Mythological Motifs in Iranian Contemporary Stories: (Derakht-e Anjir-e Maābed, Bāghe Anāri, Jāee Digar, Kājhāye Mowarrab)

From way back, the life and death of plants and trees have been the focus of human attention. Man has equated four seasons with his/her life cycle, and has made stories about the worship of plants and their healing power. He/she used to tie ribbons around trees and asked them to heal. Behind the views of primitive man lies the fact that he/she sought healing from the tree and that worshiping the tree was not his/her goal. Our ancestors, in search of youth and immortality, were absorbed in phenomena that they thought were the eternal source of these forces. These trends can be seen in mythological contexts. In the present article, we examine the plant motifs in four contemporary fiction books: Derakht-e Anjir-e Maābed (The Fig Tree of the Temples) by Ahmad Mahmoud, Bāghe Anāri (The Pomegranate Garden) by Mohammad Sharifi, Jāee Digar (An Another Place) by Goli Taraghi and Kājhāye Mowarrab (The Diagonal Pines) by Ali Changezi. Our research method is descriptive-analytical and after extracting the data, we analyze the motifs. The main question is whether these motifs are present symbolically or in the form of a mythological narrative? The results show that in these works, the plant themes are present symbolically and implicitly and are also seen in the form of mythological narratives. It is necessary to explore these stories from a mythological point of view in order to recognize the mythological elements and to distinguish vulgarity and superstition from the mythological facts.