Investigating the nature of "evil" in a novel by Belqis Soleimani based on the views of Daryl Koehn

Document Type : Promotional article

Author

Associate Professor, Department of Persian Language and Literature, Payame Noor University, Tehran, Iran

10.29252/kavosh.2022.17528.3154

Abstract

Belqis Soleimani's novel Devil Seed is one of the distinctive works of contemporary Persian fiction in which the author has tried to address the subject of “evil" as a controversial and serious concept through a compelling story full of various sub-narratives. Throughout the novel, the reader repeatedly faces the concept of evil from various philosophical, theological, and moral perspectives in its vernacular implications and even lexical connotations. This raises the question of what kind of evil the author means. This article seeks to investigate the issue of evil in the mentioned novel using a descriptive-analytical method and the theoretical foundations proposed by Daryl Koehn. By criticizing the views of ethicists and rationalists on the conscious and deliberate nature of evil, Koehn considers the origin of evil to be unconscious processes that have nothing to do with the conscious choice of persons. Among the characters in the novel Devil Seed, Sohrab is most related to the issue of evil. He is a bored, narcissistic, ungrateful, miserable and ostentatious character who sacrifices his life and youth and his wife Mahrokh for his inner evil. The results of examining the actions and thoughts of this character based on Koehn's teachings show that the boredom arising from alienation and the obsession to attract the attention and approval of others are the main causes of evil in this character. They are unconscious processes that turn Sohrab into an actor who spends his whole life playing favorite roles to be approved by others.
 

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References

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Journal of Kavoshnameh in Persian Language and Literature
Volume 23, Issue 54 - Serial Number 54
November 2022
Pages 201-232

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