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Lotfi M, Aghgolzadeh F, Modarresi B, Ameri H. Analyzing Narrative Actants in the Selected Postmodern Absurd Works Compared with Greimas Model. LCQ 2020; 13 (50) :135-167
URL: http://lcq.modares.ac.ir/article-29-36560-en.html

The absurd works include elements of wordplay, exaggerated clichés, repetition, irrelevant and even innovated phrases, uttered by one of the characters. The current study provides a narrative analysis of six selected literary works, namely "Endgame" and "Waiting for Godot" by Samuel Becket, "The room" by Harold Pinter, "The Blind Owl" by Sadegh Hedayat and "The Cold Air" by Virgilio Pinera. By adopting a descriptive-analytic approach, this paper reconsidered narrative actants presented by Greimas (1966) and focused on six new narrative actants proposed by the researchers for analyzing the narrative of the selected absurd works. Narratology is a field of study that is undergoing a re-contextualization. Apart from theories such as Vladimir Propp’s actantial typology, absurdist theories of the self may also have influenced the way structuralist narratologists drew on linguistic theory to re-describe characters in stories as actants. The researchers proposed six new narrative actants that can be found in absurd works. They include sufferer (antihero) for hero, recluse for the receiver, repetition for the helper, failure for the object, partner for opponent. The donor is absent in absurd works and instead, oppressive can be considered as an actant in these literary works. In conclusion, it could be said that a more linguistically particularized account of actants may have significant methodological benefits for present-day researcher, interested in narrative analysis of absurd works