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Among contemporary playwrights, screenplay writers, and film directors, David Mamet is undoubtedly one of the best and most famous, especially in America. This study tries to analyze Glengarry Glen Ross, the best-known work of Mamet, which received Pulitzer Prize. We have chosen New Historicism as our main approach and we resort to Foucault's views and ideas in order to have a richer conceptual framework. The main concern of this paper is to analyze the concept of gender identity, the direct interrelation between power and sexuality, and the trace of this interrelation in social and business challenges. This study also discusses the traces of American capitalism as a circulating and dominant discourse and the way it exercises its power over different classes. Furthermore, it tries to give an account of David Mamet's attitude on gender roles. Finally, the paper deals with the question of language as a means of linking and signifying gender and power.

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This paper tends to investigate discourse, power, and language in Behrangi’s “Olduz va kalagh-ha”[1] and “Olduz va aroosak-e sokhangoo”[2] under the light of Foucauldian new historicism to demonstrate that multiple discourses of the selected texts are inseparable from the political, social, literary, and cultural discourses of Behrangi’s era. The study also illustrates how Behrangi has portrayed the mutual relations between language and power by the use of objects and animal characters in his stories. As soon as language threatens power (stepmother), it is doomed to silence.
[1] “Olduz and Crows” [2] “Olduz and the Talking Doll”

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نوشتار پیش¬رو به معرفی و نقد مقالۀ «جنسیت، قدرت و کاربرد زبان از دیدگاه تاریخگرایی نوین در گلنگری گلن راس اثر دیوید مَمِت» نوشتۀ فاضل اسدی امجد و یاسر ذوالفقاری (فصلنامۀ نقد ادبی، سال دوم، شمارۀ هفتم، پاییز 1388) می پردازد و تلاش می کند از این طریق به برخی از چالش های پژوهش های نقد ادبی به طور کلی و رویکرد تاریخ¬گرایی نو به طور خاص اشاره کند. گرچه این رویکرد چندان نو نیست و زمان قابل توجهی از پیدایش آن می¬گذرد اما در ایران رویکرد تازه-ای به شمار می¬رود و برای بسیاری از پژوهشگران پدیده ناآشنایی است. یکی از دلایل این ناآشنایی عدم وجود منابع فارسی –اعم از تالیف و ترجمه- در این حوزه است که همت اساتید و خبرگان فن را می¬طلبد. این ناآشنایی به همراه برخی پژوهش¬های غیراصولی به برخی کج¬فهمی¬ها در مورد این رویکرد دامن می¬زند. در این نوشتار، مقالۀ مذکور از چهار دیدگاه نقد شده است: نظری، کاربردی، ارتباط عنوان مقاله با موضوع مورد پژوهش و معادل¬گزینی واژگان.

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Clarifying New Historicism through a Critical Look at the Papers Applying the Approach in Iran As an approach to the relationship between literature and history, new historicism has been highly received in Iranian academia. This reception was concomitant with some misunderstandings. A part of these misunderstandings is the result of the elusive nature of the approach. Moreover, lack of theoretical works in Iran has led to serious problems. Even though this approach is not a very recent one, it is a novelty in Iran. One of the reasons behind this novelty is lack of sufficient theoretical source in the field. A glance on the practice of new historicism reveals the interest in the field along with the lack of sufficient theoretical source has led to some misunderstanding. The present paper tries to correct some of the misunderstandings surrounding this approach. Keywords: New Historicism, History, Literature, Pathology, Power, Discourse, Greenblatt, Foucault.

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New Historicism

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New historicism refers to an approach that does not accept history as the historians convey. This approach mostly is based on the ideas of the American professor, Stephen Greenblatt, in the eighties of the twentieth century. According to Greenblatt, new historicism presents a new reading of the text, not a school of criticism. New historicism investigates the multilateral relations of the literary works with other texts including the historical ones to clarify their inter-textual and extra-textual aspects. New historicism inspects the relations of power and cultural, social, and ideological constructs. From the new historicist point of view, there is no difference between literary and non-literary texts. The present paper attempts to examine The Silence of the Sea to reveal the author’s and the history’s influence in creating the literary work. With the help of Greenblatt and Foucault views, inter-textual factors such as power relations as the main context are studied in the paper as well.
 
 

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The present study is a comparative study of Jean-Paul Sartre’s The Age of Reason and Iris Murdoch’s The Bell. The main focus is on “unreliable narrator” which is a popular concept at the present time when humanity enjoys manipulating each other and suffers himself from misunderstandings. Wayne C. Booth was the earliest theorist who provided a practical definition of “unreliable narrator” and his theory is considered as the framework. Previously, the studies only focused on homodiegetic narrators but, here, other narrative techniques are analyzed. In other words, the point of view and the presence of multiple perspectives and voices are crucial in the analysis of unreliable narratives. These narrative techniques and unreliable narrators are scrutinized at the social and political contexts of the novels. Accordingly, New Historicism, specifically Stephen Greenblatt’s theory, is used as another approach to reveal the presence and function of the unreliable narrators in the selected literary works.
 

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Commonly, facing the works of art within a historical theme, we either expect the work to match exactly with history, or expect to see some kind of artist's point of view from that historical period. The former cannot be recreated or represented in the world of art. The latter, however, does not have the same application. Therefore, with sufficient knowledge of the author and the discourse conditions and power relations during his life period, his perspective on history in a historical work can be analyzed better. In this article, through a comparative and historical method, two plays Death of Yazdgerd written by Bahram Beyzai and Romulus the Great written by Friedrich Dürrenmatt were examined from the perspective of new historicism to show how two playwrights were affected by history in two different places and times, and consequently influenced the history of their time. This comparative research shows that choosing a specific period of history to write a play was purposeful. Also, writing about a historical period is affected by the period of the playwright's life and culture, and the reason for the difference in the power relations and the ending of the texts lies within the same context.
 
 

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The agency of literature is one of the keywords of New Historicism. New historicists believe that literature is not simply a product of history; it actively makes history. History, power discourses, marginalized parts of society, and the mutual relationship between literature and culture are central concerns in new historicism. Both Ferdowsi and Shakespeare, although from two diverse cultures and six centuries apart from each other, their works share similar characteristics seen from a historical and literary perspective. Ferdowsi was contemporary with the Sāmānids age of reviving the Persian language and culture after a long period of repression. Shakespeare also lived during the Renaissance age of change in beliefs, views, and worldviews. In addition, challenging the dominant discourses of power and cultural clichés, they created new outlooks towards women in their respective culture. Women who were so far voiceless and marginalized during the times, now get an active presence in their works. The passive, silent Persian woman, kept marginalized for centuries, has an active role and presence in the Shahnameh. Silent and obedient women considered sinful during Shakespeare’s era, have a voice and dynamic presence in his plays. This study tries to depict women’s dynamic personalities both in their contemporary societies and selected literary works. By examining the dominant discourses regarding women, reading their contemporary texts, and analyzing the role of women in their literary works, it is found that both writers in the selected works had different viewpoints towards women compared to the dominant discourses of their time.

 

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Criticism of new historicism has been formed in opposition to traditional historicism. Contrary to traditional historicism, which speaks of the one-sided influence of history on literature, new historicism believes in the mutual influence of literature and history on each other. The story of Bahram and Golandam is one of the remarkable poems in Kurdish literature, which are called "Beit". Beits are syllable-weighted folktales recited by beit readers. It can be said that there are some similarities between the stories of Bahram and Golandam and Zal and Rudabeh. Therefore, it is possible to measure these two stories with each other. In this research, relying on library and documentary studies and with an analytical-comparative approach, we have tried to give a reading of the two stories in question based on the concepts of new historicism. The findings show that although both stories are apparently romantic and the conflicts are about love and marriage; But inside the story, power and discourse interests are fundamental issues. Every discourse tries to maintain its political and social interests.
 

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"Haftwad" story is a multilayered story of shahnameh, Although it included in a section called historical section of shahnameh, but it has been interwowen with mythologic elements and constructed in margin of myth and history. this story with it's origin came back to "Ardeshir Babakan Works", is a section of Ardeshir life befor reaching Iranshahr kingdom. Historical-mythic nature of Haftwad story and its collection of textual and intertextual elements required in various reading and pave the way to reading religious, historical, political and even economic topics with semiological approaches, discourse analysis, and new historicism. The present research aims to review This story from both new historicism and discourse analysis point of view (perspective) having a deep connection with authority and ideology, and to represent its neglected and unsought aspects. In sum, struggle between Parthian and sassanian, contrast of legal and illegal authority, hegemony of financial system and contrast of both Zoroastrianism and Mithraism is motif of Haftwad story in each of such reviews. Also study of elements and signs available on shahnameh narrative and another source of Haftwad story show that source of political and ideological authority has played an important role in formation events in primary source of shahnameh narrative (Ardeshir Babakan Works) and following it in shahnameh itself.