Flash Fiction, Defamiliarization and Cultural Criticism: A Case Study of Salahshoor’s Please Smile
S. Habib Mousavi, S. Mohammad Ali Mousavi

Abstract
It sounds like we have passed the stormy and turbulent epoch of theory. In fairness to literature, we should announce thunderously that literary theory was nothing but a political game which had literature as its means to get to its ends. Today, literary theory is more like a tottering decrepit old creature which garners no one’s attention. That’s why the current paper is going to forget the cares and concerns of theory and give heed to literature as a mirror reflecting man and his world. For this purpose, we have chosen a short short story, ‘Please Smile,’ to have it scrutinized. However, prior to studying this flash fiction we need to come up with a brief definition of flash fiction, due to a lack of theoretical criticism. Subsequent to the definition of the genre at hand, we offer the narrative and after that we study it precisely to see how it reflects, questions and challenges the existing culture.

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