LITERARY CRITICISM
Year:2011 | Volume:4 | Issue:14|Papers Count:18

Arabic and Persian rhetoric is largely under the influence of Islamic ideology and, in fact, the ideological controversies in the field of Islamic theology have shaped the core of many rhetorical studies. Most of the rhetoric historians have addressed the binary opposition of literal/figurative language, which was common between Muslim rhetoricians, but they never mentioned that there were some theorists who didn't believe in figurative language at all. The "denial of figurative language" is usually attributed to early figures such as Abu-Ishagh Esfarayeni, but the most zealous advocate of this idea is Ibn Taymiyyah Damishqi. This article introduces the problem of figurative language and the ideological beliefs which have given rise to the rhetorical theories, and then goes on to show the theological context of the controversy over the denial of figurative language. Finally, the article addresses Ibn Taymiyyah's theory about figurative language and its influences on the history of Islamic rhetoric.

Eloquence, a term always related to rhetoric in Arabic-Islamic tradition, refers to clarity and clearness in language. The theoretical framework of Eloquence involves the highlighting of a group of mistakes that should be avoided. The criteria of this framework are mainly defined in a negative manner and only are able to distinguish between eloquent and non-eloquent patterns. In this article, giving a short and clear description about traditional point of view on Eloquence and related issues, we propose a new framework for Eloquence based on sociolinguistics. In new framework, the criteria will be defined in a positive manner and will enable us to evaluate different patterns of language in an effective manner. New theoretical framework consists of five criteria: purity, beauty, adequacy, efficiency and acceptability. Breaking down this framework into five criteria is for a better understanding of various aspects of Eloquence. These criteria are correlated and work together. Proposition of a new framework does not mean the rejection of the traditional framework. As the main goal, we aim at removing restrictions of old framework and to revive concept of Eloquence for applying it in linguistic criticism in the contemporary era.

In the present article, after reviewing the classical typologies of focalization and considering discourse markers of focalization as identified by traditional narratologists, we will study a kind of focalization which entails hypothesizing about what might have been perceived/conceived through a perspective never adopted by the focalizer, i.e. "hypothetical focalization." For this kind of focalization to be described, we need to apply some linguistic and philosophical insights gained either after, or out of, the ensemble of conventional narratology. The ideas specifically at issue here will be those first developed within the frameworks of the possible-worlds and intensional semantics. The due conceptual framework will serve to spotlight the intensional aspects (or the sense) of narrative well beyond the structural narratologists' and logical semanticists' formal accounts. Therefore, the present study not only will specify the most usual modes of verbal focalization in a number of Persian extracts, but also will examine some lesser known semantic dimensions of the narrative discourse, drawing on those virtual aspects of focalization inherently refraining from the logical or formal investigations pertinent to structural narratology.

Focusing on the linguistic and national diversities, the French school of comparative literature has mainly attempted to trace the footprints of the literature of one country in that of another mostly in a historical context. The rival American school, on the other hand, has raised new questions in this field and extended the scope of research to subsume other domains of scholarly endeavors. The present paper first intends to examine the limitations of the French school. It then proceeds to show how the potentials of the Archetypal approach of literary criticism and the American school of comparative literature can be employed to bear fruitful results in the field of comparative studies. It is hoped that such interdisciplinary approaches can make up for the possible shortcomings of the individual modes of study and make much of the potentials that the concept of archetype can offer for this purpose.The study then singles out the Shadow archetype and makes a comparative study of the concept in two epic works, i.e. Beowulf and Gilgamesh. It finally picks out a structural archetype-hero's journey-as an example, to briefly discuss and evaluate such models.

The emergence of the concept of pluralism dates back to the sophists' time. In modern time, John Hick advocates a kind of religious pluralism in line with Christianity and other religions. Researchers and scholars have investigated this issue from different perspectives. We can observe the trends of their thoughts also in the discussions about our mystic texts. An important question here is what kind of pluralism can be considered consistent with Islam. What is the logic of the pluralists' argument? Why do they accept religious pluralism? Is tolerance or leniency a kind of behavioral pluralism? The writer in this article analyzes the question of pluralism from the view of Quran and Molavi's poetry. Mathnavi due to its comprehensiveness in comparison with other mystical texts has dealt with this issue more thoroughly. This study also challenges some of the scholars' opinions about pluralism.

Because of its unique fictional and educational features, Kalila and Dimnahasachieved a national and international reputation. This book is the result of cultural exchanges among the great oriental civilizations, namely India, Iran, and Islam. Thematically, it draws on moral and political issues which are so closely interwoven at different layers (infrastructure and superstructure) of the stories that one can hardly distinguish between the boundaries of ethics and politics in them. However, a thorough investigation into the content of Kalila and Dimnareveals that unlike the initial conjecture the historical distinction between the boundaries of ethics and politics exists in different sections of this work. Dividing the book into two layers of infrastructure and superstructure would clarify this claim. Deliberation of the author(s) of Kalila and Dimnaon the necessity of dominance of ethics over politics has caused each story to end with a certain moral conclusion. However, in the course of the story, especially at the infrastructure layer, there are characters who, like Machiavelli, believe in separation of ethics from politics. Therefore, we see many similarities between Machiavelli's thoughts and the themes of some stories and characters of the book. This study criticizesthe moralizing of the stories of Kalila and Dimnaand discusses some of the challenges and conflicts between the theories of ethics, which are mainly traceable in the superstructure of the stories, and the political and the individual behaviors and actions in infrastructure.

This article studies the discourse of Chehelnameye kutah be hamsaram by Nader Ebrahimi from a semiotic-semantic perspective. From this perspective, neither the sign nor the meaning can be studied in separation from each other. In fact, it is the relation between each sign and other signs that marks the process of signification. In this study, therefore, we do not just deal with a single sign, but with the interaction of signs in the continuity of signification. Accordingly, the discourse system of this work is dynamic rather than static by focusing on the continuity of signification. Our hypothesis is that the continuity of meaning depends on memorial, intervening, and the corporal functions of the sign. The results show that continuity of signification most of all depends on the perception structure and then other factors such as emotional, cultural and aesthetics procedures.

Story is one of the ancient forms of literature with a long history among the nations. India among the Eastern nations is a mystical land with numerous narrative masterpieces such as Mahabharata and Ramayana. "Nal va Daman" is an episode of this narrative work which was translated from Sanskrit into Persian by Feizi Dakani, poet laureate of King Akbar's court in tenth century and then it was rendered into Persian verse by him. The translations of various Indian stories to Persian during King Akbar reign and until the down of Timurids Dynasty predominantly influenced the Persian story-telling between the tenth and twelfth centuries. This study structurally analyzes the "Nal va Daman" story in terms of the elements of the story such as its plot, characters, and point of view and so on. Finally it can be claimed that while this story may lack the complexity of modern fictions, it simply has all the constituent elements of a modern story.