ARABIC LITERATURE (FACULTY OF LETTERS AND HUMANITIES)
Year:2020 | Volume:12 | Issue:1 |Papers Count:7

Because of its unique stylistic features, many scholars have written commentaries on al-Zamakhshari’ s book al-Mufassal. One of the most famous ones is a manuscript commentary by Izz al-Din Kashi, who was an Iranian poet, author, and sculptor of the late seventh and early eighth centuries AH. In addition to numerous works in the field of Persian and Arabic poetry and prose, Izz al-Din Kashi has written Sharh al-Mufassal, which is an extensive commentary on the book al-Mufssal. The present article tries to examine the syntax of Sharh al-Mufassal in order to underline Izz al-Din Kashi’ s role as a prominent Iranian figure. The use of plain language unlike the literary language used in Ibn al-Yaish’ s commentary and the rational and logical language of Ibn al-Hajib’ s commentary, his attention to lexical issues and causation, the explanation of the scope of syntactic terms, and the use of dialects in expressing syntactic discussions are among the features of this book. In his commentary, he is mostly from the followers of the visual school, but apparently, he does not want to play the role of a narrator who merely follows syntacticians, but in some cases, he criticizes the ideas of some of them, in particular, Zamakhshari and Ibn al-Hajib, and this reveals his independent scientific character. Moreover, this shows his mastery over Arabic language, as well as his deep understanding of Arabic grammar and linguistics. Kashi looks at terms with an open and deep view, and expands syntactic issues, without blindly following a person or a syntactic school. His works reflect the characteristics of his scientific personality. He is an example of a prominent Iranian author who has written a successful commentary. However, unfortunately, his name and scientific character have not been known to researchers so far and his works are in need of much research.

The term hypertextuality refers to any form of adaptation; therefore, in literature, this term expresses the relations between texts. The novel Frankenstein in Baghdad written by Ahmed Saadawi, an Iraqi novelist, is influenced by Mary Shelley’ s novel Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus in that the signs of the cleared layers of Shelley’ s hypotext can be seen in Sadawi’ s hypertext. This leads to a palimpsestuous relation between the two texts. In the field of hypertextuality, the term palimpsest refers to any type of adaptation in which the layers of the original text can be seen in the adapted text. This process, which is named transformation, takes place through a purposeful change made in the hypertext without any imitation of it. The transformation and extension of meaning in the hypotext is done through transposition, which refers to the drastic changes made to the hypotext. It is possible, however, to detect parody of the hypotext, such as practice of transvestism, in Saadawi’ s novel. Yet, parody is not the entire hypertextual relation between the two texts. This study analyzes the transformational relation between some features of the contents of the two texts and the changes made to the hypertext in the form of transposition. Transposition makes profound changes in many of the dimensions of Shelley’ s novel without interpreting it. Titles, names, places, themes, symbols, language, religion, and beliefs are some of the items that are transposed in Saadawi’ s novel. The appearance of the character Frankenstein in Saadawi’ s novel causes the emergence of different cultural and social symbols and signs. The difference between the language of the novels and the difference between places are vivid examples of transposition that explain the spectral presence of Frankenstein in the hypertext, the dominant atmosphere of the hypertext, and how the past causes the absence of meaning with its presence.

Nowadays, the literary genre of fiction has taken over the place of myth. Thus, novel, like myth, may have latent semantic layers and, sometimes, the main purpose of the author is to convey these layers to the reader. Semiotics is a science that examines signs to receive the inner meaning of the text. The sign consists of the signifier and the signified and their relation is called signification. There are two types of signification, explicit and implicit. Examining the significations leads us to a variety of meanings that are not seen at the narrative level. These meanings can be reexamined with the method of secondary semiotics that Roland Barthes uses in examining mythical systems. In this method, the signs derived from the preliminary semiotics are reduced to signifiers and again go through a semiotic study. Every text or system that can be studied by secondary semiotics is called myth, as Barthes put it. Accordingly, this article, first, attempts to examine the mythical system of Naguib Mahfouz’ s novel The Search by extracting the signs that have the capacity of being studied by secondary semiotics. Through preliminary semiotics, we come to its three central signs (or its three myths): search for Father, love, and wandering. These are the most important concepts in the novel, leading the narrative to the struggle between good and evil and the confusion of man about this struggle. Next, in order to discover the hidden semantic layers and the implied meanings of the novel, the three signs are reduced to signifiers and again go through a semiotic study. The attempt to find the signified for these three signifiers leads us to a variety of concepts which Barth calls myth. These concepts open new avenues of text and connect the reader to underlying semantic worlds not seen in the narration.

Miral al-Tahawi is an Egyptian immigrant who has been instrumental in bringing feminism to the forefront of Arabic literature through her novels. She has drawn the attention of her readers to the discourse of active heroic women and has advanced the feminist view of women. Choosing female heroes and numerous female characters for her novels — who all live under similar circumstances — she has sought to address the troubled lives of the women of her homeland who have been trapped by past traditions. The world of al-Tahawi’ s novels is a mixture of Arab traditions, the failed aspirations of Arab women, and the undeniable identity conflict of women in the modern world. Thus, to elicit an understanding from her novels, one can examine them from the perspective of feminism. The question is to what extent the author devotes her work to women, and, given the dominance of past legacies in the novels, which spectrum of women’ s classes in society receives more attention. To understand this, the present article adopts feminist criticism to study motifs such as the implications of women’ s despair, poverty, deprivation, and lack of social status in the novels The Tent, Blue Aubergine, and Brooklyn Heights. Employing a descriptive-analytical approach, the article scrutinizes the role of the female body in the condition of the women. It also studies marriage and lovemaking in patriarchal and misogynistic societies and the rebellious efforts of women to achieve better conditions. The results of the study indicate that al-Tahawi does not have an optimistic view of women and that she always links their frustration and despair with their dissatisfaction with their bodies. The protagonists of these novels, who are usually reflections of the author herself, in confronting their patriarchal societies, become rebellious and iconoclastic and demand attention and the right to have high social status.

Since the emergence of modern Arabic poetry the essence of meaning and beauty has been one of the challenging issues and has been the subject of a considerable part of the literary research. Adunis is one of the most notable literary figures of the Arab world who has provided theorizations in the field of Arabic poetry and criticism. In his writings, he presents meaning and beauty intertwined with subjects such as the concept of poetry, commitment, complexity, tradition, and innovation and in this way he pursues meaning with a hermeneutic and dynamic approach. This article seeks to analyze the essence of meaning from the perspective of this influential poet in order to reveal part of the discourse on the questioning of meaning in the field of modern Arabic poetry. Adunis emphasizes the influence of the individuality of the poet on meaning and beauty and their relation to commitment. In his thought, the nature of poetry is accompanied by an ambiguous and complex quality. As a result, in his view the challenge of the concept of poetry has become more philosophical. Therefore, applying a philosophical hermeneutic approach, one understands that such things as historicity, definition, dynamism, and meaningfulness are present in his thought, and that elements such as rhyme and expressive forms are not efficient criteria for analysis of his thought and poetry. We can say that the tradition in Adunis’ s thought and poetry is dynamic and is not limited to the ordinary sense of the time since his thought and poetry have a hermeneutic time. Thus, philosophical hermeneutic approach can be an appropriate to the aesthetics of meaning, which is one of the most important topics in the modern rhetoric and we must seek the beauty of Adunis’ s poetry in the semantic identity of his poetry with a hermeneutic approach.

Eulogy is one of the most important poetic types in Arabic literature. Due to its moralistic themes, the eulogy of the prophet of Islam enjoys a high position in Arabic literature. This poetic type has existed in different periods of Arabic poetry. However, it reached its pinnacle in the Mamluks’ period. Using a descriptive-analytical approach, the present paper attempts to examine the various subdivisions of this literary type and its pertinent styles and themes by exploring its origin of formation and its prominent poets. The results of this paper suggest that the eulogies of the prophet in the Mamluks’ period are considered as one the finest poetic forms in Arabic literature. These eulogies do not have a specific structure. Yet, long odes of this literary type include a lyrical introduction, a main body, and an epilogue and they mention the prophet’ s miracles and characteristics. The art of praising the prophet flourished in the Mamluks’ period because of several important reasons. First, during the Crusades this poetic type was used as a motivating force to inspire efforts to defend the Islamic lands. Second, the prophet was considered as a decent model to follow for Muslims. Third, Arab poets praised Mamluk kings but they, not being Arab, paid no attention to their poetry. Furthermore, there was a need for this type of poetry in the prophet’ s birthday celebrations. The spread of Sufism and Mysticism, the expansion of the Islamic world, people’ s desire to visit the holy places of Hejaz, and the competition between Sunni circles who praised the prophet and Shia movements who praised the Ahl al-Bayt are among the other reasons. Al-Busiri and Safi-al-Din al-Hilli are among the most famous poets of this period who wrote poetry in praise of the prophet. Al-Busiri is the most famous one and many consider him as the inventor of the technique.