نشریه تاریخ ادبیات
سال دوازدهم شماره 2 (پاییز و زمستان 1398)

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the effect of Mohtasham Kashani’s tarkib-band verses (composite-ties) on the development of the Shiite literature and Shiite identity in Azerbaijan and Arran. Research

In order to investigate its objective, this paper utilizes the analytical aspect of the library survey as its methodology for reviewing pertinent documents and historical manuscripts. Discussion and Research

The results of the discussion show that Persian literature utilizes the key significances of language (by using elegiac poetic forms) and geography, and turns both of them into its important cultural media for the allegorical promotion of religious teachings. In this sense, Kashani's compositeties can be regarded as religious symbols of Shiite identity and culture in Azerbaijan, Aran, and consequently Iran.

The general use of Kashani’s composite-ties in the Shiite mourning ceremonies, their aesthetic inscription on mosques’ walls, and their translation into Azeri attest to the undeniable significance of his poetry in furthering the Shiite religious identity and culture in the country, especially in Azerbaijan and Aran.

Yaqub ibn Mas'ud al-Qatifi − (whose literary pseudonym was Taskine-Shirazi) − organized Falaknaz Nameh in the year (1189 AH 1771 AD) in the form of Masnavi and Bahr Hazj. In Persian literature, he is considered to be a revivalist, and therefore, his moralizing and mystical poetry reflects the linguistic elegance and social etiquette of his time. In Falaknaz Nameh, the speaker explicates some moral and doctrinal points, and advises the audience towards doing good deeds and observing virtue. Due to the occurrence of a mysterious accident, the narrative development of this simple moralizing work is interrupted, and this interruption makes the task of comprehension difficult. Falaknaz Nameh is filled with such accidents and coincidences, detailed and interesting descriptions and imageries, and romantic and allegorical episodes, making a prominent impact on lyrical poets.

Lots of literary compositions have been influenced by Saadi’s Golestan. Many writers have no reservations about directly imitating some stylistic aspects of Golestan in their own literary works. In Shekarestan, Ali Mohammad Monshi (with the literary pseudonym “Hakim) proves to be such a writer. Nothing of substance is known about his personal life. Through surveying previous scholarly studies and some pertinent sources survived from the Qajar Era, the present article gives a clearer picture of Monshi’s personal life. Furthermore, it focuses on the imitative significance of his literary style and content and identifies the instances where the stylistic aspects of Saadi’s Golestan are clearly imitated in Monshi’s poetry.

The History of the Body in Literature, by Seyyed Mehdi Zarghani et al. (1398), deals with the development of different types of the concept of the body and their classification in the history of Persian literature. The book examines the concept of body in the works of poets, mystics, and artists. The approach of the book towards its subject matter is novel, and it is this novelty that may explain the lack of detailed and structured research background. By critically focusing on the positive and negative aspects of the book’s novel approach towards the concept of the body, the present article sets to propose some revisions regarding some of book’s critical beliefs regarding the body. Some of the shortcomings of the book’s critical views towards the body can be listed as follows: Methodological, theoretical and bibliographical shortcomings and inconsistencies due to the book’s tendency to treat some issues one-sidedly, thematic contradictions due to the book’s incoherent and fragmentary treatment of the body, and the book’s inclination towards reductionism.

Abureyhan-e-Biruni was a scholar, mathematician, astronomer, and was aware of historic and social issues of his time. He was born in Biroon of Kharazm in the mid Fourth Century AH. In spite of his engagement in the politics of Kharazm Shah’s court and his mandate as an astronomer to Sultan Mahmood’s court, he did not forego his critical way of thinking about social and philosophical issues. The publication of a number of philosophical and social treaties is a testament to his inclination towards such thinking, and also attests to his congenital excogitation. On the one hand, research on his life and works can shed light upon the critical genius which Biruni expressed through his reliance upon his individualized renditions of moral dictums. On the other hand, many scholars believe that one needs to keep Biruni’s biography out of academic and scholarly discussions, and should only concentrate on his works. In A Critical Study of What India Says, Whether Accepted by Reason or Refused, Biruni represented himself as a disinterested free thinker and transnationalist1 . There is no doubt that the Holy Quran and Islamic beliefs have played a key part in developing these characteristics in Biruni. Through reviewing A Critical Study of What India Says, Whether Accepted by Reason or Refused, The present study identifies the textual evidence of freethinking and transnationalist affinities in Biruni’s critical view points.

Eftekharnameh-e-Heydari is about the battles of Imam Ali (peace be upon Him). The book is composed in two parts: one covers the period of the Holly Prophet (peace be upon Him) and the other is about the period after His demise. Written by Mirza Mostafa Eftekhar al-Olama (1284-1327 AH) in 1304 AH, Eftekharnameh-e-Heydari is made up of about 17000 verses. Like all other instances of epic poetry in Persian literature, Eftekharnameh-e-Heydari has been heavily influenced by the Shahnameh. The research question of the present study is to identify whether Eftekharnameh has a proper and coherent structure as an epic poem. In answering this question, the study evaluates the epic inklings of the linguistic and rhetorical features of the poem and its literary position. In this evaluation, the analytical descriptive method is utilized. The analysis of epic features in this work is based on the fact that literarily and linguistically speaking, these features are those expressive components whose presence in a particular work can turn it into an a typical literary example of epic poetry. The study believes that compared to other religious epic, Eftekharnameh has a mediocre literary position, and this mediocrity is due to the poet‘s youth and literary immaturity at the time, it is thought, he was writing this work.

The present study investigates the historical significance of contemporary developments of each period in composing Persian Tadhkiras. Throughout history, the historical significance of writing about contemporaneity of each period in literature has undergone internal and external changes. The study utilizes the descriptiveanalytic research methodology. The historical significance of writing about contemporaneity of each period through Persian Tadhkiras needs to be persuaded through the following categories: The Absence (covering the period before the 9th Century AH), the Beginning and the Rise (covering the years between 896 AH and the first half of the 14th Century AH), and the Fall (covering the second half of the 14th Century AH). It is of utmost importance to understand the significance of new frameworks for recording contemporaneity of each period in correspondence with these general categories so that all historical, political, and cultural factors can be considered in the study‘s academic pursuit.

In their encounter with a literary phenomenon, scholars of literary history consider the literariness of such a phenomenon to have an independent and trans-historical value. Scholars have regarded the present set of circumstances of the literary phenomenon as their starting point. Under such set of circumstances, the text can present scholars with what history has desired to prove in the first place. In its passing through a social, political and historical path, and before attaining its present position, the literary phenomenon has positioned itself towards attaining a textual evolution. The historical path of a literary phenomenon covers concepts such as unity with life and structural independence. Jāhili Qasida is a poetic form that is in unity with life forces of its time, and every part of its structure reflects an aspect of the age of Jāhiliyyat. Such reflection also attests to the interconstruction of the art, thought and life in Jāhillīyah. Through the utilization of its structuralist framework, the present research studies the beginning of the age of Jāhilīyah. Such an investigation can help the research reach a hermeneutic understanding of the age as well. The research explains that the literariness of Jāhili Qasida emerges from the relationship between Qasida as a poetic form and the historical inklings of the age of Jahilliyat. After the emergence of Islam, Qasida loses its original Jahili contours and becomes a key poetic in classical literatures written in Arabic and Persian.

The Cup of Jamishid is a mythical symbol which first appeared in Ferdowsi's Shāhnameh, and subsequently frequently in other Persian literary works. This symbol has been heavily employed in mystical and lyrical poetry. Most studies about the significance and origin of this symbol have been either descriptive or quite short and inadequate. For instance, Jalal Khaleqi Motlaq presumed that there is pertinent and direct rapport between the Cup of Jamshid and ―the Covenant of the Universe‖ as two semiotic entities; a presumption that was later confirmed and elaborated by Arash Akbari-Mafakher. In this article, the rapport between the aforementioned semiotic entities is investigated. In order to render this investigation possible, the article utilizes a semiotic set of analytical methodology. In this utilization, the symbolic configurations of both of the semiotic entities are compared to ―The Legend (The Quest) of the Holy Grail‖ and ―The Hymn of the Pearl‖ as two Western semiotic entities. It is believed that the rapport between the Covenant of the Universe – which pertains to a mysterious form of measurement and balance – and the Cup of Jamshid – which is also a symbol of Jamshid‘s monarchical sovereignty over the world – is the drive behind mankind to further them towards forming civilization. As the Covenant of the Universe is the symbol of measurement and scaling of universal and cosmic truth, the Cup of Jamshid functions as a scrying object.

Since no well-defined theoretical framework exists for Persian literary historiography, a scholar‘s reference to Western theoretical frameworks regarding this issue is inevitable. Although writing historical memorandums (known also as Tadhkirah) is an ingrained literary tradition in Persian literature, writing literary histories through a set of critical perspectives has rarely been practiced. However, in Western literatures, there have been copious attempts, especially in the 1980s, to offer new critical frameworks for writing literary history and literary historiography. In New Literary History, a series of considerable articles have been published regarding literary history and literary historiography. A statistical analysis of these articles can help the present study distinguish the dominant approaches and the durability of their critical success in proposing a critical framework for composing literary history and literary historiography. After reviewing and analyzing these articles, the study identifies a paradigm shift towards narrative constructivism and new historicism as new frameworks for composing literary history and literary historiography.

Allusion and imitation considered to be the means with which texts can be literarily and aesthetically characterized. Utilized appropriately in both the thematic and structural aspects of texts, they can also assume other discursive functions. Jami al-tawarikh is one of the texts in which imitation and allusion have been utilized in the aforementioned manner. In this research − which has been done through descriptive-analytical methodology and library and documentary studies − we analyze structural, thematic and discursive significances of imitation and allusion within a comprehensive historical framework.

The findings suggest that embedding allusion and imitation in historical texts can result in the emergence of the following textual functions: materialization of allusive significances of quotations, textual repetition, introduction of a new set of raw materials for historical investigations, and the use of historical events in making texts more story-like.

A review of these goals shows that while Jami al-tawarikh utilizes imitation quite passively, its utilization of allusion is dynamic, and based upon the prevalent literary and historiographic tradition of his time.