A Comparative Study of the Grotesque Components in the Two works of Jean Teulé's Suicide Shop and Houshang Golshiri's Prince Ehtjab

Humor can be classified into two areas: sweet humor and black humor (grotesque). Grotesque deals with the bitter,
 

Introduction

black satire from literary, philosophical, or historical points of view. Black satire appears in the work of poets or writers in whose thoughts elements of commitment and responsibility permeate, on the grounds that real black satire cannot be realized without writers positioning themselves critically towards things, and as we know, criticism itself is a manifestation of commitment. In committed and meaning-oriented contemporary literature, satire is more moral, therefore it is less close to humor, black comedy, and lampoon, and rarely mixes with them. Therefore, the field of satirist's involvement includes intellectual, religious, political, social, moral, literary and even economic issues. In this research, the grotesque elements in two works, Prince Ehtjab by Houshang Golshiri and Shop of Suicide by the French writer Jean Teulé, are examined and compared.
 

Methodology

    The current research was formed in order to add to the existing theoretical knowledge in the field of contemporary Iranian grotesque literature, and its immediate application is not considered. Hence, it is considered "theoretical" in terms of purpose. It is also descriptive-analytical for the implementation and promotion method. Columbia encyclopedia considers grotesque as equivalent to black humor and writes in the definition of black humor: "Black humor, in literature, theater and film, grotesque and morbid humor is used to express the absurdity, insensitivity, paradox and cruelty of the modern world. goes. Ordinary characters and situations are often exaggerated with irony far beyond the limits of natural humor. Black humor mostly uses things associated with tragedy and hurts the audience. In the field of understanding grotesque in Persian literature, in many cases grotesque is assumed to be exactly equal to black humor.
 

Discussion

    Grotesque components in Prince Ihtjab and Suicide Shop
Swearing and Cursing
This abuse and uttering profanity is caused by an inner anger and the author tries to vent his anger by using abusive expressions and terms.
Terribly Funny
Maybe we can say that the laughter that comes after seeing the work of grotesque and black humor; is a nervous and confused one. A laugh that is more scary than funny. In other words, fun and fear are mixed together. Of course, this combination often leads to the awakening of the audience. In "The Prince Ihtjab", horrible descriptions lead to terrifying atmospheres. In The Suicide Shop, this component is reflected in the same amount but with a different quality. The difference of the "laughable horror" component in Jean Teulé's work compared to Prince Ehtjab is its fantasy. The expressions used in The Suicide Shop, although they are scary, in the end, they do not lead to the formation of a scary atmosphere.
Abnormality
One of the funny factors, as well as creating terror and disgust at the same time, is the element of abnormality. It has been seen a lot in mixing laughter and laughter against abnormal things. It can be said that simultaneous and mixed attraction and repulsion is the product of something abnormal. The main character of the story, who seems to suffer from the disease of sadism, harasses Fakhri, who is also a masochist. The anomalous component in The Suicide Shop also existed in a serious way and has a unique quality.
 
 
Exaggeration
Another element that defines grotesque and black humor is exaggeration which is crossing the limit of balance and going to extremes. Perhaps this means that the imagination in the grotesque is too free to indulge in anything, even immoral matters, to the point of distorting everything at will. In "Prince Ehtjab", the component of exaggeration does not exist. Although some of the descriptions seem unbelievable, this incredibility is there more due to the space than the magnification of an element. However, The Suicide Shop is full of exaggerations and hyperboles.
The Differences
Suicide Shop and Apocalyptic Space
The novel Suicide Shop uses the element of the apocalyptic atmosphere, in which severe climate changes have made everyone depressed and sad. The atmosphere of depression is evident in the story. The author skillfully included three historical figures in the story. The Twach family have named their children after three famous suicides - patriarch Mishima Twach is set to evoke Yukio Mishima, while their eldest son Vincent Twach is named after Vincent Van Gogh and their daughter Marilyn Twach brings Marilyn Monroe to mind. But in the story of Prince Ehtjab, this apocalyptic atmosphere does not exist. And the story is told retrospectively.
Discourses of Power in Prince Ehtijab
In Prince Ehtjab, Golshiri includes power discourses throughout his story. This political dimension of Golshiri's story should be understood according to the discourses of his time. Golshiri, influenced by the intellectual discourse of his era, in this novel, by representing and explaining and describing the power and violence that led to the destruction of the Qajar dynasty, has made a synonymization and assimilation between his novel and the social and political requirements of the Pahlavi rule. Prince Ehtjab is the last person and an infertile man from the dynasty of Qajar princes. Therefore, he is the last link in the chain of transformation of forms of exercising power. The first link of this chain and the agent of total authoritarian power is the Great ancestor or Jad Kabir. He is the embodiment of undisputed power. He is tyrranical ruler, a despot who has complete control over people's lives, wealth, and honor. He knows power well and has knowledge and access to the tools and methods of maintaining it. His life is summarized in two areas: murder and acts of force, lust and sexual entertainment: "every day you should kill only one or two" (Golshiri, 1368: 50).
Flashback is the main feature of Prince Ehtjab
Prince Ehtjab is expressed in the way of the fluid flow of the mind and therefore lacks temporal and spatial coherence. This method and technique of going to the past and reviewing the actions, speech and thoughts of the characters makes the past dynamic and brings it live in front of the reader, and the reader feels a connection with the past because of this. While in Suicide Shop, this element is not used because the purpose is to present depression and the imediacy of depression.
 

Conclusion

Grotesque is a characteristic of the effect of absurdity in modern fiction. This type of humor has components in fiction. Harassment and cursing, being laughable and terrifying, exaggeration, abnormality, and "disbelief in the best system of creation" are among the components of grotesque that have been investigated in this research. The results of the present research show that in "Suicide Shop", the Hataki component is much less visible than Golshiri's effect. Also, the obscenities in this work, unlike Prince Ehtijab, are completely non-profane. In The Suicide Shop, the component of funny horror is reflected to the same extent as in Prince Ihtjab, but with a different quality. The difference of the "laughable horror" component in The Suicide Shop compared to Prince Ihtjab is in its fantasy. In Prince Ihtjab, the component of exaggeration is not evident. But The Suicide Shop is full of exaggerations and overstatements. Also, in Prince Ihtjab, the component of "disbelief in the best creation system" is not reflected, while, The Suicide Shop was formed based on the idea of protest against the universe and a negative view of human life.