محمدرضا حاجی آقا بابایی

In this study, research data was purposefully gathered through documentary research. While comprehensive statistics on Qajar-era etiquette guides are unavailable, library research and manuscript catalogs yielded forty etiquette guides within the study's scope, analyzed descriptively and analytically.

One of the influential tools in shaping thoughts is the utilization of literary content. Following this premise, the leaders of the Soviet Communist Party established specific principles and foundations to shape and disseminate literary content, which they communicated to their followers. Similarly, the leaders of the Tudeh Party in Iran endeavored to extend the approved characteristics of the Communist Party within contemporary Iranian literature by adhering to these guidelines. Leveraging the newspapers and publications at their disposal, they successfully aligned many poets and writers with their cause. The editors of these publications translated the theories of Marxist theorists, as well as the stories and poems of writers from the Soviet Union and Eastern European countries, to propagate these perspectives among Iranian writers. Priority in selecting Iranian literary works was given to those who were in some way supporters of the Tudeh Party or whose content aligned with the objectives of Marxist literature. The leaders of the Tudeh Party utilized various methods, including publishing articles on literary theory, introducing and promoting party-approved books, presenting Soviet writers as exemplary models, and highlighting Iranian authors whose ideas were endorsed by the party.

Analyzing the narrative structure of texts greatly aids in understanding the various layers of the text. The two key elements of the narrator and the listener in the novel can enhance the comprehension of the characters and the truthfulness of narrative propositions. Authors of war novels and stories strive to depict the events of war in a manner that is more comprehensible for the audience.Consequently, examining the narrator and their tone, along with the focalization of the narrative, provides a clearer depiction of the combatants and other characters, and can lead to an understanding of the author's perspective on this issue. This article investigates the concepts of tone and mood in The Pol-e Mo’allaq Novel (The Suspension Bridge).From the narrator's perspective, "The Suspended Bridge" features an omniscient narrator who, with knowledge of all times and places, recounts the story and its characters, being the sole entity through which the narrative's knots are resolved. The narrator in this novel aims to convey what aligns with the author's views. Given the nature of the narrative, we encounter a monophonic text that solely reflects the viewpoints of the author/narrator, with no presence of diverse thoughts within the text. From an ideological standpoint, at the end of the story, we witness a shift in the main character's mindset from death to life. This transformation is prompted by love, a theme that resonates throughout the novel and does not contribute to the creation of a polyphonic texture in the text.

Life style and its relevant issues are among the subjects that have been paid attention to in the didactic texts of Persian Literature for a long time and which have sometimes been called as ‘household policy’ or ‘household management’. Since the late Qajar era, attention to issues such as life style and its instruction was booming and it seemed that didactic literature became widespread with a new style and technique. In the present study, periodicals of the late Qajar and the first Pahlavi eras were reviewed and articles related to life style issues as well as comments made by their pros and cons were analyzed. Among the most important subjects discussed in the periodicals mention can be made of social life, arranging formalities, house management principles, physical health and clothing etiquette. Through reviewing published topics about life style in the late Qajar and the first Pahlavi eras, it can be concluded that movement towards modernity was advertized in different areas and western models were introduced to the Iranian society as superior examples of life style. However, in some cases these models were not much compatible with the Iranian life style and the culture of Iranian society. On the other hand, it seems that only women were to be instructed in life style and men did not require such teachings. This was due to the dominant cultural views of the then Iranian society.

One of the important aspects of studying any narrative text is the presence of other (non-main) influential characters and factors in the text, collectively referred to as the Other. The concept of the Other is broad and includes human characters and non-human elements such as nature or supernatural issues. Attar's Tazkirat al-Awliya is one of the most prominent mystical texts in which the biographies of mystics and their experiences and virtues are presented. Studying this book from the point of view of the concept of the Other, we realize that an āref (mystic) is confronted with various factors in his mystical journey, and this is what leads to the mystic's existential transcendence and a better understanding of his "self". In the book, the Other appears in the form of God, other mystics, ordinary people, Satan and the mystic's own ego, animals, and objects, each of which, in a special way, seeks to inform the mystic or inform others of his position. From this point of view, what we understand in the study of Tazkirat al-Awliya that although the Other stands in opposition to the mystic’s self, we do not witness any conflict between the mystic and the Other; rather, all these confrontational relationships make the mystic aware of his position, and the Other assumes a guiding function.

In many of his ghazals, Hafez raises social issues with a poetic language. He tries to express resistance to the powers by supporting dominated discourses of the time. In his poetry, the most significant contrast happens between two discourses of hypocrisy and hedonism. This paper aims to provide a reading of a ghazal of Hafez that opens with “I am the infamous lover in this town / My eyes, evil seeds have never sown” within the multilevel interpretive paradigm. It is demonstrated that at that time, the religious dogmatism was a power tool in the hands of the authority for his own advantage. Against the monotonous voice of the society approved by the authority, Hafez tries to reflect another voice through his poetry, and protests against the circumstances of the time. His aim for representing the discourse of quasi-Malāmati is criticizing the dominant discourse, and implementing social reform; so that religion and piety won’t be a trap for misleading people and blaming others won’t lead to self-satisfaction. Of course, the masterful use of linguistic and aesthetic techniques and the lofty thoughts presented in the poetry of Hafez have given a meta-time effect to it, and caused to be considered as a constant voice of protest against the authorities’ hypocrisy and deception in all communities and eras.

Comparative studies, in addition to showing the overlap between culture and literature, can lead to the identification of national literature as much as possible and reveal the position of each work in comparison with its international examples; therefore, such studies can play a significant role in the globalization of literature and identifying the strengths and weaknesses of local works.One of the approaches that can be used for the comparative study of two works is the narratological approach. In this approach, the narrative elements of two works are measured together and the similarities and differences are determined. Various theories have been proposed in the field of narratology. One of the most important theories in this regard belongs to the French theorist Gerard Genet (1930). He considers the "story" or the main plot of the story to be one of the aspects of the narrative and considers it to be the real sequence of events.   One of the approaches that can be used for the comparative study of two works is the narratological approach. In this approach, the narrative elements of two works are measured together and the similarities and differences are determined. Various theories have been proposed in the field of narratology. One of the most important theories in this regard belongs to the French theorist Gerard Genet (1930). He considers the "story" or the main plot of the story to be one of the aspects of the narrative and considers it to be the real sequence of events.. In this research, a comparative comparison of one of the narrative elements (grammatical Tense) in two novels, “Don Quixote” and “Dayi Jan Napoleon”, has been done. Tense is one of the elements that gives identity to narrative and story and is defined by three components of order, continuity and frequency.Four hundred years ago, in 1604 AD, Miguel de Cervantes published the first part of his immortal book "Don Quixote"; A work that later earned the title of the world's first fiction novel. This work is one of the oldest novels in modern European languages. Many consider it the best book written in Spanish and one of the most prominent examples of the picaresque novel. Don Quixote shows the audience the life of a person who suffers from delusions and spends his time reading forbidden story so that, according to the author of this story, he loses his sanity in an incurable way. The main character of the story sees himself in the place of one of these knights and sees imaginary enemies in front of him, which are often mountains and trees. "Don Quixote" is an imaginary and clumsy warrior who thinks he is invincible. He, accompanied by his servant, Sancho Panza, goes on long journeys and it is in the middle of these journeys that strange actions happen to him. He has no other goal but to save people from the oppression and tyranny of cruel rulers, he has an imaginative view of his surroundings and sees everything as a tool of war. Bitter humor reigns throughout this story, so that despite the strange actions of the main character, the reader feels empathy and sympathy for him. The society in which the author lives has had a great influence on the creation of such images. In 1972, Iranian writer Iraj Pezeshkzad published the book " Dayi Jan Napoleon ", which was widely accepted by book readers, and with the creation of a television series from this book, day by day. The number of people interested in this book has increased. Dayi Jan Napoleon is an eventful novel based on tale. The author pays attention to the main and essential aspect of the novel, which is narrative. It can be said that humor is the main axis in the story, as this case has left the author's hand free to express any issues far from being frank. Humor in the words and live and critical narratives of the life of the market alley people is one of the characteristics of this work, so the author has created unique and lasting characters by using nostalgic and local images, folk idioms and proverbs. The story consists of domestic episodes around a family. The driving factor of the plot is the conflict of two characters, "Dayi Jan" and "Aghajan", who act as types emerging from two social forces. Aghajan represents the urban middle class, which is taking the place of landed aristocracy in the social hierarchy. His opponent, Dayi Jan, flees into fantasy in front of the undeniable reality; Because he doesn't know what to do with the upcoming "fall", as he says.

The method of collecting information and data is based on library and analytical studies. Extracting data from the novels selected in this research has been done using the qualitative analysis method and relying on the data of Gerard Genet's narrative theory.

Tense is one of the elements that gives identity to narrative and story and is defined by three components: order, continuity and frequency. In general, in both novels, the sequence of events follows the chronological order. The number of irregularities and time lapses, which include future and retrospections, is not faint in both novels, and they usually come in the form of decisions and predictions of future events, expressions of memories, and reminiscences of the past. This has added to the attractiveness of the novel and the pursuit of the reader. In Don Quixote's novel, often, the narrator talks about the emotional decisions of the main character by passing from the present to the future and engages the reader's mind in how the events happened, while in Dayi Jan Napoleon's novel, the expression of memories and hindsight is a source of pride for some.The factors that increase the positive speed and acceleration in the narrative are delay and compression, which summarizes the narrative by creating a time break in the story and removing some unnecessary repetitive events. By providing detailed descriptions of characters, time and place, the author slows down the narrative speed so that the reader is more involved in the novel. The two themes of war and travel play a key role in both stories, although in both stories more of its imaginary and illusory aspects are considered. Long descriptions and events that happen during these wars and journeys in "Don Quixote" novel advance the story, but in " Dayi Jan Napoleon " novel, they help to create a humorous atmosphere and expand time. Dayi Jan Napoleon 's novel is more dialogue-oriented, so it mainly has a constant momentum and temporal similarity, but the temporal continuity in Cervantes' novel has a negative momentum due to the abundant use of ropes. The dominant frequency in the two novels is the singular frequency, which is not far from expected considering the narrative style of both works and their realism. Although other types of frequency such as frequent frequency are used in both works; however, singular frequency is the most used.

The narrative of the end of the era of aristocracy and lords and serfs in two different geographical points and the similarity of the behavior of activists such as Don Quixote and  Dayi Jan on the one hand and Sancho and Mashqasem on the other hand, creates the mentality that Iraj Pezeshkzad, in The writing of Dayi Jan Napoleon has looked at Don Quixote's novel, or it has sought to present an Iranian version of this novel; however, in Iranian history and culture, there have been no shortage of such delusional people. Of course, at the end of Don Quixote's story, we witness the transformation of the character and the acceptance of reality, but in the Dayi Jan Napoleon's novel, the character of Dayi Jan does not change and remains in his delusional world.

One of the important features in Persian historical texts is the special attention paid to kings and rulers and their behavioral actions, and the authors of such texts sought to introduce kings as superior role models for other rulers, and, in such a fashion, attempted to moderately reduce the severity of the behavior of the rulers of their time and indirectly educate them. Examining the historical texts focusing on the mythological kings, we see that the historians have considered their era as a favorable era far from malice and impropriety, and have sought to present an exemplary, replicable model of the kings—a model that, if followed by other rulers, would result in the formation of an ideal society with people living in peace and prosperity. Further examination of the content of historical books shows that most of what has been said about the mythological kings and their behavior is related to their kind treatment of their subordinates and subjects, and special emphasis has been placed on spreading justice and preventing oppression of the people. In addition, paying attention to the religiosity of the kings and their role in guiding the people towards an ideal society is of special importance in these texts—a society where there is no news of oppression, and people live in peace and harmony.

While literary modernity in Iran had national underpinnings and was brought about by changes in the economic and political relations and infrastructures of the country, it was also influenced by the knowledge of Western literature, and Iranian intellectuals who were producing works of literature also promoted new perspectives and styles in literature through the publication of their works. Examining the publications in the time period starting from the Constitutional Revolution to the end of Qajar era, we found that the issue of literary modernity was present in the following areas: theoretical issues of literary modernity, innovation in the form and content of literary texts, flourishing of translation, development of literary research, and flourishing of literary criticism. However, Iranian intellectuals and scholars had different understandings of modernity. Some believed that modernity was tantamount to destroying tradition and everything belonging to the past, and that it meant moving away from the literary past to create a literature that suited the contemporary times. Another group of modernists who had nationalist tendencies considered the aim of literary modernity to be the purification of Persian language by eliminating Arabic and Western [loan] words. Another group of scholars took the middle ground on the issue of modernity. They believed that new topics could be addressed while preserving the literary tradition. To them, tradition and modernity were not in conflict, but rather were a continuous issue, and modernity could take shape alongside tradition.

A Comparative Analysis of Two Translations of The Play Dirty Hands Based on Antoine Berman’s Theory of Deforming TendenciesDrama has been one of the most important subcategories in the field of literary and this genre presents a special case because play translation is different from other types of translation in that it involves paying attention to both verbal and non-verbal aspects of the texts in their translations. Antoine Berman (1942-1991), a prominent theorist in the field of Translation Studies, claims that translators are prone to 13 deforming tendencies in the process of translation, particularly in literary translation, which results in textual deformation. The present descriptive-analytical research aims at analyzing two translations of the first act of the play Dirty Hands by Jalal Al-e-Ahmad and Qasem Son’avi, employing Berman’s deformation theory. In translation assessment two factors are of significance: conveying the meaning and conveying the mood. The mere fluency in source and target language and a touch of literary creativity will not result in a translation of high quality. In this case, both of the translators have conveyed the meaning successfully. However, Jalal Al-e-Ahmad seems to be successful in capturing the mood and establishing hypertextual relations, thus; the context of the original was also translated successfully. In the present research, we will try to introduce the theory of deforming tendencies, criticize the translation of Dirty Hands, and analysis the extent of its applicability on the stage.

One of the areas in literary studies whose definition and principles have been subject of considerable disagreements among philosophers, writers, and linguists is poetry and its nature. Differences of perspectives in defining poetry are a result of differences in methodologies, intellectual fields, and elaboration of poetry function. The present research takes a descriptive–analytic approach to reviewing the existing definitions of poetry, and through studying different types of poetry in Persian literature and, by basing the discussion on indicators such as the speaker’s mentality, listener’s mentality, language, genre studies, various discourses of each era, the prominent literary element, and critiquing the masterpiece-oriented perspective, attempts to question the perspective which considers poetics to be a definite and non-historical phenomenon, and introduces poetics as a fluid, relative, and history-dependent phenomenon which requires a different definition in various eras based on the abovementioned indicators. Through such an approach to poetics, demarcating verse and poetry based on similar indicators and in all eras will not enjoy scientific rigor and credit. Based on the perspectives elaborated in the present research, a new poetics must be proposed in each era to be able to provide a definition of poetry in that era.

Rhetorical criticism, as an approach to literary criticism, gained attention as knowledge on rhetoric expanded and books and research pieces on rhetoric were authored. However, there has never been a precise definition and a clear methodology for this approach of criticism. Previous attempts at defining rhetorical criticism have provided merely the general principles of rhetoric, while rhetorical criticism is a practical approach to literary criticism that, instead of using literary theories that are external to the text, focuses on the literary devices and figures of speech used in the text itself (e.g. meter, prosody, and aesthetic features). Rhetorical criticism, as an approach to literary criticism, does not have a long history in Iran, and it was only during the mid-Qajar period that, following the development of literary criticism in Iran, rhetoric was also taken to serve as a useful tool for text analysis. Having examined the related research pieces written on this subject, the present study attempts to provide a definition for rhetorical criticism and elucidate the methods of rhetorical criticism for text analysis. The present study is historical-analytical. Accordingly, in the first place, historical information on rhetorical studies and its background is collected. Then, based on the collected information, rhetorical criticism is defined.The definition of poetry criticism offered in some books on the stylistics of poetry is not unlike its definition in rhetorical criticism. In his book on poetry criticism, Truthful Poetry, Unmasked Poetry, Abdolhossein Zarrinkoob (1923-1999) maintains that “the poet himself” critiques his poetry “when he is weighing and assessing words and meanings in his poem, when he reviews and edits his work, when he talks about his method or his purpose and taste” (Zarrinkoob 1977, p. 9). In fact, poetry criticism is considered a method similar to rhetorical criticism where the poet seeks to explain his method and edit his work.Considering the existing books on rhetoric and the points raised so far, it can be stated that there is no clear definition for rhetorical criticism, and the existing definitions usually repeat only the same common explanations about what rhetoric is, that is, a discourse that appeals to the audience and is appropriate to its time and place (Ahani, 1959, p. 12; Rajaie, 1974, p. 21; Tajlil, 1991, p. 1; Homaie, 1994, p. 88; Shamisa, 1995, p. 45). In some studies, certain definitions have been provided for rhetorical criticism that are worthy of consideration. In the first instance, rhetorical criticism is defined as “a [a type of] criticism that is produced by examining the literary devices and imagery, or, in other words, devices that exist in our rhetoric” (Soleimani and Mehravaran, 2019, p. 169). In another definition, rhetorical criticism is regarded as a type of criticism that examines the impact of words on the audience (Arab Baferani, 2011, p. 146). From another perspective, rhetorical criticism is taken to be “an inquiry into how rhetorical elements are utilized in poetry and literature. […] The rhetorical approach was in fact an exploration of how rhetorical devices (eloquence, stylistics, and semantics) were implemented in literary discourse” (Mohebbati, 2011, 463-4).Considering the related studies on rhetorical criticism, it should be stated that the purpose of rhetorical criticism is to study how the knowledge of rhetoric is used in order to create meaning, establish themes, and influence the audience. It should also be noted that rhetorical criticism includes not only the traditional rhetoric, but also new rhetoric, and focuses on philosophical issues as well.Based on the definition of rhetorical criticism, two methods can be considered for this type of criticism. The first method is descriptive criticism which deals only with the surface structure of the work and does not go beyond an analysis of the frequency of literary devices. The second method is applied-analytic criticism in which the relationship between a text's rhetorical features and its structure and how it impacts the audience are examined. In this method of criticism, the process of influencing the audience and how rhetoric takes shape in the author’s mind are examined.Having examined the previous studies, the researchers came to this understanding that the topic of rhetorical criticism has somehow been neglected and considered to be self-evident (i.e. not requiring explanation) and its definition has usually been tied to rhetoric. It thus became clear for the researchers that insufficient care has been so far put into defining this type of literary criticism and the approach needs to be redefined on the basis of interdisciplinary studies. Accordingly, rhetorical criticism can be defined as the way rhetoric is used in order to create meaning in the text and shape the imagination of the audience. Such a definition of rhetoric encompasses both traditional rhetoric (prosody, rhyme, stylistics, eloquence, and semantics), and the new rhetoric (aesthetics, imagery, etc.).

Tudeh Party of Iran has used different literary genres for expressing their points of view and employed literature as a mean to state political ideas. Among literary genres, story has remarkable capability and it is counted as a suitable culture which both the pro-Party authors and mass folks can test their aptitudes. Investigating 14 dependent periodicals to Tudeh Party, story genres have been reviewed through utilizing Socialist Realism instructions perspective, in this study. According to findings, the used themes are more about economic poverty, cultural poverty, injustice upon poor people, call for unity and struggle against oppressors and other subjects of Socialist Realism approach. Even from style perspective, some of these stories are too amateur and have lack of narrative technique and some of them have been written so professional that their authors have been able to skillfully fit Party’s instructions on subtexts. Another part of published stories is about Pop literature which has been one of Party’s strategies in literary studies scope

One of the literary techniques that has been the subject of much controversy regarding its definition, designation, typology, and functions is eltefaat (~ apostrophe), a technique that, considering Persian verse and prose and text-specific apostrophes, requires revision, redefinition, and illustration of its functions. We studied and investigated a large number of Persian poems and concluded that apostrophe is not limited to a rhetoric device, but rather has a semio-semantic function in the classification and analysis of literary texts, i.e. it is both a key element in interpreting literary texts, and a semantic criteria and distinguishing factor in classifying literary types. Through comparing the concept of ‘movement’ with that of ‘apostrophe’, we also take this technique to include any change and movement that occurs in the syntagmatic and paradigmatic axes of literary text. Other findings of the present research include categorizing apostrophe under one of the topics in semantics, namely fasl va vasl (separation and conjunction), as well listing new functions of apostrophe including interpretive, discoursal, symbolic, cohesive, and dialogic functions.

One of the literary techniques used by poets and writers is irony. Irony refers to a speech or situation which results in discordance between the audience and the speaker. In such a case, the speaker says something or acts in a certain manner while the understanding of the audience differs from what the speaker intended. In irony, we find two elements: first, the element of innocence, and, second, the element of humor. Innocence, or unknowing trust, mostly relates to the victim of the irony who usually puts his/her trust in the ironist, and falls victim to the deception or pretense of the ironist. The element of humor is the other essential feature of irony. In ironic stories, the characters of the story are juxtaposed in a manner to create a humorous effect. The present article investigated the function of situational and dramatic irony in Masnavi. Molavi, drawing on situational and dramatic irony, has attempted to put the audience in a situation where they, while being aware of the ironic nature of the situation, are surprised, and, therefore, gain a better understanding of the rich concepts. Ironic speech has enabled Molavi to adopt an approach in the climax of the story which is unexpected by the audience, thus dealing them the final blow, and he takes great advantage of such an opportunity to present his rich irfanic [=of true knowledge] and didactic concepts.

One of the consequences of the eight-year Iran-Iraq war is the emergence of a branch of literature such as resistance literature. However, children and adolescents' literature as a sub-branch of literature is no exception to the reflection and impact of the war and like other cultural phenomena, it is influenced by political and social currents, so its roots should be examined in the social context of society. As an external factor, war affects the imagination, which is the most important factor in the creation of art, including literature. By division of images into night and day systems, the paper aims to investigate the effect of war on the formation of the author's imagination (Ahmad Akbarpour) and the creation of “Good Night Commander!” story based on the structures of the imagination system from the perspective of Gilbert Durand. However, the reflection of these images is examined in inducing the author’s message about the phenomenon of war to the audience, in particular, children and adolescents.

Time is one of the elements that gives the fictional text its identity and distinguishes a story and a narrative. In addition, time take different functions in the fictional text and contribute to the progression of the story in various ways. The present research investigated the element of time in the novel Chess with the Doomsday Machine by the theory of Gerard Genet. Considering the memory-like structure of the novel, anachronism has highly frequency in the text and calendar time is not of much significance. The interest of the author in writing the story based on his mental images has obviated the need to record the precise dates of the events. Drawing on the technique of breaking the time in the narrative, the author has created suspense in the story and resolved some of the ambiguities existing in the text. Frequent descriptions and attention to detail have stopped the time of the narrative in most of the scenes of the story. In the novel, the narrative frequency of the events is of singular type and, drawing on such a method, the author has tried to help with the pace and advancement of the story. The author of the novel Chess with the Doomsday Machine has utilized various time-related techniques and methods to narrate the transformation of the perspective of the protagonist of the story from a dogmatic to a relatively tolerant attitude, and has wielded time techniques to cast doubt on many learned beliefs of the narrator.

Transformation of the characters in the story is a feature that can be observed in literary texts and generally studied under the heading of “metamorphosis”. Metamorphosis increases the mythical and imaginary aspects of the text and it is a reflection of human being dreams and an image of the bound between imagination and the real world. It could be defined as a creation of the people’s need for dominance over other people, creatures, and phenomena. Analyzing this subject can be useful to figure out the common culture among nations and can be a proper background for studying literal and cultural bounds for it is seen in the literature of several nations. This article studies different types of metamorphosis in Nart-Nameh</em> and One Thousand and One Nights </em>based on a comparative-analytic approach. Nart-Nameh</em> is a collection of myths about bravery of the Nart nation and the heroes of the North Caucasus and the shores of the black sea. These myths go back to two thousand years B.C. that were verbally transferred from one generation to the other. These myths are about the life’s important aspects such as loving motherland, fighting against evil, helping the week, etc. One Thousand and One Nights</em> is one of the brightest eastern myths which is a mixture of Indian, Arabic, and Persian literatures. This article analyses the differences and commonalities in these books considering metamorphosis.</span>

Nature is considered as an (positive or negative) active element in contemporary literary works, with an influential role alongside other elements. In recent years, some comparative literature theoreticianshave highlighted the necessityof considering the environment in their works, thus initiating a new approach in literary criticism. This approach concerns the interactionsbetween the environment and the literary text and analyses how the environment is reflected in literary works. The present research is an ecocritical analysis of three stories by BijanNajdi. In these stories, nature is depicted as an activist creatureand an active ‘other’, with a mutual relationship between humans and their surrounding ecosystem at work. Najdi has portrayed an image of nature as an activistwhich occasionally plays a significant role in the progression of the narrative, and, at timesstimulates literary creativity and imagery in the text.Literary creativity based on the nature’s behaviouris a recurring occurence in Najdi.

Mostafa Mastour is among the great contemporary writers who has addressed serious aspects of human life in his works, and has raised essential questions on human and the nature of existence, and provided, to the extent of his ability, ideologically-unbiased answers to these questions through the words of the characters in his stories. One of the issues that strike the reader of Mastour’s stories is the similarity of the themes of his stories to the existentialist perspectives and existential concerns. In stories by Mastour, such topics as instability of the world, uncertainty in beliefs and faith, contemplation of the existence of God, human anxiety and loneliness, fear of death, and meaningfulness or meaninglessness of life are dealt with. Such issues have been constant concerns of human beings, regardless of their historical and geographical settings.The present research aims to investigate the existential concerns that have been expressed in stories by Mostafa Mastour and how the writer has answered those questions.

Existentialist thoughts took shape when Western scholars lost hope in the functionality of modernity in creating a better world. Existentialism has been divided into two schools, namely theistic and atheistic. In theistic existentialism, it is believed that faith in God will save mankind from concerns of life and grant him peace and tranquility. On the opposite side, atheistic existentialists hold that the world is not a place to give meaning to the existence of human being nor to bring him comfort. Existentialist perspectives have manifested noticeably in the works of several Iranian novelists, especially over the last few decades. Such writers have attempted to express existential concerns and find a way to give meaning to life, and have portrayed the anxieties and worries of the modern world in their works.

The present research takes a descriptive-analytical approach to investigating concerns such as questioning about the existence of God, questioning about the meaning of life, as well as death and its nature in the three stories by Mostafa Mansour.

Having analyzed the fictional works by Mostafa Mastour, we realize that the writer has introduced existential questions through the words of the characters of the story and has tried to answer those questions based on his own perspectives.The most important issue raised inروی ماه خداوند را ببوس  (Kiss the Lovely Face of God) is questioning about the existence of God and the manner of His presence among people, which is mostly expressed through the words of the protagonist of the story. Another aspect related to the manner of God’s presence is the passionate, faith-based attitude toward God. In "Kiss the Lovely Face of God”, the passionate, love-filled attitude toward God is expressed by Alireza. He has an irfanic (~ mystic / of true knowledge) perspective and his beliefs are similar to those of arefs (~ mystics / holders of true knowledge) and theistic existentialists. In the story من گنجشک نیستم  (I am not a Sparrow), an irfanic and aesthetic attitude toward life can be seen in the character Amir Mahan. With a perspective rooted in faith-based, irafnic thoughts, Amir Mahan regards discovering logical relationships between events and occurrences as futile and considers it as contributing to the separation of mankind from peace and certainty.In “Kiss the Lovely Face of God”, questioning about the meaning and nature of life is introduced as one of the main concerns of the characters in the story. Essential questions about the existence and the nature of life are also raised in the story استخوان خوک و دست های جذامی (Pig Bone and Leprous Hands). In the story “I am not a Sparrow”, Danial, failing to find answers to his questions, doubts the nature of existence and is faced with the crisis of meaninglessness of life.Mostafa Mastour attempts to introduce irfanic perspectives, in addition to the pessimistic attitude toward life, through the words of the characters in his stories, and creates a kind of polyphony. In “Kiss the Lovely Face of God”, one of the characters has reached a level of irfanic intuition and insight, thus has no complaints about any adverse event in the world. In the story, the protagonist fears the non-existence of God and nihilism in life. He is scared of death and nothingness afterward and tries to find a purpose in his worldly life to give his life meaning and purpose and keep his name alive.In “Pig Bone and Leprous Hands”, a few dialogues about death unfold between the characters. One of the characters has a refuge-seeking attitude toward death, since he believes that mankind will go to God after death, and “being with God” is a good place to be, so death must not be feared.Mastour has an irfanic perspective toward death in “Kiss the Lovely Face of God”. Arefs consider death to be a bridge to unity with the eternal beloved from whom the worldly life has separated mankind

Existential concerns form an important part of the perspectives of the characters in the stories by Mastour, and the writer promotes the faith-based, irfanic perspective in order to answer such concerns. The characters in the stories by Mastour freely speak according to the perspective they hold toward the essential issues of existence, and the writer tries to portray nihilism, pessimism, rebellion, and chaos prevalent in the contemporary world through juxtaposing different voices in his works. Mastour considers superior the way and approach of those who submit to the will of God and cling to faith in God in order to free themselves from such concerns and problems, and he believes that the way to achieve peace in this restless world is to reach an irfanic understanding and to have a love-filled faith in God and His manifestations in the world of being.Rather than having a religious tint (in its traditional sense), Mastour’s stories show a type of irfanic perspective. Through creating polyphony in his works, he juxtaposes atheistic beliefs with irfanic beliefs, and while the voice of faith and irfan is more effective in his stories, the characters in the stories struggle with their questions and concerns until the end, questions and concerns that mankind has carried throughout history.

The book One Thousand and One Nights is among the most important ancient books of fable and parable which has been of interest for a long time and various translation of which exist. There are two main translations of the book to Persian, the first by Abdollatif Tasuji and the second by Ebrahim Eghlidi. Comparing the two translations reveals difference in the opening and closing of the book, story-telling techniques, orientation of though and faith, and the sequence and title of the stories. The choice of original principal texts the translators based their translations on can be considered as the most important reason for such differences. The original principal text for Tasuji was apparently Bulaq’s 1st ed., while Eghlidi based on his translation of Bualq’s 2nd ed., Calcutta’s ed., and Burslaw’s ed. Eghlidi also drew on the French and English translations of One Thousand and One Nights. Another reason for such a difference was the different approach of the translators towards the stories. Tasuji has tried to include the main plot of the stories and has not paid much attention to the setting in his translation, while Eghlidi has paid close attention to descriptions in his translation, resulting in lengthier stories and differences with Tasuji’s translation.

One of the important aspects that can be investigated in Tarikh-i Bayhaqi is its linguistic delicacies and characteristics. As well as being of historical importance, the language of Tarikh-i Bayhaqi is also significant. Having a linguistic approach to Tarikh-i Bayhaqi, we observe highly frequent linguistic characteristics that have greatly contributed to the literariness of the book and created linguistic foregrounding. Foregrounding here refers to deviation from established linguistic conventions which leads to defamiliarization of language, an aspect of literariness of texts. Linguists consider deviation from norms (unexpected irregularity) as well as unexpected regularity to result in foregrounding. Drawing on Geoffrey Leech’s theory of stylistics, we investigated 7 types of foregrounding in Tarikh-I Bayhaqi, namely lexical, grammatical, stylistic, semantic, historical, phonological and dialectal. The findings show that using neologisms and novel collocations, using archaic words and structures, using imagery, using Quranic verses and Hadith, drawing on Persian and Arabic literature, and using different types of linguistic parallelism have resulted in foregrounding in Tarikh-i Bayhaqi and turned it into a literary text. In his book, Abu'l-Fadl Bayhaqi has significantly utilized potentials of Persian language which enabled him to create a literary text – a text with various characteristics of deviation from norms as well as foregrounding. Masterfully drawing on phonological, lexical and syntactic parallelism, Bayhaqi has increased the musicality of his language, which has in turn increased the literariness of his discourse. While, according to Leech, deviation from norms is the means for creation of poetry, and addition of regularity is the means for creation of prose, it must be noted that in Tarikh-i Bayhaqi we cannot draw a clear distinction between the two. For example, while deviation from syntactic norms through repositioning sentence elements can add secondary meaning to the sentence, it can also contribute to poetic features and creation of musicality, or, as another example, deviation from dialectal and phonological norms does not create poetry. Employing novel and beautiful words and combinations, using imagery, method of collocating words, using archaic words and syntactic structures, using Quranic verses and Hadith as well as Persian and Arabic poems together with various types of parallelism and repetition, including repetition of vowels, words and syntactic structures, are among the features that have resulted in linguistic foregrounding in Tarikh-i Bayhaqi, transforming it into a literary prose.  Tarikh-i Bayhaqi is among the few works in which the author has succeeded to significantly draw on the potentials of the Persian language and create a literary text.

Mantiq Al-Tayr (The Conference of the Birds) is among the seminal irfanic (mystic) works which can be analyzed based on Bakhtin’s theory of dialogism and the concept of the ‘other’. Attar seeks to establish the position of the birds as the ‘self’ and that of Simorgh or the divine nature as the ‘other’. The journey of the birds toward the Simorgh is a progress toward realizing the value of their existence, and after their spiritual progress, the birds gain a proper understanding of their identity and position. From an irfanic point of view, the world is nothing but divine nature; therefore, considering the binary distinction of the ‘self’ and the ‘other’ is invalid in irfanic thought. According to such a viewpoint, there is no ‘self’, and if man holds such a notion, it is because of his belongings and dependencies in the material world, and what is considered as spiritual progress is the journey toward gaining a new sense of the ‘self’, and realizing that there is no self, and that whatever there is, is Him. Therefore, there is never a conversation between the ‘self’ and ‘other’, and the irfanic viewpoint is essentially non-polyphonic (monologic). What is recognized in irfan (mysticism) and what the aref (holder of true knowledge) seeks to attain through his spiritual progress is denial of the self and manifesting the divine. That is what is known as tawhid (oneness) in irfan.