Sociological Criticism of A Thousand Rooms of Dream and Suppression

Sociological criticism is a useful technique in criticism of literary texts, especially novels. In this technique, the relation between structure and content of novel and developments and conditions of the society in which the novel is written. The artistic way of reflection and representation of society in the imaginative world of the literary work is also analyzed. The researches in which this technique of criticism is used for novels in Iran have proven the efficiency of sociological criticism of Persian novels. This paper attempts to analyze and review a prominent Persian Afghan novel called A Thousand Rooms of Dream and Fear by AtiqRahimi. AtiqRahimi is a realist author whose works deal with painful life of Afghan people in recent decades. His sociopolitical novel both reflects the truths about the stifling life in Kabul and the outcomes of the communist coup d’état in 1970’s. This analytic-descriptive method is based on the framework of sociological criticism. The results show that the Persian Afghan novel can be a source for knowing the structures of Afghan society and its problems and that sociological studies can enrich Persian literature.