The Journal of Epic Literature
Year:2009 | Volume:4 | Issue:7|Papers Count:26

Since antiquity, the two historical nations of Iran and India have had many things in common in terms of culture and language in particular during the reign of Akbar Shah and Aurangzeb. The propagation of the eloquent Persian language in the subcontinent of India in that period as well as consecutive journeys made by the Persian literates and historians to that land all, reveal to the great extent that Indian tradition in the eyes of Persians has had a mysterious attraction.In this article, attempt is made to point out clearly the influence of those historical traditions of the people in the subcontinent of India on the contemporary Persian history and literature.

Mirza Ali Reza, known as Mirza Agha Jan and his nom de plume Partoe, the poet and calligrapher of thirteenth century (19th century A.D) lived sometime in between the years 1213-1304. He was one of the outstanding calligraphers of Naser al -Din Shah Court and his calligraphic collection together with his guilded Koran is kept in Malek and Royal libraries. His anthology includes, lyric ghazals, odes, and literary pieces composed on variety of subjects such as praise, description, sermon, and philosophy and was corrected and published by the writer of this article. The Renaissance Style in Partoe’s Poetry is evident and in this sense it is a reminder of Poetry of Saadi, Hafez and other predecessors. Also, his mastery in composing historical issues is another characteristic feature of his poetry which is more concerned with the repair and renovation and construction of mosques in Esfehan, and date of death of his contemporary poets which is often called upon by historians. This article attempts to portray him as a prominent poet and calligrapher in Gajar period.

Berno Betelheim in “Psychoanalysis of fairy tales “provides a psychoanalytic interpretation of the fairy tales. This book immediately after publishing in the West received a wide range of readers. Inspired by Freud, Berno Betelheim in this work, psychoanalyses the elements of the tales, demonstrates how these tales help to solve childhood problems, and facilitates the growth of child’s character.In this article, attempt is made to use a sociological approach to show that at a time when the society did not have an understanding of childhood, it was not feasible to tell stories and fairy tales for children. Also, a psychoanalytic interpretation of childhood belongs to a modern society whereas these tales appeared well before the modern times.

Berno Betelheim in “Psychoanalysis of fairy tales “provides a psychoanalytic interpretation of the fairy tales. This book immediately after publishing in the West received a wide range of readers. Inspired by Freud, Berno Betelheim in this work, psychoanalyses the elements of the tales, demonstrates how these tales help to solve childhood problems, and facilitates the growth of child’s character.In this article, attempt is made to use a sociological approach to show that at a time when the society did not have an understanding of childhood, it was not feasible to tell stories and fairy tales for children. Also, a psychoanalytic interpretation of childhood belongs to a modern society whereas these tales appeared well before the modern times.

Studying the circumstances under which sciences in the 7th and 8th century A. H developed, one notices the improvement and development of logical sciences and astronomy alongside rhetorical sciences and one finds out that among the shining stars in the realm of Persian Literature, Mowlavi is the eternal poet of all times. This article familiarizes the reader with Mowlavi’s extrovert thoughts, astronomy, astronomical devices, atmospheric phenomena, siding with the stars, omen, sinister, heavens, stars and constellations in Masnavi.

Since antiquity, man has been in search of his life’s fountainhead and the origin of creation and with reflection on this world has tried to unravel its mystery. After coming of Zoroaster in Iran and appearance of Mazdai rite, Ormazd and Ahriman have been regarded as two poles of creation and creators of good and evil. However, there are evidences and documents demonstrating that before believing in dualism, the idea of monotheism based on the unity of time preoccupied the mind of Iranians. Belief in Zarvan, god of time, had numerous consequences more than anything else, belief in fate (destiny), and predestined lot seized the mind of Persians for centuries. This idea penetrated through the minds of Iranian poets, thinkers and philosophers. Among them, Ferdowsi, the great Iranian epic poet, like others was no exception. It is assumed that determinism in Shahnameh more than anything else has roots in Zarvanism.In this article, first the origins of the idea and philosophy of Zarvanism in Old Persia, before and after Zoroaster is sought, then with citing evidences from Shahnameh, the roots of Zarvani Philosophy is pointed out.

Nafsat al Masdour is a historical literary book, compiled by Mohammad Zydari Nassavi, Secretary of Sultan Jallaludin Kharazmshah, written in a superficial and embellished prose in the first half of the seventh century. And the late Dr A. H. Yazdgherdi wrote a commentary on it and corrected it.Irony is one of the literary devices in the Persian Literature, and ever since antiquity it fascinated many rhetoricians.In this article the definition of irony is looked into, and its different forms is explored and exemplified according to the ancients, then its diverse forms in the order of occurrence is dealt with.

Makhzan al-asrar is the first of the fifth treasures of Nezami Ganjavi whose enormous semantic ambiguities and sophistications challenged many scholars to comment and interpret its verses. In this article attempt is made to criticize and analyze the contents of commentaries written on this masterpiece. In addition to familiarizing the reader with the complex verses of this Masnavi, compiling and evaluating different shades of meanings explained by the commentators, correcting the errors made in the paraphrasing of some verses, selecting the most correct meaning of verses, and also recognizing the source of discord between commentators’ point of views reflected in their commentaries on Makhzan al-asrar are purposes of this article.

The concept of Reformation and modernism is one of the main, wide scope and diverse subjects in constitutional period and intellectuals and constitutionalists each had a certain impression of it which later caused conflicts and created many historical, cultural and political problems. Farrokhi Yazdi, considering his political tendencies and his thoughts and his harsh critical style, seriously believed in fundamental reform, revival of ideas and acquisition of western science and technology and in his political fights this has been his constant preoccupation.Thus, the most frequent subject matter in his editorials was concerned with direct criticism against the dogmatic regime, and flimsy parliament, also reform, idealism, and modernism. As yet not a single research has been done on this aspect. Attempt is made in this article to criticize and investigate Farrokhi’s viewpoints on Reformation and Modernism based on the result of reviewing and analysis of newspapers, editorials, and his poetry from the following perspectives:A- Obstacles and problems on a way to Constitutionalism, Revolutionary ReformsB- Necessity for Revolutionary Reforms and influential factors involvedC- Modern Approaches and acquisition of western science and technology

Following the advent of printing industry in Iran and the publishing of the first Iranian newspapers by the Gajar Court, its growth and revival, a new literary genre, journalistic genre, found its way into the Persian prose. Since at that time, this journalistic language was quiet new in the country, articles of newspapers were written in the same eloquent style as was used for writing Court correspondences. This difficult language was neither well understood nor liked by the public, since it did not reflect their pains, complaints and their wishes. Thus, it was not well received by the people and with the victory of Constitutional Revolution and the freedom of journalism from the absolute monopoly of Court, this sublime style began to decline.This article by painting a picture of the journalistic atmosphere of Gajar Court, discusses its prose features, and deals with the reasons for its decline.

In Persian Dictionary Soroush equals Gabriel, the archangel, and is introduced as the deliverer of God’s message to prophets and selected men of god.It has been written that Soroush is an angel that brings good news and in most dictionaries with slight differences all regarded it as Gabriel.However, Soroush in the Persian Literature before Islam and in Avestai culture and Zoroaster’s Literature, and Middle Persian has another definition and has other duties which are dealt with in the text of this article. Thorough investigation of the sources before Islam in Pahlavi and Avestai manuscripts to date reveals that more than twenty duties in this world and the other world is attributed to Soroush whereas his duty as messenger is regarded as one out of many.

Ali Dashti (1273-1360) is one of the distinguished writers who upon publishing the notes ”Ayyam Mahbas” in 1301 joined the simple style writing movement in Contemporary Prose. Apart from this work, many other works in variety of genres such as translation, journalism, story, and literary criticism all share this characteristic. However, in his prose, particularly his first works, there are considerable numbers of Arabic terms which apparently deviates his prose from the simplicity in terms of choice of diction.The density of such terms has drawn the attention of critics to an extent which they regard this feature as a great shortcoming in his writing style and even comparing his prose particularly in his articles with that of his contemporaries, they place his prose alongside courtly prose and regard it as a continuation of the same tradition. In this article, the impact of Arabic terms on the simplicity of Dashti’s prose, in particular his critical works is investigated.

The vast realm of the Persian Literature demands an eclectic research for its recognition. The means to achieve this end is the great enthusiasm to fly over this vast continent in order to catch a glimpse of different periods in the history of Persian Literature and strive to remove shadows of ambiguities where possible.