TEXTUAL CRITICISM OF PERSIAN LITERATURE (RESEARCHES ON PERSIAN LANGUAGE AND LITERATURE)
Year:2013 | Volume:48 | Issue:4 (16)|Papers Count:7

One of the features of story, which has an important role in the coherence and development of plot, is characterization because the writer should know how to create a character and give him the appropriate role. With regard to this, Shahnameh is the prototype of Persian poetic and prose fictional texts not only due to the attraction of its characters and heroes but also due to the intellectual character of Ferdowsi and his personal innovations. One of the most beautiful love stories of Shahnameh is the story of Zal and Roudabeh through which the poet has shown his outstanding skill in composing love stories. This article tries to study the element of character in the love epic Zal and Roudabeh and also analyze the manners of characterization used by poet and moral and behavioral features of characters.

As a thoughtful poet, Nazami has tried to manifest his main preoccupation, i.e. an ideal man who can be a moral model for the readers, in his works. In Haft Peikar, the basis of Nezami’s thought is Perfection and self-fulfillment of characters, especially Bahram Goor. For him, such Perfection is not an agonized experience but a happy and hopeful experience which is achieved with regard to both Body and Soul. In this way, Nezami’s idea is similar to Mazlo theory of personality. Throughout the story, Bahram gradually reaches the level of Knowledge and, as there are dilemmas and denouements in the story, it seems that he gets free from his complexes. In this article, the character of Bahram is compared with the elements of self-fulfillment in Mazlo theory.

In this essay, the tale of Rostam and Esfandiar which is one of the pivotal tales of Shahnameh, is studied on the basis of Claude Bremon’s theory. Since this theory considers the defeat of the protagonist as well, it is more congruent with this tale. Regarding Bremon’s theory, three functions of capacity, process and consequence exist in this tale and also the chain, concrete and linking sequences can be analyzed in it. Esfandiar before going to Zabolestan, Esfandiar in Zabolestan and his being killed are three secondary sequences of the story which are narrated besides the main sequence. The introduction of the tale and Esfandiar’s dialogue with his parents are located in the capacity level. His going to Zabol, his debate and fight with Rostam and Rostam’s seeking Zal’s and Simorgh’s help are located in the process or transition level. Esfandiar’s being killed and Rostam’s correspondence with Goshtasb are located in the consequence level which represents protagonist’s (Esfandiar’s) lack of success. Two types of character in the theory of Bremon, i.e. agent and patient, can be identified in Esfandiar and Rostam. This tale narrates the transformation of order into disorder and vice versa; that is, the primary order or harmony for Rostam and Esfandiar end up to lack of order for Esfandiar and finally return of order for Rostam. One of the results of this article is showing the unique art of Ferdowsi in narration and story-telling since all elements of Bremon’s theory exist in this tale. Ferdowsi has considered all narrative elements such as various situations, balancing the sequence of plots, considering psychological states and actions of characters and providing free will for protagonist and antagonist to choose their goal.

This article studies and explains the influence of precious words of Imam Ali (PBUH) in Nahjolbalagha on Molana’s Mathnavi. First, it is investigated how the words of Prophet of Islam (PBUH) about Imam Ali and the characteristics of Imam Ali are reflected in Mathnavi. Also, a number of tales, which are related to him and Molana has recreated them by his poetic language, are mentioned. In studying the influence of Nahjolbalagha on Mathnavi, various kinds of influence such as vocabulary, syntax, adoption, implication, analysis, translation, interpretation and allegory and the status of each of them have been explained and some examples for each of them have been mentioned.

The existence of eight imitations and five translations of Hosn va Del into other languages such as English and German shows the importance of this Persian book of verse. Many researchers have sought the sources of this work and some sources have been mentioned, but the imitation of Sibak Neishaburi from Nezami’s Khosrow va Shirin, as the most important source of this work, has not yet been mentioned. Due to the innovative mixing of symbolic story, folk tale and love story which is done by changing the names of characters into abstract concepts resulting in creating two layers of primary and interpretive meaning in the text of Hosn va Del, the similarities between the two books have not yet been discovered. The fruit of such mixing is the creation of a sufist and interpretive reading of Khosrow va Shirin (named Hosn va Del) which is a love story at the primary level and is very similar to Nezami’s Khosrow va Shirin. At the interpretive level, it is a mystical book of verse which narrates the story of the Progression and reaching Knowledge and Immortality. This article tries to study the similarities between the two stories through comparing the texts of these two books and using the method of textual criticism. The results show that the love between lover and beloved is common between the two books. The structure and organization of the two books are very similar and there are very causes and motivations in the plot of the two stories. Also, more than half of the characters of the two stories are of common characteristics. There are similar events as well as places in the two stories. Also, many similarities can be seen in the content of dialogues. The results of this study show that Khosrow va Shirin is the main source of Hosn va Del and Sibak Neishaburi is among the imitators of Nezami in composing love story.

Describing and explaining the nature of imagination and its function with regard to human being and ontology has always been one of the preoccupations of philosophers and thinkers. Plato is the first philosopher who considered an epistemological status for imagination and, by dividing the world into the world of reason and world of senses, he ascribed the knowledge of imagination to the world of senses. In different parts of Mathnavi, Molavi, the great Muslim-Iranian mystic, has paid much attention to imagination, its types, its status in the Knowledge of Man (both physical and metaphysical affairs) and its various influences on the body, soul and mental states of any individual. Thus, the present article aims to compare the concept of imagination in the view of the two thinkers. For reaching such aim, while using a descriptive-comparative method, first, the definitions of imagination in Mathnavi and Plato’s ideas are investigated and, then, the similarities and differences of the two views are shown. The conclusion is that their ideas are similar with regard to unreality and shadowiness of the world and phenomena, the relation between imitation and imagination, deficiency and restrictions of imagination for understanding the reality, whereas their ideas are different regarding the power of imagination, its epistemological status and the meaning and influence of it.

Mostly due to difficulty and innovation of expressions of Khaghani’s Divan, compilers have made mistake and inserted incorrect verses into his Divan. Like many other Divans, a number of Tashifs (changing a word by adding or reducing its diacritics) and Tahrifs (substituting a letter or letters of a word with similar letters and thus producing different words) are seen in his Divan. The old method of writing as well as homograph letters in Persian alphabet increased the frequency of such Tashifs. Many of these incorrect verses have been corrected by Divan’s commentators and researchers also have contributed to such corrections, but still there is no authentic text of this Divan. This article aims to analyze and correct a Tashif and Tahrif in this Divan.