نویسندگان

چکیده مقاله

In his trilogy, Orientalism (1978), The World, the Text and the Critic (1983), and Culture and Imperialism (1993) Edward Said makes a concise analysis of the western cultural construction of the East. Referring to the term “Contrapuntal reading” which he has borrowed from western music, the American-Palestinian critic puts his emphasis on reading the literary texts by taking into account the intertwined histories and perspectives. In William Congreve’s The Way of the World which was written during Restoration period, we are dealing with such negative stances taken by the westerners toward the Easterners. In The Horrible Tehran, Moshfegh Kazemi has depicted the social and political conditions of Tehran in such a way that endorses and recalls the theories propounded by Edward Said. This study aims at analyzing the selected literary works on the basis of Edward Said’s postcolonial and cultural theories. The research methodology of this study tends to be descriptive-analytic by taking cultural approach. The importance of this research paper lays in the role that it plays in shaping cultural understanding among the people for developing a unified nation. To conclude, cultures have their own advantages and disadvantages. The very fact should not lead into the construction of high/low binary oppositions. The ideas of Congreve and Moshfegh Kazemi reach harmony like the modulations of a symphonic melody. They pour into the same sea like two branches of a river. Both the writers illustrate the dominant structure and culture of their societies tending to improve the shortcomings.