of the best examples to recognize the thoughts and lives of three generations of Iranian women.
Unmarried and single parenthood lives, which has been noted in Iranian stories since the year of 1991, is one of the common themes in the works of Ravanipour, Banafsheh Hejazi and Zoya Pirzad in the year 2001 onwards.

CONCLUSION
The review of stories written by the women story writers reveals a large part of the themes and subjects of these stories, which are emerged from the emotions and the relationship of the women with the family and the prominent thought, that are challenged by the writers in most cases.Of the most frequent topics in women's stories, are marriage and related issues.The stories of the early decades, influenced by the beliefs of the traditional society, believe that happiness for women depends on marriage and motherhood.Love in these stories has no result except scandal and corruption due to male deceit, and women are to follow the traditional marriages.The lack of satisfaction with traditional marriages leads women to try to experience love within the framework of marriage, but what actually happens is the diminution of romantic feelings in middle age, the betrayal of men or the death of a spouse during life, which still withholds the happiness of them.Love and loneliness due to the confrontation between men and women is a common theme in these works that is narrated in the context of various issues arising from the family and social relationships of women.The emotional crisis in the family and social relationships, along with coping with the compulsion to accept gender stereotypes for family and community acceptance, are common in the stories of these women.It shows the authors' awareness of the changes and attempts to change the family and social conditions.These family and social tensions make women to think about themselves and seek to discover the social identity and understand human needs.
Although the heroes of popular stories tend to reproduce the traditional cosmopolitan by accepting the gendered concepts in stories, but women characters in the literary stories -accepted by the elitist and book readers -that mostly belongs to the middle classes of society, indicates that this class is trying to transcend the old attitudes and reach modern notions.The changes made in the themes and subjects of these works, which writers are mostly from the middle class, shows the increase of the awareness and recognition of their identity and individuality and achieving a situation beyond what it is.Though in popular works, most writers are still interested in the reproduction of traditional gender stereotypes, but the writers of transcendental literature include transformations in their cognitive domains into the characters of stories and seek to understand their own self and place in the world around them.