Document Type : Research Paper
Authors
1 Assistant Professor, Department of Arabic Language and Literature, Faculty of Literature and Foreign Languages, Payame Noor University, Tehran, Iran.
2 Associate Professor, Department of Arabic Language and Literature, Faculty of Literature and Humanities, Razi University, Kermanshah, Iran.
Abstract
Adopting an interdisciplinary approach and drawing on Jürgen Habermas’s theory of communicative action, this study examines the concepts of rationality, communicative action, lifeworld, and the colonization of the lifeworld in Nawal El Saadawi’s Zinat and Parinoush Saniee’s My Share. Textual analysis reveals that familial and social structures in these novels are predominantly grounded in instrumental rationality, leading to the reproduction of domination and the subordination of female characters. At both individual and collective levels, this condition results in the gradual colonization of women’s lifeworlds and restricts the possibility of forming mutual understanding and communicative rationality. Nevertheless, at critical narrative moments, the texts depict resistance and reflexivity among female characters, highlighting their efforts to redefine the self and reclaim the lifeworld. Based on qualitative analysis and critical reading, this study demonstrates that integrating Habermasian theory with literary texts can uncover hidden dimensions of domination and resistance within semantic and discursive layers. The findings suggest that these novels go beyond mere social representation, providing a space for questioning systems of instrumental rationality and patriarchal relations, while portraying moments in which critical rationality and communicative action emerge as possibilities for reconstructing human relationships and restoring the colonized lifeworld. Ultimately, this analysis emphasizes the capacity of literature to illuminate power structures and to propose a more humane alternative grounded in dialogue, mutual understanding, and collective reason.
Keywords
Main Subjects
)