PERSIAN LANGUAGE AND LITERATURE (JOURNAL OF THE FACULTY OF LITERATURE AND HUMANITIES)
Year:2020 | Volume:28 | Issue:88|Papers Count:12

The question of cognition in human life is a long-standing and central issue that has arisen from the beginning of human thought about existence. The set of ideas presented in this regard has created the field of epistemology. There are original and interesting points about cognition in Rumi’ s mystical heritage and an important part of his views on this subject is related to the discussion of human cognitive errors and limitations. This question has also been proposed in various ways in the Western philosophical tradition and has received answers and explanations. In this research, using a descriptive-analytical method and adopting a comparative approach an attempt has been made to investigate the multiple dimensions of human cognitive errors and limitations from Rumi’ s perspective. To that end, we have also reviewed the evolutionary course of the subject in the Western philosophical tradition. Therefore, categories such as reason, experience, illusion, imagination, existence and appearance of the world have been dealt with followed by quotations and analyses of Rumi’ s views on this subject. Finally, it is shown how Rumi also explored and expressed the multiple aspects of errors and limitations of human cognition and what similarities his views bear to the Western philosophical tradition. Moreover, the differences and similarities between the attitudes of philosophers and mystics towards the nature and quality of cognition have been studied. The most important differences can be seen in the pivotal role of reason among philosophers and its invalidity for some other aspects of cognition among mystics. On the other hand, the allegory of the cave in Plato’ s philosophy and the question of existence and appearance of the world, and the role of imagination in investigating the world in the eyes of eighteenth-century idealist philosophers are very similar to the fundamentals of epistemology in Rumi’ s views. It is found that part of Rumi’ s views on describing the position of reason and human’ s cognitive limitations is similar to the views of seventeenth-century rationalist epistemologists, and in terms of the special position of experience in cognition and its limitations, it is close to those of eighteenth-century empiricists.

Popular culture is an important aspect of poets’ intellectual system and knowledge of its components has a significant effect on facilitating the description of poets’ thoughts and mentalities. Mohammad Hossein Kebriayi, Ibn-e-Hesam Khusfi and Nizari Quhestani are among the Quhestan region (Southern part of Khorasan Province) poets who relied on elements of popular culture to reflect various epistemological, lyrical and moral issues in their poems. In the present paper, using the descriptive-analytical method, the areas of application of popular culture are investigated in four general categories of “ beliefs” , “ customs (focusing on occupations)” , “ irony and allegory” and “ local words” in Kebriayi’ s poetry. Moreover, several components of this subject are mentioned in the poems of Nizari and Ibn Hussam. It seems that by using these elements Quhestan poets have succeeded in the process of expressing and describing instructional and mystical categories and in making their intentions more tangible. Since the majority of readers of these poets have been the common people, the use of popular culture has been effective in the pragmatics of their words and in creating a powerful link between the target group and their poetry. Using this technique, Kebriayi has knowingly downgraded the level of his speech to create a three-dimensional relationship among himself, the produced text and the target readers. Nizari and Ibn-e-Hesam have mostly portrayed lyrical issues in their poetry.

The study of text cohesion is a linguistic tool for understanding the structure of Persian literary works based on objective and accurate descriptions using a single model. In this paper, verses from Sanai’ s Hadiqat al-Haqiqah (The Walled Garden of the Truth) were studied using the theory of text cohesion by Halliday and Hassan in systemic linguistics and the results were presented in diagrams. According to this theory, cohesion has grammatical, lexical and relational devices each of which includes more detailed devices. The purpose of this paper is to analyze each of these cohesive devices in Sanai’ s Hadiqat. The research method is descriptive and each of the cohesive devices is investigated by mentioning couplet samples and their repetition frequencies. The results show that among the various types of cohesion, lexical cohesion, especially contrasts, and relational cohesion, especially causal relationships, have the greatest effect on the cohesion and integrity of the verses of Hadiqat.

Interdisciplinary studies of Persian literature and psychology have played an effective role in explaining and conveying concepts in these two fields. Considering the role of Persian proverbs in objectifying abstract concepts and representing the common internal needs and desires of Iranian ethnic groups, this paper intends to study the function of this part of folklore literature in the process of reality therapy. William Glasser (1925), the developer of reality therapy, explained this new psychological approach based on choice theory. Reality therapy is based on self-evaluation, relying on realism and morality, and ultimately a call for responsibility to achieve happiness and well-being. Using qualitative analysis, the present paper seeks to answer the questions of how to re-read Persian proverbs with new approaches to psychotherapy? And, is the use of Persian proverbs effective in the process of counseling and psychotherapy? Selected proverbs have been studied with regard to Glasser’ s emphasis on the effectiveness and moral nature of human behavior. The findings show that proverbs which express effective behavior, while having the criterion of responsibility, lack an immoral aspect, and those which talk about avoiding general ineffective behavior do not have a moral aspect, and refer to irresponsible behavior. However, moral duality is evident in both groups of proverbs. It seems that Persian proverbs with aspects such as advice and counsel, clarity and correctness of meaning, good effect, reliance on experience, reflection of thought, etc. can be effective in conveying the concepts of reality therapy.

The purpose of this study is to identify Gardizi’ s main motivation for writing the history of Zayn-al-Akhbar. As the historian’ s aim of writing history is reflected in the structure of his text, and Gardizi’ s narrative of historical events is a meaningful narration that forms a distinct result in the mind of the reader and promotes, confirms and documents a political thought, the present researchers sought to discover and decipher the meaning and political thought underlying the narrative structure of the history of Zayn-al-Akhbar. To achieve the purpose of the research, Gerard Genette's theory of narrative time was used in harmony with the atmosphere of Gardizi’ s history. In this method, the highlighting elements of the narrative time were selected and finally, parts of the text, which were prominent in terms of time, were examined regarding the ideas. As a result, two vital elements of the narrative structure of Gardizi, namely “ decline narrative poetics” and “ narrative interface loops” were proposed and explained. The analysis of these two elements indicated that the main aim of Gardizi while writing Zina al-Akhbar was to motivate the Ghaznavids to regain control of Khorasan, and his motivation for writing a historiography was to discover the root causes of the decline of various governments to find a way to save the Ghaznavids’ reign from destruction and revive it to the height of Mahmoud Ghaznavi’ s rule.

The purpose of the present paper is to study the specific historical conditions in which a new relationship between “ literary texts” and “ public education” was established. This created a different formulation of “ literature” . To that end, the genealogical method was used. From a genealogical point of view, phenomena have no meta-historical nature and are constructed following historical events and within complex power relations. The findings show that “ poetry” and “ education” in the mid-centuries discourse had a specific definition, function and formulation and that they established a relationship with each other in connection with the mechanism of the collector power and the construction of the hierarchy of society. The confrontation of Qajar rule and Iranian society with numerous crises such as war, cholera, and famine challenged the collector power. With the activation of new mechanisms of power (disciplinary and bio-power) and the formation of the assumption of equality, the hierarchical structure of the society was gradually weakened and the issue of public education as a way to save the state and the nation became problematic. The discourse of literary criticism turned the “ Iranian people’ s manners” and “ literary texts” into issues and established a new relationship between the two. Meanwhile, a collection of texts and various social situations came under the umbrella of “ literature” . In sum, the results indicate that the change of power mechanisms in the Qajar period marked a fundamental shift in the historical existence of Iranians and a new state of affairs was established; “ Literature” and “ education” bore new definitions, functions, and connections, and they established a new relationship with each other.

So far, many thinkers with different approaches have studied the concept of “ the other” and its examples in various aspects of human life. Literature has also attracted the attention of researchers and interested scholars as a platform for representing examples of “ the other” . In addition to recognizing the place of “ otherness” in the worldview of individuals in different eras, studying examples of “ the other” in the literary texts has also made it possible to delimit the realm of “ I” . In this paper, using an analytical method and adopting an eclectic approach, the researchers studied the potentials of Rumi’ s Mathnavi in ​ ​ representing the types of “ the other” and in realizing the levels of otherness of “ the other” and its place in the mystical worldview so as to gain a relative knowledge of the structures that govern mystical thoughts. To that end, we first explained the concept of “ the other” in three intellectual-philosophical systems, namely contrastive, dialectical and intersubjective, and mentioned examples of “ the other” in verses of Mathnavi. Then, we presented a reading of the levels of realization of otherness of “ the other” and the conditions of their possibility in this text. From a general point of view, due to the contrastive structure of the mystical worldview and the definition of “ the other” as an “ alien” , the realization of high levels of otherness in the text of Mathnavi cannot be expected, but the narrative of the experience of union and depicting the inability of “ I” to understand “ the infinite other” can be regarded as representation of the highest level of otherness. Meanwhile, in the distance from the “ alien” to “ the infinite other” and through dialogue, a level of otherness is also represented in the relationship between the characters in some stories of Mathnavi.

Feuilleton is a writing genre which came into existence after the emergence of the press and the reasons behind its creation can be listed as compensating for the shortage of book publications, providing a new way to present long texts, and keeping and increasing the readership. Taking a history of literature research approach, we investigated this writing genre and its applications in the Iranian press from the outset up to the year 1320 SH (1941). While serialized stories have comprised the majority of feuilletons in the press, various topics such as plays, travelogues, biographies, and historical texts have also appeared as feuilletons. In the early Iranian press, various terms were used for this genre, such as ‘ ghesmat-e tahtā ni’ [bottom section], ‘ fiton’ [feuilleton], and ‘ zeyl’ [appendix / footnote]. It was Ettehad-e Eslam Newspaper that first used the term pā varaghi [~footer / footnote / = feuilleton] which was gradually picked up by other publications. The first feuilletons were published by Etemad al-Saltanah in Iran Newspaper and mostly had historical themes. The first fiction feuilleton was the novel neyrang-e siyā h ya kaizā ne sefid [The Black Deception or White Maids] by Mohammad-Taqi Bahar which was published in Iran Magazine in 1298 SH (1919), and the naming by certain researchers of the novels tehrā ne makhō f [The Dreadful Tehran] or dah nafar qezelbā š [The Ten Qizilbash] as the first fiction feuilletons lacks scientific rigor. The most important feature of this genre is its serialization, and variety in its topics. Considering its style of writing, no particular linguistic feature can be attributed to this genre; rather, the style of writing in this genre follows the style of its authors or translators.

One of the approaches to the criticism of fiction that has changed a lot from a linguistic point of view is Roger Fowler’ s linguistic theory. This theory is a mixture of Chomsky’ s transformational grammar and Halliday’ s functional linguistics theories. The story of Golshiri’ s “ Khaneh-ye-Roshanan” was written in the mode of stream of consciousness, and Fowler believed that in such stories, the surface structure helps to understand the deep structure. The present paper analyzed the story of “ Khaneh-ye-Roshanan” based on Fowler’ s linguistic approach using the descriptive-analytical method along with library research tools. The results of the study indicate that the types of transformations and the mode of stream of consciousness in this work cause shifts in syntactic structure of sentences, non-compliance with grammatical rules, repetition of pronoun references, creation of rhythm and music in speech, application of associative contrasts, repetitions based on emphasis, confusion in the readers’ minds, and creation of suspension and postponement in speech. The main characters of this work, the actor and alternating narrators, are all passive and sensory-perceptive. It is as if they should not utter a word against the dominant ideology of the text, which would disrupt its monotonous atmosphere. In this work, like the rest of his works, Golshiri wanted to delve into the problems of society and to dominate his interventionist judgments in the text. In terms of looking at the text, the author sometimes dealt with the text from an external perspective and did not consider himself to be able to understand the perceptions of the characters in the story, while he sometimes explored the text from an internal perspective and assimilated his cognitive tendencies into the text. In terms of representation of speech and thought, both direct and indirect speech were used in this work. Both methods could reveal as much as possible the internal and verbal secrets of the main and secondary characters.

In his lyricism and eloquence, Hussein Monzavi benefited from the great heritage of lyrical and epic literature, poetic images, fictions, and religious allusions in order to create imagery and expand the meaning and themes of his poems. The Divan of Hafiz is one of the main sources of influence on Monzavi’ s poems in terms of form, meaning, and musical coherence. He also benefited from borrowing Hafiz’ s clauses, rhythm, allusions, verses, and sonnets. Love and the hardship in its path, pledge of trust, drinking merrily, and social issues are the themes in Monzavi’ s poems which were under direct influence of Hafiz. Monzavi’ s imagery of love and its manifestations has similarities with Hafez’ s poetry. The present paper is an endeavor to investigate the influence of Hafiz on Monzavi in terms of form, rhythm, meaning, love, the image of the beloved, and imagery. The findings indicate that Monzavi benefited from Hafiz’ s single elements, rhythms, and themes in about two hundred instances.

Nizami Ganjavi is a well-known literary figure in Iranian cultural history whose influence has not been diminished in contemporary era. The scene of “ Shirin bathing in a fountain” is one of the most prominent scenes of Khosrow and Shirin poem which has been the focus of attention for many modern poets. Following a content analysis approach, this study attempts to explain why such a scene has been so rich and influential in contemporary poetry. The scene has been impressive in two ways: In the first, and the most important type, the whole poem is dedicated to this scene, and in the other type, the poets have only partially referred to the scene. In this paper, it is argued that the scene of Shirin bathing in a fountain is a romantic theme and since some poets were influenced by romanticism – at some points in their professional career – they were fascinated by this scene. Rebellion, violation of moral boundaries, attention to local legends, mythological manifestation of a woman/the beloved one, metaphorism, dynamism and maturity of the scene and its vivid expression, the vague location and time of the event as well as the naturalism of the scene have been parameters of the romantic poems and images most of which are represented in the studied scene. Another attraction of the scene is its eroticism. This classical image has the potential to arouse sensual attraction and to reflect both physical and feminine tensions of our time and to give an indigenous identity to modern poetry.

Semiotics is a research approach which evaluates the signs to understanding the hidden meaning in the context. This approach which utilize linguistics, sociology, and literary criticism, is an efficient way of analysis. Semiotic analysis of travelogues provides an opportunity to a new reading and better understanding of them. Moreover, semiotic analysis can clarify the role of travelogues in delineating and representing the social and cultural status of societies. Based on Pierre Guiraud’ s theory, this paper attempts to reveal the hidden aspects of identity, culture and social customs of explored lands by reviewing the social signs in Haj Sayyah travelogue, which is the longest travelogue of an ordinary person with regard to time and place during the Naseri Era. Using a descriptive-analytic method, this study compares and sometimes contrasts the Iranian-Islamic culture with the European culture and the confrontation of human beings with themselves and the environment. The findings show that religious beliefs and issues, as signs of identity, are the most important concern for the writer who dealt with them critically both inside and outside of Iran. As a young clergyman, his excessive attention to holy places like mosques, temples and churches suggests his religious identity.