In a controversial decision, Louis Althusser classifies literature as the apparatuses through which the dominant ideology is disseminated. Yet, is it possible to place the works that explicitly expose State Apparatuses in such classification? Bozorg Alavi’s “Gileh Mard” uncovers power exertion of the dominant system on a character who has ignored and challenged class coalition. The powerful presence of Repressive State Apparatus, and to some extent Ideological Apparatuses, indicate the writer’s awareness of the functions of apparatuses in changing individuals into the system’s desired subject, and this portrayal is probably an indication of his inclination to dissect such power functions for his readers. This claim is supported by the fact that Alavi was self-consciously leftist in politics and realism in depicting social disorders was one of his writing styles. The question that arises is whether Alavi’s “Gileh Mard” is a literary product that shakes the pillars of ideology, or the short story itself becomes finally an Ideological State Apparatus, serving the dominant system? While the present research provides an Althusserian answer to this question through referring to Lenin and Philosophy and “A Letter on Art”, it explores the shortcomings of the Althusserian approach through the “aesthetic of reception”.

Keywords: Althusser, literature, ideology, Bozorg Alavi, Gileh Mard

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