Djavannian Spaces: A Narrative Geography of Exile and Identity in the Novels of Chahdortt Djavann
Abstract
This article examines the narrative geography in Chahdortt Djavann’s novels, exploring how spaces—from Iran to France, through intermediate territories—structure the experience of exile and identity reconstruction. Drawing on the theories of Foucault (heterotopia), Augé (non-places), and Bhabha (third space), the study reveals three key dimensions: Iran as a traumatic space, where homes, prisons, and cities embody both patriarchal oppression and symbolic resistance; intermediate spaces (Istanbul, Dubai, transit zones), acting as laboratories of hybrid identities, exposing both the violence and potential of migratory journeys; and France, an ambivalent mirror where idealization clashes with disillusionment, torn between difficult integration and spatial marginalization. The article highlights the political significance of these spatial representations, where places become narrative operators that unveil mechanisms of domination and strategies of self-reinvention. This geocritical approach thus provides an original framework for understanding contemporary migration challenges.
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