Reflection of English Literature on the Reconstruction of Iranian Identity: A Study on the Works of Post-Islamic Revolution Authors

Following the Islamic Revolution of Iran, a massive wave of emigration of Iranian intellectuals, academics, and artists to the West laid the groundwork for the emergence of a new genre in world literature: Iranian English-language literature. This study aims to explain and analyze the discursive and narrative strategies of reconstructing Iranian identity in the works of post-revolutionary authors. The present research is qualitative-fundamental in nature and employs Fairclough's Critical Discourse Analysis (three levels: description, interpretation, and explanation) combined with Braun and Clarke's Thematic Analysis to examine 15 prominent works (including memoirs, novels, and graphic novels) published between 1990 and 2025. The findings indicate that these works, through the production of "counter-narratives" within a liminal cultural space, simultaneously challenge Western Orientalist stereotypes and implicitly critique the official discourse within Iran. Five main themes were identified: Iran as the "lost land," mother and grandmother as guardians of tradition, English writing as intercultural cooking, the veil as a border object, and the impossible return. The results show that women, comprising 73.3% of the authors, are the primary narrators of this literature, and the issue of gender serves as the axis of the tradition-modernity conflict in the reconstruction of Iranian identity. The English language also functions not as an instrument of domination, but as an arena for resistance from within and for the agency of the diasporic subject. By providing a theoretical model for analyzing the link between narrative and identity in immigrant literature, this research contributes to the enrichment of diaspora and postcolonial studies within the Iranian context.