Symbolic Codes in Mantiq-ut-Tayr of Attar Neishapour (The Reading of the Story of the Traveler Birds and Joseph's Brothers)

In the present research, using Roland Barthes’ symbolic codes, a part of the story of the journey of the birds from Attar's Mantiq-ut-Tayr (The Conference of the Birds) is examined. According to Barthes's semiotic theory, unlike the constructivist schools, the main role in creating the meaning of literary texts is played by the reader, not the writer. Many classical literary works create conditions for the reader to understand only one meaning, or rather the only meaning of the story, but works such as Mantiq-ut-Tayr constantly postpone the semantic implication and ask the reader to think creatively and create meaning. Mantiq-ut-Tayr uses a variety of symbols and has a collection of intertwined symbolic codes, and therefore does not impose a definite and final meaning on the reader. In the present article, the five codes (hermeneutic, proairetic, symbolic, cultural and semantic) are identified in Manṭiq-uṭ-Ṭayr by using analytical-descriptive method. The results show that the five codes have been used throughout the book, and so it is a written text, and the reader is not bound by the meanings imposed by the poet, but in a step-by-step process he/she creates multiple meanings.