RELATIONS WITHIN THE BINARY OPPOSITION IN THE WORKS BY SIMIN BEHBAHANI

Abstract

Simin Behbahani (1927–2014) is a world-famous Iranian poetess, who was twice nominated for the Nobel Prize. The present research is aimed at filling the gaps that exist in the analysis of literary texts of this Iranian poetess, in particular, at identifying the relationship within the “man-woman” opposition.

In her early poetry Behbahani falls into a trap prepared by the system of patriarchal culture and language that reflects the masculinized consciousness, as she tries to identify herself in a masculine paradigm that coincides in its basic parameters with the universal one. The image of a man is often endowed with negative characteristics, and the woman is represented as a victim. Such psychological attitude coincides with the norm of hegemonic masculinity that is sustainable in the contemporary for the poetess society in accordance with the male habit of leadership and domination. The equality of men and women is a cross-cutting theme in the works of Simin Behbahani. She emphasizes the desired status of a woman as an equal partner, in the dichotomous couple recognizes exclusively parity relationships, understands a union with a man as a harmonious interaction of established personalities, based on a conscious approach to the fusion of two hearts. During the study, all the poetic material of Simin Behbahani was analyzed, and the presented poems were translated into Russian for the first time by the author of this article. The research results may be useful to orientalists and literary critics and can be used in the implementation of training programs of philological disciplines.