HISTORY OF LITERATURE (JOURNAL OF HUMAN SCIENCES)
Year:2010 | Volume:- | Issue:66/3|Papers Count:10

Farhad is one of the most famous lovers, or perhaps the most famous lover, among Persian speaking people. He has always been a symbol of true love; however, we are not certain about his character because accurate information about him is not available. It seems that Farhad is a Parthian symbol fictionalized for the protection of the Parthian culture against the Sassanian cultural invasion. His popularity among Iranians has even led historians into assuming that he was a real character from history. In the present paper, the lexical meaning of the word “Farhad” has been explained, and then the real and mythical characters of Farhad have been studied with regard to Nezarni’s Khosrow and Shirin and available historical resources.

Taqi-al-din Kashani (943-1022/1024 AH), known as Mir-e-Tazkare,was a prolific author of the Safavid era who wrote the famous biography, Khulasat al-Ash’ar and Zubdat al-Afkar (975-1016 AH).Unlike other biographers of the time, he did not provide a full account of his life in his works, and except for scattered pieces, there is not sufficient information available on him. Therefore, his newly discovered letters to some friends, the Safavid kings and men of high stature bring to light the unknown aspects of his life. Moreover, the letters are significant in exemplifying Safavid era prose and, more specifically, letter writing styles. This article is a textual criticism of these letters in addition to a study of their properties and content.

In this article twenty Turkish words from Shams’ essays have been introduced and their etymologies studied. This is a small step towards the linguistics of comparative literature and also proof that Turkish language and literature have influenced Persian language and literature. It will probably be of use to those interested in mystical texts as well.

Odes were mostly eulogic before Naser-khosrow. However, Naser Khosrow introduced innovations to the traditional ode form and content. This article is a study of Naser-Khosrow’s innovations in this regard. In the first section of the article, an overview of pre-Naser-Khosrow odes has been provided. His poetry partly resembles that of his predecessors in abiding by some conventions. In the next section, which is on differences, his views on poetry, rhythm in his odes and his innovations in the prologue and the body have been examined.Naser-Khosrow describles nature to depict its instability by means of associations and denotations. He shows the necessity of not becoming attached to the meaningless passage of this world and a return from the outside nature to the inner self. Traditionally, the body of the ode is allotted to praise. However, Naser-Khosrow explains the prologue in the body and also speaks of religion. His approach stems from the Koran and his theological views which can be seen in some of his other works.

There are social and cultural references in Beyhaghi History which make it significant for interdisciplinary, cultural and sociological studies. One of the most valuable features of the book is a detailed description of the methods by which Ghaznavi Kings, especially King Masood, governed Iran and managed the political affairs of the country. A comparison of these methods with Machiavelli’s works reveals many similarities between Machiavellian thought and Masood Ghaznavi’s conduct as a ruler and a politician. In this article, I will carry out a comparative study of Beyhaghi History and Machiavelli’s most important works to depict and describe these similarities.

Language is considered by critics to be one of the most significant elements of poetry in both odern and traditional schools of literature.According to Russian Formalist and Structuralist approaches foregrounding via the defamiliarization of familiar language is a highly effective method to achieve aesthetic excellence and to influence readers. One way to defamiliarize is through archaism. Ahmad Shamloo is a Persian contemporary poet who, among others, makes abundant use of this technique by way of reverting to Persian archaic texts. Many scholars regard Beyhaghi History as a major source of his linguistic archaisms. This article is a formalist/structuralist study of the similarities between the poetry of Shamloo and the prose style of Beyhaghi History.

Faramarznameh is an epic poem, written either in the 5th century or at the beginning of the 6th century. Unfortunately, there is little information available on its writer. The poem is the story of Faramarz, Rostam’s son. According to Sistan’s history, the poem was initially more than twelve volumes, but the existing Faramarznameh has approximately 3200 lines. It describes Faramarz’s military expedition to India to save the locals and Noshad Shah from the five plagues.These five problems are Kanas the Demon, Kaid Shah, an Indian monarch whose army has 900,000 men and who takes large amounts of tax from his people, the mighty “talking wolf” which has horns and is nine-hundred years old, a dragon living on the heights of a mountain, 30,000 rhinos who have destroyed everything in their path. During the fight with Kaid Shah, two more battles take place: The battle with Nushdar, the Indian who has 10,000 men, and the battle with a powerful predator named Sanur. Therefore, one might say that Faramarz, just like Rostam and Esfandiyar, had to go through seven labours or adventures. Even though Shahnameh has influenced Faramarznameh, its content is more similar to Garshasbnameh than to any other books. One of the most important missions of Garshasb is to go to India to fight with an Indian Shah named Bahu. The events that happen to Garshasb, are very similar to the events that happen to Faramarz.

There is a two-hundred-year interval between the appearance of Ferdowsi’s initial manuscripts of Shahnameh and his death. The manuscripts contain between 48000 and over 60000 lines and have led to much debate among Ferdowsi scholars. The debates are over which lines and stories are authentic and which were added later for various reasons. One reason for such additions is political concerns. Many scholars claim that the lines written in praise of Mahmoud Ghaznavi are not authentic. One instance of such praise is a dream narrated by Ferdowsi at the beginning of the story of Gashtasb. In the dream, much of which is in praise of Mahmoud Ghaznavi, Daghighi asks Ferdowsi to include his poems in Shahnameh. Although the dream exists in all versions of Shahnameh, there are hints in its text that render its authenticity questionable. This article is a study of the authenticity of this dream through an analysis of its content.

During the 60s (solar calendar) sixty-six novels were published in Iran for the first time. From this collection, the themes of sixteen works were directly influenced by the revolution and the war. In all these works the social, political, cultural, and economic situation, the conditions of the intellectuals, the merits of the revolution and the war and the disadvantages of the two are described. Nineteen writers have taken the opportunity to write about topics which were difficult to deal with before the revolution, such as the risks of freedom seeking, social class debates, economic upheavals, ignorance, poverty, injustice, murder, imprisonment, the harassment of freedom seekers, etc. We regard these novels as those influenced by the revolution. The remaining thirty one novels have not been influenced by the revolution or by the revolutionary atmosphere of the time. In other words, they deal with topics which can be dealt with in most governments. Such novels mostly include social and emotional themes. In this article, the titles of the novels, their themes and the names of their authors are mentioned.

Najm-al-din Arefi is a mystic who does not seem to have much to do with politics. His interest, however, in man, his fate, happiness, and damnation, which are linked to the way a country is governed, has compelled him to discuss politics. In this article, we will see that based on his mystical and religious views, he insists on the existential necessity of government, and also views government and religion as the two sides of a coin. He considers shariah as the source of the norms by which governments and governors can be evaluated. In Mersad-al-Ebad, he claims that the different parts of a government, like body parts, should be in full collaboration with each other and with the system as a whole. A government is like a pyramid with the king at its top and the ministers and officers in the middle. The people, as the majority and as the poorest class, are at the bottom. This model has been taken from his own society where the monarch rules as the absolute power and his officers gain power by means of bribery and subservience. He, as is always the case, does not express the reality.Instead, he writes about “what should be”. Reading this, the reader deconstructs the text and finds out what the text implies. His contemporary government is a corrupt regime in which a limited minority gathers unlimited wealth and oppresses the vast majority.