LITERARY CRITICISM
Year:2013 | Volume:5 | Issue:20|Papers Count:12

The two major works of Ricoeur-The Rule of Metaphor (1977) and Time and Narrative (1984-88)-are conceived as twin works. This resemblance lies in the similar function Ricoeur finds in metaphor and plot-the similarity that seems to rest upon fusion of the heterogeneous elements. In fact, this fusion of the heterogeneous results in a kind of semantic innovation. This article centers on Ricoeur's view on metaphor and metaphoric transference on the one hand, and discusses the triad of mimesis and plot on the other hand. Also, it aims to show how Ricoeur links metaphor and plot and eventually how he accords them with similar functions.

This research presents an analytical critique of the tensions within the contact zone revealed in the travelogues by western women. Travel writing, as a literary genre, has often been marginalized in literary researches. Travelogues written by women have been doubly marginalized because in patriarchal societies, woman writers have been denied the credit that man writers have been granted. Western women have occupied an unsure position in the space between the discourse of colonialism and the discourse of femininity; therefore, they often reveal such encounters, interactions, and tensions in their texts-tensions that can seldom be found in men’s travel books. These tensions can be traced in the images that woman travelers offer of the East. The clash between the discourse of colonialism and the discourse of femininity during the nineteenth century gave rise to tensions that have shaped British women’s identity and influenced their social position.

This article compares the Azarbaijani School of Persian poetry with the Khorasani and Iraqi Schools known as the first and second periods of Persian poetry. Thus, I begin by introducing the Azarbaijani School as a transitional period between the former, which is mainly specified by naturalistic views, and the latter, mostly characterized by its mysticism. I believe that in the transitional school man performs the role of a bridge between the aforementioned attitudes. This article investigates the position of “man” in the Azarbaijani School and compares the interaction between the "poet" and the "man" in this school with the other schools.

Since proverbs are based on the life experiences of people, by studying them we can reconsider the social, cultural, and political structure of these ethnic groups. The political structure of Iran until constitutionalism is characterized by despotism, in which the king was on top of the pyramid of power and people were his slaves at the bottom. Despotic power, popularity of deterministic ideas, lack of intellectuality and philosophy in society, allegiance to the power relations, and lack of individualism are examples that during the history have formed proverbs and words that have damaged the foundation of any kind of intellectuality, social movement, and progress. Proverbs as a representative of human thought and the most important role model for common people’s life have formed a considerable portion of Iranian’s language and culture. The purpose of this article is to analyze the background that has played a role in people’s yielding to despotism as is manifested in proverbs. It is concluded that despotism has cultural backgrounds rather than being the result of authority exercise and over the history has formed people’s language and thought.

This article studies hypertextual and paratextual relations-two components of transtextuality-in Iranian cinema. By analyzing cinematic adaptation, we can realize how a movie text draws on other literary or nonliterary texts. One of the basic issues in this research is to study various forms of cinematic adaptation. In paratextual relations the text is placed on the threshold of the other text and It seems that its ratio to the release time is the most important issue in this regard. This paper introduces a model of intertextual relations which specifies types of adaptations and temporal, paratextual relations in Iranian cinema. Accordingly, after a review of literature on intertextuality, hypertextuality, and paratextuality, we distinguish intertext from intertextuality. Finally, we study some of the movies belonging to Iran’s cinema in 1370s and 1380s in order to achieve an understanding of hypertextual and paratextual relations.

Drawing on his particular narrativetechnique as well as a modernist pattern, Abbas Maroufi has created his novel, Peykar-e Farhad. Furthermore, he has incorporated some elements that relate his story to postmodernism. There are several textual voices and historical characters in this novel. Thus, the author has concealed his words between the lines of the story. Where verintertextuality has been employed intentionally, there are references to Maroufi’s favorite poets and writers such as Forough Farrokhzad, Ahmad Shamlu, Sadegh Hedayat, and, most of all, Nezami. In addition to these two components, theuncertainty principle, as a major postmodern element, occupies a fundamental position in this story. In fact, Peykar-e Farhadis based on dream, ambiguity, and uncertainty. Nothing is definite. All the event soccur in adream like space and the narratornarrates events that have not taken place yet.

Despite all the dis agree ments about different interpretive aspects of The Blind Owl, it can be argued that most critics agree on the fact that the two parts of this no velarere petition of each other. Moreover, the majority of the critical studies on this novel have followed a psychoanalytic approach. In this study, while we have followed the aforementioned points, through the “theory of conceptual metaphor,” we have tried to go beyond the conventional psychoanalytic studies in order to discover the similarities and differences between the two parts. In conclusion, we have argued that, despite many similarities, Hedayat is following different lines of thought in each part.

Mohammad Taqi Bahar and Ebrahim Abdolqader Mazani expounded their theory of poetry in a period when there was an intense struggle between tradition and modernity in their societies. As influential members of the prominent literary movements in their communities (Daneshkade association in Iran and Jama'ate Divan in Egypt), they played a significant role in proposing a theory of poetry and defining the movement they belonged to. This study paves the way for further comparative studies on literary movements in these areas. It also provides a scientific analysis of the reason for the success of these authors in one area and their failure in another. The poetic theories of these two figures are compared and explained through an examination and classification of their ideas on the definition of poetry as well as their views on the position and function of the poet and the addressee in creating the form and content of the poem. Finally, we have concluded that both of them have paid attention to the function of poetry rather than its structural aspects. From the intellectual perspective, while Bahar is more an introvert, Mazani is more an extrovert figure. It should be noted that the role of the translation of European literary works and the effect of European literary schools are evident in Mazani’s poetics. In general, it can be claimed that Bahar tends to be a traditionalist while Mazani is more a modernist thinker.

Through a comparative study of the narrative and dramatic techniques of Waez Heravi’s Rowzat-al-Mojahedin and Mirbagheri’s TV-series, Mokhtarnameh, this article studies the adaptation of a religious event in the Islamic history and the aesthetic limitations of its adaptation in the mass media. The popular literature in Persian has sometimes reproduced the religious history in fictional forms. The important point about this genre is the blending of the author’s imagination with the historical narrative in order to achieve a certain effect upon the audience. In the age of the new media, a similar method is used by dramatists to dramatize the Islamic historical texts. Mokhtarnameh is one of the latest attempts made to blend the historical and the imaginative; an attempt that resembles Heravi’s Rowzat-al-Mojahedin during Safavid era. The comparative study between these two works explains the imaginary functions in both and the different attitudes of the authors towards fictionalization of the historical events. The contemporary case of Mokhtarnameh uses imagination to reach a political historical analysis while Heravi’s narrative portrays an ideal world rooted in a different view of the universe.