2024 : 10 : 8
Behzad Pourgharib

Behzad Pourgharib

Academic rank: Associate Professor
ORCID: 0000-0002-6162-7312
Education: PhD.
ScopusId: 57105601500
HIndex:
Faculty: Faculty of Arts and Architecture
Address: دانشگاه مازندران
Phone: 01152283587

Research

Title
Narrative strategies of transrealism: the interplay of satire, fantasy, and science in American dystopian fiction
Type
JournalPaper
Keywords
Transrealism; fantasy; science-fiction; America; dystopia
Year
2024
Journal Journal for Cultural Research
DOI
Researchers Behzad Pourgharib ، Hamta Mahdavi Nataj ، Moussa Pourya Asl ، Henry Oinas-Kukkonen

Abstract

The rise of transrealism in the second half of the twentieth century embellished the literary landscape in America with a new mode of expression that offered new understanding of time, space, identity, and social values and norms. This study situates the American novelist Kurt Vonnegut’s Player Piano within this literary context to map out the qualities that distinguish it as a transrealistic fiction. We argue that through innovative coalescence of fantasy and realism, this postmodern novel provides a satirical commentary against the incongruities of the contemporary American society. To analyse the novel, we employ Rudy Rucker’s theorisations of the movement that delineates the transrealist manifesto as a union of realism, fantasy, and science-fiction. The findings reveal that through a satirical representation of the current advancements in technology and their inevitably negative impact on human life and society, the novel provides a dystopian picture of modern life in America. This apocalyptic sentiment is reinforced through a creative convergence of the surreal features of science-fiction, the tropes of naturalistic realism, and the elements of satire that together help to accentuate the deficiencies and ironies of the modern American society as well as the rampant misuse of technology by both individuals and authorities.