Journal of Comparative Literature
Year:2010 | Volume:NEW SERIES - 1 | Issue:2|Papers Count:15

Nima and Sayyab are pioneers of modern poetry in Persian and Arabic literatures. Though there were no liaisons between them, being contemporary and having a similar language, there can be found many common characteristics in their lives and works, including living in natural environment, pioneering in composing modern and free poems, profound knowledge of foreign languages specially English and French literatures, political loyalty and criticism of social events, having irrepressible and intrepid personality, living in the darkness of dictator regimes, employing common symbols and utilizing myths which we discuss briefly in the present study. Then we analyze the poems "Afsaneh" by Nima and "Fi Sough-el-Ghadeem" by Sayyab which are their early poetic experiences of transforming from traditional poetry to modern poetry. Finally the similarities and differences of the poems are discussed.

The present article discusses the publication and influence of Gogol's works in Iran. At the beginning of twentieth century, Iran's contemporary story writing was greatly under the effect of the works of Russian writers. Among them, Gogol with his satirical and simple stories had a special place. During the constitutional era, writers of Iranian origin, who lived in Tbilis (Tiflis) and had got familiar with Russian writers, made use of the satirical and simple style of Gogol. Zeynol Abedin Maraghey'ee and Akhoondzadeh can be mentioned among these writers whose style of writing led to a new method of writing in Iran...At the beginning of the formation of Modem Iranian literature, many .of Gogol's stories were translated into Persian. Then, many writers such as Sadegh Hedayat and Jalal-e Al-e Ahmad created some works under the effect of his stories.Even if we do not admit that Sadegh Hedayat had adapted the story of "Zendeh be Gour" from Gogol's "Notes/Diary ofa Madman", it can be certainly said that, according to the theory of intertextuality, Gogol is one of the writers whose works greatly influenced Persian storywriting: the unconscious presence ofGogol's 'Madman' can be seen in "Zen de be Gour" of Hedayat. Furthermore, JalaIe Ale Ahmad probably knew Akakii Akakievich, the protagonist of the story of "The overcoat", while writing the story of "Se Tar".

No doubt the writers, men of letter, and critics have paid considerable attention to comparative literature, since the nature of this type of literature encourages the researcher to survey in this field. Nevertheless, the preformed efforts in this field are little and they need more care and effort. For this reason, this article attempts to have a little share in comparative literature with studying "optimism in the poetry of Ilia Aboomazi and Mohammad Hussein Shahriar". The present writing with reliance on the American school of comparative literature that does not regard the adaptation condition only existence of cause and effect fields, has studied, this research from this point and it tries to study the deep and valuable concepts of yielding against destiny, resurrection, using nice nature created by God, affection promotion, love to life, patience, inclination to human being, and common anddifferent points in their poetry. Finally, the present research concludes that Shahriyar is more optimistic than Aboumazi. Because it considers Aboumazi to be dubious about life, in some cases.

Fortunately in the recent years significant attention has been paid to the comparative literature in the world especially in Iran, this causes to compare and study the thoughts of two poets or writers and probably their writing and poem styles. Therefore in this paper, two learned poets - "Ibne Mo'taz" from Arab world and "Manouchehri Damghani" from Iran- have been considered and their descriptive poems will be studied.First the biography of these two poets will be considered and ifthere is any similarity between them, it will be presented. Then their descriptive poems will be studied and the significant points found will be presented.

An important feature indicating the influence of the Iranian culture on the Arab culture is the abundance of Iranian proverbs and idioms in the Arabic literature. Though this topic is not new, we have introduced 65 lines from Arabic poetry which are translations of Iranian proverbs. In addition, we have explained in 10 sample poetry lines how Arab poets have directly adhered to Iranian proverbs and indicated their origin. We have also referred to 52 lines of Arabic poetry in 33 categories, which critics have attributed to Iranian proverbs. We argue that the influence of the Iranian culture and literature on the Arabic literature has been more pervasive than previously thought. We have referred to around a hundred of such lines, which, we believe, will open up avenues for further research in this area.

The majority of discussion of the article revolves round the impressionability of 'Khorassani era' Persian poetry from pre-Islamic Arabic poetical themes.Some themes such as characterization, eulogy, praise, arrogance and wine have been scrutinized in a comparative study to depict the impressionability of Persian poets from these Arabic themes.

The article is a comparative study of the concept of death as reflected in the works of two poets: Abolala Ma'ari and Khayyam who were contemporaries.The main concern of both poets is the fear of death and destruction and destiny and fate of mankind in the other world (resurrection). There are many similarities between the thought patterns of Khayyam and Ma'ari because the source of their thought is the same and it appears that Ma'ari influenced the thought of Khayyam , although their style of thought is different in terms of their views and locality. Ma'ari destroyed his life because the fear of death, but Khayyam prefers to live in pleasure however short in this world. The result of this study is to explain this similarities and differences.

Henrik Ibsen (1828-1906) began his career with writing historical plays that followed the Norwegian romantic nationalist vogue of the 1840s-1860s. Peer Gynt (1867), a work in which his drawing on the poetic essence of Norwegian folk culture suggests new ways to enrich his country's cultural identity, is the climax of this phase of his career. Ali Nassirian (1313/1935 -), mostly known today as an Iranian cinema and TV celebrity, was preoccupied during the 1950s and the 1960s with creating a "national Iranian drama" based mainly on Iranian folklore and popular improvisatory theater. This comparative study sets to analyze the two dramatists' nationalist ambitions. In this study Peer Gynt will be discussed as a work that shows Ibsen's contradictory nationalist approach. The work is compared with Bolbol-e Sargashteh (The Wandering Nightingale; 1956), a play in which Nassirian utilizes folk elements such as language, song and music to depict a dynamic role for the elements of Iranian national drama and theater. Discussing nationalist movements and different cultural and socio-political structures in Norway and Iran, we will illustrate that these works are the authors' responses to their countries' cultural and socio-political conditions.

The article revolves round of Malek-o-Sho'ara Bahar's poetry and comparing it with Ahmad Showqi's. Bahar is a famous Persian poet with all types of poetry. He has a high position in contemporary Iranian literature and in the advancement of poetry.Showqi is the famous poet of contemporary Egypt. He occupies a lofty place in Arabic poetry. The author makes a comparative study between the above two poets, and presents the differences and similarities of their works.

Although finding the origin of the poetical themes of composers and showing their influence on each other is invaluable, due to the universality of human thought patterns it comes out to be a very difficult task. Yet, another rare instance which does not bear impossibility is to depict similarities of thought and composition in poetical works.In this article the authors have tried to show the different aspects of the influence and impressionability of the works of Qazi Nezamaddin Esfahani, bilingual man of letter and poet of 7th century Esfahan to find common themes in his manuscripts and the works of other Persian poets.

Forugh Farrokhzad and Nazokolmalaeke are two famous and pioneer poets in Persian and Arabic contemporary literature. These two poets made great changes in prosodic rules of contemporary poetry have several common features:Womanly look and feeling in poetry. Critical view points on social problems.Time factor plays a prominent role in their poems. Disappointment and pessimism reigns throughout their works.Time is the basic theme in 'After you' by Forough, and' of owan' by Nazok, each portraying it from her own angle.

Comparative literature is a kind of inter-disciplinary study paying attention to the relation between literature, art and humanities of different nations. In France, where it began, comparative literature was considered part of literary history and the scholars were mostly studying the origin of inspirations and historical evidences showing literary links and their influence on and from each other. Thus, less attention was paid to the aesthetics aspects of literary works in French school of comparative study.The American school which began in the second half of 20th century paid more attention to aesthetics and .criticism. It believed that literature is a universal phenomenon linked to knowledge and art. Some contemporary American scholars of comparative study have mixed it with cultural studies.The article gives definitions of the comparative literature in American and French schools and the scope of research in this field.

One of the issues of comparative literature is the mutual literary and cultural influence of East and West on each other. Therefore, the effects of Eastern culture on literary works of West have always been noted by the critics and scholars. Of course it must be emphasized that the influence of Eastern literature and culture and its representations on European literature particularly on romanticism is apparent In this article we have studied the issue of Eastern and Islamic effects on Mikhail Lermontov. We also translated some poems of this Russian poet and novelist and discussed his interest in the East and Eastern culture. In many of his poems, the poet expresses this interest deliberately and is proud of it This poet's works are also indicative of his awareness and knowledge about Iran, Mecca, Egypt, Palestine,... Of course he is mostly influenced by Caucasia, where he had traveled to, in his childhood, to make use of its mineral springs. Later on as Nicolay the first banished him to Caucasia, he had the opportunity to become familiar with the culture of Muslim Caucasians closely. In his works, Lermontov respects the ancient civilization of the East, adores the beautiful nature of Eastem countries, and pictures the Eastern landscapes with an impressing creativity in his works.