Document Type : Original Article

Authors

• seyed faisal mortazavi ¹
• asad abshirini ²
• Ghodratollah Zarouni ²

¹ MSc in Persian Language and Literature, Department of Persian Language and Literature, Faculty of Literature and Humanities, Shahid Chamran University of Ahvaz, Ahvaz, Iran.

² Assistant Professor, Persian Language and Literature, Department of Persian Language and Literature, Faculty of Literature and Humanities, Shahid Chamran University of Ahvaz, Ahvaz, Iran.

Abstract

Abstract
Existentialism is a philosophical movement that entered literature in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Central to this school of thought is the primacy of existence over essence. Existentialist philosophers conceive of the human being as “thrown” into the world and, unlike objects, devoid of any predetermined purpose. The present study seeks to examine the manifestation of existentialist components in the works of Abbas Maroufi, a contemporary Iranian poet and novelist.
The principal concepts explored in this research include death and nothingness, the primacy of existence over essence, anxiety and anguish, freedom, responsibility, absurdity and meaninglessness, nostalgia, existentialist feminism, and solitude—each regarded as a fundamental tenet of existentialist philosophy. Iranian fiction in the early decades of the fourteenth century in the Solar Hijri calendar was influenced by this philosophical current, and Maroufi is likewise shaped by it; existential freedom permeates his works.
The findings indicate that Maroufi instills in his fictional characters the authenticity of Dasein as articulated by Martin Heidegger. In his narratives, death casts a pervasive shadow reminiscent of Jean-Paul Sartre’s reflections, while themes of absurdity and meaninglessness echo Albert Camus. Overall, Maroufi may be regarded as a writer aligned with the existentialist tradition.

Keywords

• Existentialism
• Novel
• Abbas Maroufi
• Philosophy