By examining the social and ideological functions of literature in the cultural contexts of Iran and Egypt, we demonstrated how narrative becomes a site of tension between content and power, reflected in language, structure, and characterization. Since both countries experienced political crises, authoritarianism, and social transformations during comparable periods, a discursive comparison of the works is possible. Accordingly, using an analytical-comparative approach and drawing on theories of narratology and discourse studies, we examined narrative structure, character actions, and representations of power in Bozorg Alavi’s Her Eyes and Naguib Mahfouz’s Adrift on the Nile.
The findings show that Alavi, by focusing on political awakening, the struggle of intellectuals, and the connection between love and politics, presents an idealistic and hopeful image of the committed Iranian intellectual confronting authoritarianism. In contrast, Mahfouz, through a critical and pessimistic perspective, portrays the passivity of Egyptian intellectuals, the decline of values, moral disintegration, and their retreat into hedonism and addiction. Both works address the crisis of intellectualism and socio-political conflicts; however, Alavi emphasizes resistance and hope, whereas Mahfouz focuses on identity crisis and social deadlock.
We also demonstrated how differences in political contexts—anti-authoritarian struggles in pre-revolutionary Iran and post-Nasser disillusionment in Egypt—not only shaped the novels’ content but also influenced their narrative techniques. Thus, the intellectual emerges as a progressive and hopeful figure in Alavi, while appearing defeated and detached from reality in Mahfouz, reflecting different responses to social crises within narrative structure.