Erfaniyat Dar Adab Farsi

The emergence of relativism and pluralism in the philosophies, different aspects of humanities and the worldviews dominant in the 20^th century western societies from one side, and the growth of toleration in human relations from the other, have invariably affected literary theories and studies, and given them an ever greater democratic and receptive nature. This has made them, like many other conditions of human thought, more and more interdisciplinary and prolific.The success of this event has inevitably led to the development and the variety of new and innovative approaches in reading and analyzing different texts, including literature. Among such novel critical stances is poststructuralism which appeared in late 1960s, following the spread of new theories by such great contemporary thinkers as Jacques Derrida,  Roland Barthes, Jacques Lacan, and Michel Foucault. This approach has also most tangibly manifested in the mentioned tendencies in different fields of thought. Such tendencies at the same time have made it more difficult, or even sometimes impossible to define and explain. An attempt has been made, in the present paper, to introduce poststructuralism as a recent approach in literary theory and criticism. Besides, attempting some definitions, and accounting the background of its birth, we have also point to the basic theories of men of thought important in its formation. Finally, we would emphasize its significance for reading, analyzing and deconstructing literary texts.