Examining Burlesques of Sa’di’s Golestan in the Ottoman Territory

Sa’di’s Golestan, considered one of the masterpieces of Persian literature, has also attracted the attention of Ottoman poets, writers and secretaries and was read with enthusiasm. This valuable work has also been translated and described throughout the centuries in the Ottoman Empire and for the better understanding of it, Golestan dictionaries have been written. In addition, some poets and writers of this country, have written burlesques of Saʻdi’s Golestan in Persian and Ottoman languages, including the Shokrollah Sherwani’s Nakhlestan, Kamal Pashazadeh’s Negarestan, Sheikh Shoja Gourani’s Sonbolestan, Nargesi’s Nahalestan, and others. These burlesques are of great significance and there are many manuscripts in different libraries. The purpose of this article is to examine the style and content of the burlesques of Sa’di’s Golestan and their similarities and differences with Golestan-e Sa’di based on answering the following questions: 1) Have the imitators of Sa’di’s Golestan been able to produce the riming prose? 2) Have these burlesques been mere imitations, or have the authors been able to write a work belonging to their own society? 3) How successful have these works been?