picaresque

Though Mashala-Khan in Harun al-Rashid’s Court is a known novel in contemporary satirical Persian literature, its picaresque features have never been systematically studied. This descriptive-analytical research investigates how such features in the narrative structure and characterization of this novel have been localized and what innovations in combining those features with Persian traditional narrative style are achieved. First, the narrative and episodic structure, the satirical language, and the protagonist’s actions are classified. Then, through a thematic analysis, the function of each feature (travel, poverty, trickery, and disguise) in the socio-critical approach of the text are discussed. The theoretical framework is based on Abrams and Geoffrey (2012) and Cuddens’ (1979) definitions. The findings show the episodes contain three balanced layers of verbal, situational, and structural satire that reveal a localized background to show the social and cultural inequalities of the time. Traveling in time is a symbolic quest for social justice. Poverty and trickery become the protagonist’s motivation through which a bitter satire and popular creativity is achieved. Besides, the disguises turn the obscure identity into a device for revealing the power structure and the corrupted bureaucratic system. This study provides a model for studying contemporary Persian picaresque texts. The model helps us to recognize a combination of Western features of the genre and Persian narrative traditions.