Review and analysis of the novel Rahesh by Reza Amirkhani, starting from Alain de Botton’s book Status Anxiety

Using fiction and novels, as a permit to live in the new age, try to imagine philosophical, psychological and sociological theories based on the modern world, and experience things that humans (…). Yet, some novels, due to the fact that they treat the author’s illness with sociological and philosophical theories in a certain period of time, illustrate the causes and factors of human suffering and anxiety. Reza Amirkhani is one of the contemporary writers who in all his fiction works (from Ermiah to Rehesh) talks about the abnormal condition of modern man. In his collections of stories, especially Rahesh, anxiety is one of the most important human emotions, and it is represented in a clear and vivid way by its characters (such as Ala’em and Farazandeh). Paying special attention to “Status anxiety” as one of the prominent themes in Amirkhani's latest novel regarding the city and the urban landscape as the foundation of anxiety, placing the reader form this critical perspective. In this article, the author uses the critical-analytical method to analyse “Rahesh” - a popular Iranian novel - based on the principles and framework of "Status Anxiety" in view of Alain de Button, and the human anxieties from the point of view of Paul Tillich. The analysis shows that this novel was formed around the idea of anxiety, which is the condition of contemporary Iranian man, and as De Botton states,it is tolerable and analysable.