Persian Language and Literature
Maryam Raminnia
Volume 18, Issue 2 , June 2018, , Pages 91-112
Abstract
The main aim of the book “Ambiguity function in the process of reading the text authored by Forough Sahba” is to examine complexities discursivities, and narrative techniques making the stories ambiguous. Although the author attempts to present a host of evidence on ambiguous-making ...
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The main aim of the book “Ambiguity function in the process of reading the text authored by Forough Sahba” is to examine complexities discursivities, and narrative techniques making the stories ambiguous. Although the author attempts to present a host of evidence on ambiguous-making techniques for modern stories, there still exist some criticisms on the structure and content of the book which requires its examination more closely. Disorganization and weakness in the classification of the book’s contents besides misreading of “ambiguity” are the main drawbacks of the present book. More evidently, reducing the ambiguity in stories, merely modern and postmodern ones, equaling the ambiguity with its complexities and discursivities, and also downgrading the ambiguity which are perceived as strategies for maintaining the author’s authority, are the main motives for writing this paper.
Persian Language and Literature
Parsa Janbeh Saraie
Volume 18, Issue 2 , June 2018, , Pages 349-371
Abstract
As a communicative-epistemological concept, ambiguity is pivotal to any discussion of reading. Due to its roots in different fields of knowledge, as well as its dependence on age, genre, style, etc., ambiguity finds different embodiments in different circumstances. Therefore, it would be very difficult ...
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As a communicative-epistemological concept, ambiguity is pivotal to any discussion of reading. Due to its roots in different fields of knowledge, as well as its dependence on age, genre, style, etc., ambiguity finds different embodiments in different circumstances. Therefore, it would be very difficult to discuss the concept without delimiting it to specific ages or genres. This paper is a meta-commentary on “The Function of Ambiguity in the Process of Reading Texts” by Forough Sahba. Via her analysis of some modernist and postmodernist narratives, Sahba has argued that despite the theory of the death of the author, modernist and postmodernist uses of ambiguity show the centrality of the author. The book is informative and especially helpful in defining different types of ambiguity. However, it has some shortcomings: it has no literature review; its classifications of ambiguity are not satisfying; and it has a few inconsistencies in its form and content. Moreover, it is based on a contradictory claim.