Types of illustration in rewritings of the Shahnameh and their influence on the type of rewriting

The rewritten works are basically old texts that have been adapted for today"s reader in terms of language and content. As one of the most precious literary works of Iran, Shahnameh has been rewritten many times and in various forms. In most of these rewrites, the image accompanies the text. In this article, while introducing the styles of illustration in rewritings of the Shahnameh for children and teenagers, the types of interaction between text and image in each style are also described and criticized.

This research was written based on library sources and descriptive-analytical method. The studied society is the rewriting of the Shahnameh.

Although it is expected that in the depiction of the Shahnameh, as an ancient text, more of the traditional style has been taken care of, the findings show that the styles of depicting the Shahnameh include a wide range that the actual methods and new styles (including expressionism, cartoon humor, surrealism, and cubism) are also included.

From the examination of these texts, it can be seen that the realistic style and under it the comic strip has been gradually forgotten and instead, following cartoon and abstract styles has become a kind of tradition. This change of approach is also evident in the verbal aspects of the rewrites; In this way, parallel to the distancing of the images from the reality, the rewritings have also tended towards adaptation and re-creation, and the relation of similarity between the text and the image has given its place to a decreasing and increasing relation.