Journal of Literary Studies
Year:2010 | Volume:42 | Issue:4 (167)|Papers Count:10

The scattered stories, due to the way they are put together in The Shahnameh, show a thoughtful and systematic pattern and tell more than what they have in their appearance. According to the tradition of The Shahnameh research, the book is divided into the following sections: mythical, heroic, and historical. Although clear lines do not indicate this classification, the interval and overlapping sections should not be overlooked, because transition from section to section is not possible without the requisite preparation and introduction of the author’s knowledge. It is the writer’s belief that the Goshtasp Era in The Shahnameh is the transition of the National Epic from Myth to the historical period of the Sassanids.

Naqib Al-Mamalek Shirazi, the court storyteller of Naser Al-Din Shah, has composed two tales: Amir Arsalan and Malek Jamshid. Naqib created Amir Arsalan for Naser Al-Din Shah and retold it to him frequently, but he composed Malek Jamshid in a different condition. This essay attempts to study stylistic differences between the two texts. The goal is to show the role of textural factors and the circumstances of its creation based on the stylistic differences between the two texts. The differences have been presented in three issues: syntactic structures, slang dictions, and formulas (proverbs, oaths, curses), and in each case the influence of different textures and the narratee on these stylistic differences have been pointed out.

One of the greatest preoccupations in the field of Sociology of Religion is a practical (pragmatic) definition of religion and religiosity which is mostly studied in Social Psychology and can be divided into Sociological Tradition or Collective-Social Tradition and Psychological or Subjective-Individual Tradition. Prior to Glock and Stark, scholars considered different aspects and principles for religion. For example, Erich Fromm emphasized on practical, practical-magical, ritual and semantic aspects of religion; while Wakh’s division was theoretical/mental, practical/behavioral and social/institutional. There were also other scholars who were concerned with four pillars for religion: faith, belief, devotional (worshipping) edicts and political/social edicts. Moreover, there was another group who concentrated on religious experience, recognition, emotion and practice. It was from the early 1960s, that under the influence of such sociologists as Emile Durkheim, religion for the first time was conceived as a multi-dimensional phenomenon, and Watch stressed on three dimensions: theoretical/belief, practical/ritual and collective/societal. In 1965 Glock and Stark attached five dimensions for all the religions in the world: 1. Belief; 2. Ritual; 3. Experimental; 5. Intellectual; 6. Consequential. These five dimensions were accepted by most scholars and were considered to be an appropriate model for studying and doing research on any religion. It is quite axiomatic that religiosity is an important aspect of Hafez’s personality trait which is adaptable to Glock and Stark’s model. The present article was written from this conviction that by applying Glock and Stark’s model to Hafez’s poetry (gazels), one can find that Hafez believed in oneness (monotheism), prophet hood and resurrection. Questing for truth is an important feature of his ritual aspect, suggesting his pragmatism in the obligations of the religious law and spiritual virtues as well as religious positions. His religious experience possesses an insight quality, an intuitive kind of knowledge, which can lead to recognition, faith and hope, thereby culminating in monotheism, content with God’s will, practice of religious duties, participation in religious ceremonies, adornment with spiritual virtues, steadfast faith, amorous servitude, as well as reaching unity and the position of a perfect human, which are the consequences of his religiosity.

The basic issue in this article is to analyze the relationships of characters in Nezami’s Khosrow & Shirin by using of Greimas’s Actors Pattern. In Nezami’s narrative we found the six actors that Greimas mentioned; including: transmitter, recipient, subject, object, helper, and deterrent.According to the results of this article the Transmitter is part of Khosrow’s character – his unconsciousness – that appears in his dream in shape of Anushirvan, his ancestor, and brings good news about Shirin and Shabdiz. The Recipient is Khosrow. The Subject is Shirin. The Object is bringing Khosrow & Shirin together. The Helper is Shapur. The Deterrent is Maryam, Khosrow’s wife, whose deterrent act ends with her death, as well as Farhad, who does not show a noticeable deterrent force. “The love of Farhad to Shirin” is not a love story parallel to the love of “Farhad and Shirin”, but it exists throughout the Story, and Farhad plays the role of a deterrent actor (rival).According to this research, Greimas’s Theory is to an extent useful for the analysis of characters in Nezami’s Khosrow & Shirin. Based on this, the reader can follow the relationship and interaction of characters with a clear mind. Through the comparison of the subject, recipient and deterrent actors in the two stories of Khosrow & Shirin and Leyli & Majnoon, we can find that the from the viewpoint of storytellers of Khosrow & Shirin freedom of the woman’s character and her decisiveness in action is valuable, while in the view of the storytellers of Leyli & Majnoon, is her loyalty to the traditional social mores and customs and her nature of obedience to her father or husband. This point shows the cultural differences of societies, in which the two stories originated. The outline of these two examples is the base for its spread to other Persian-language love stories.

Qaisar Aminpour is a post-revolution prominent poet who has composed poems in different fields and verse forms. He has composed 445 adult poems in five collections, the analysis of which seems necessary for gaining an exact understanding of the trend of the post-revolution poetry. In this article, the author, studying the titles of Qaisar's poems in his five books, has tried to offer a new reading of his poems, ignoring the contents of the poems at first. The hypothesis of this research in the beginning was that a poet's way of thinking can be surveyed and discovered without reading his poetry in the first step. Based on this, the author, classifying Qaisar's poems in terms of form (linguistic and technical elements) and content, just by studying the title, discovered that there is coherence and a strong connection between the title and the thought governing his poetry both in terms of form and content.

In a structural analysis, the “Rebellion & Decline” theme creates a narrative structure in which eleven stories of Shahnameh – equal to 3.18 per cent of the whole Epic – are included, which makes it the tenth largest sequence of the Shahnameh.This narrative structure (sequence) consists of initial tranquillity, the king’s rebellion, his decline, and ultimate tranquillity. The epical theme of rebellion and decline is deeply rooted in the myth of the “original sin, ” and displays a type of a powerful king. The most apparent historical manifestation of such a reign can be observed in the Sassanid period, which is perceptible from abundance of stories influenced from such a structure in the part of Ferdowsi’s Shāhnāmeh dealing with the Sassanid era.Considering the spread and antiquity of the myth of “original sin, ” as an effective myth in this sequence, we can consider this myth as an archetype, which appears in many stories of world nations’ literatures.

Minoo ’s Ahriman is a term for discovering Ahriman in the world of Minoo: a world where it’s creatures are invisible, undesirable, and without a body. In this article, Minoo’s Ahriman in the Avesta and the Pahlavi Texts are surveyed. In Gahan, Ahriman exists as the evil nature as opposed to the good nature that leads to his creation in the Haftha. In New Avesta the Minavi existence continues with Ahriman’s destructions and ends with his inability and his escape to hell during resurrection.In Pahlavi texts the image that shows life of Minoo’s demon has been extended and its prominent feature is inexistence of Ahriman as opposed to the existence of Aura Mazd. This doctrine has created philosophical and abstract thoughts about Ahriman and on the other hand has provided his thought of adaptability of universe until myths of demon turn to allegory. One of the most important discussions in Minoo’s Ahriman is his imprisonment in the sky in the form of Minoo. This involvement has prepared philosophical, allegorical and symbolical thoughts, where the first basic doctrines for defence against Ahriman can be seen. In the Iranian conclusion, Ahriman is defeated and put in hell (the reflection of psychological and internal conflicts of human beings) or killed (the reflection of rebels’ and disbelievers’ fate).

Accounts and narratives of the ancient Iranian texts and sources of the Islamic period concerning Fereydun indicate that this Iranian dragon-slayer hero has been known for his three powers, that is “fighting powers, ” “medical skills, ” and “sorcery arts”. On the other hand, his name, Fereydun (Middle Persian “Frēdōn”, Avestan “θraētaona-“), seems to mean “the owner of three powers” or “the one who has three powers.” Accordingly, there could be a probable relationship between the meaning of Fereydun’s name and his abovementioned three powers. The review of reports on Fereydun in various Iranian and Indian sources proves such a relationship, shows that probably the word “θraētaona-“ was an adjective originally in remote past and it had being used by Iranians for describing their mythical hero; then, in later times, in consequence of gradual development of the myth, this adjective, as a proper name, has been used instead of the original name of the hero, namely *θrīta Āθwya

Within Iranian literary works, The Shahnameh, the eternal epic written by the sage Abolqasem Ferdowsi, has an important and unique place in the recognition of the ethnic identity and the reflection of the Iranian people's view of the world. The importance of The Shahnameh from the abovementioned perspectives, evoked the curiosity and contemplation of many Western and Eastern researches and caused some critical analysis in a way that The Shahnameh can be viewed as a highway for intellectual challenges of Orientalists confronting Eastern culture and was always an exposé for them of both justice or injustice, for support or for rejection. Although the Orientalists' efforts to know more about Iran and Iranians, has evoked their attention towards this grand work, and their valuable researches have granted benefits for Iranians, by paying attention to their opinions, some realities about their hidden or obvious intentions, which were mostly unnoticed.Undoubtedly persistence to find suitable reply for questions like: "Are the offered views and findings in the Orientalists' researches real reflection of Iran and its national epic or a confusing and biased image? "; "Which aspect of The Shahnameh, are western researches following to prove or suggest, knowledge or identity? "; “Which perspective of The Shahnameh are the Western scholars trying to proof or suggest – knowledge or identity? Or none of the above? "; “Have the researches of the Orientalists been coordinated with western politicians, or in some cases conducted to proove their political tendencies, or for mere love of gaining knowledge and bringing about science for the sake of science? Or a combination of the two? " As well as other such issues have persuaded the writers to criticise and analyse the ideas and works of Western European Orientalists on Ferdowsi and his Shahnameh through a descriptive-analytic approach, based on their works and declarations. Considering the essential differences in the approach of the Russian and former Soviet researchers of The Shahnameh and fear of over expanding the research and amount of the essay, the writers decided not to mention these researchers ' attitudes within this research.