نامه فرهنگستان
سال دهم شماره 2 (تابستان 1387)

When reading GØthe's Faust, anyone who is well-versed in Persian literature and Iranian mysticism expects to come across some cultural features or mystical ideas from Persian poetry in general and from H¤ ¦afe¤z' poetry in particular. GØthe admired H¤ ¦afe¤z to the point of venerating a divine poet. The influence of H¤ ¦afe¤z and the eastern culture on GØthe is admittedly seen in the West-East Divan. However, what is less obvious is whether Faust also takes inspiration from H¤ ¦afe¤z or Persian literature in general. This article tries to answer this very question: Does GØthe's monumental Faust show any trace of H¤ ¦afe¤z' ideas, images, etc.?

Persian ascetic poetry is deeply rooted in Islamic teachings. The practical teachings of Islam inspiring this type of poetry included abstention from worldly affairs, purification of the carnal soul, promoting spiritual ethics, etc. These three characteristics are most prominent in Persian ascetic poetry. Ascetic poetry represents the early experiences of S¦uf¦ â poetry, which upon refinement develops into mystical poetry. In this article, the writer first presents a review of the ascetic lifestyle of a number of ascetic poets and then explains the tendencies found in their poetry.

This article is a critical response to a small book entitled ``Theology of translation: Walter Benjamin and the translator's mission''. In this book, the writer makes insightful comments about the situation of translation in Iran but then he prescribes Benjamin's method of translation as the most appropriate method of translation in the present political-historical situation of the Iranian society. In this article, the writer first presents a short summary of Benjamin's method of radical literalism and then presents a critical analysis of the book.

A sign of ignorance of any subject is paying too much attention to the form and paying no attention to the substance. This article deals with the form and content of academic articles, and tries to show that the majority of such articles getting published in our scholarly journals lack any substance. Admittedly, academic articles must follow certain rules and conventions, but there is more to an academic article than just observing the form. On the other hand, the referees find it easier to judge an article based on formal features. As a result, there is an increasing number of such articles which, though quite acceptable at face-value, lack little or any substance.

§Sey£ k Mo¤ hammad Al¦ â Moa£z£zen K£ or¦as¦an¦ â was a great poet and learned man living in the Safavid period. He was a famous S¦uf¦ â of Z£ ah¦ab¦ âyyeh order,contemporary with the Great §S¦ah `Abb¦as. This Shiite mystic has several works including his collection of poetry, and To¤hfe-ye ‘Abb¦as¦ i. His collection of poetry includes 3500 lines, written mostly in praise of the virtues of the Imams. In this paper, the writer first introduces briefly Z£ ah¦ab¦ âyyeh order, and then presents a brief biography of the poet. He also introduces a comprehensive version of the poet's collection, of which no mention has been made in the manuscripts. Finally, the writer analyses the poet's style of writing and the content of his poetry and shows how his poetry has been influenced by the poetry and thoughts of other mystics and ports.

Hui Hui Guan Yi Yu” is a collection of Chinese to Persian vocabularies that wascompiled during the Yuan and Ming periods for the purpose of learning Persian. Manuscripts kept in the world's libraries are of two types: the “Si Yi Guan” manuscripts and th“e Hui Tong Gua”n manuscripts. The original Si Yi Guan manuscript was written during the Ming period and is comprised of three sections: vocabulary, appendix of vocabulary and letters, and as a whole covers 1010 words and 26 letters. These vocabularies are divided by topic into 18 chapters and each word is given with its original Persian word a Persian transcription with Chinese and the Chinese equivalent. The letters are written in the Chinese script with their Persian translations. The original Hui Tong manuscript was probably compiled during the Yuan period. This vocabulary only contains 674 words. In these vocabularies, which are divided by topic into 17 chapters, each word has only its Chinese meaning and Persian transcriptions with Chinese. Out of 674 words, 371 words are also found in Si Yi Guan manuscripts. Therefore, excepting the repeated words, the collection of Hui Hui Guan Yi Yu comprises 1313 words and 26 letters. Hui Hui Guan Yi Yu is one of the most precious documents for research in the social history and philology of Chinese Muslims. It also provides an authentic insight into relations between Iran and China. From a linguistic point of view, these documents help reveal the status of the Persian language in the history of China and the rules of Persian transcription with Chinese words. The clarification of certain aspects of Persian grammar in Chinese is also a very useful tool for scholars in determining Persian words that have entered into Chinese religious and historical scripts. From a historical perspective, all the letters” have historical credibility, and these documents reflect the relationship between China and central and Western Asia during the Ming dynasty. Some of the letters also reveal the political relationship of the Ming dynasty with Islam.

This article is an exploration of the philosophical-artistic view of the narrator on time in H¤ ¦af¦ â¤z' poetry, The theoretical basis of the study has been taken from Paul Ricoeur's Time and narrative and his explanation of the philosophical views of two classical thinkers–Aristotle and St. Augustin–on the phenomenology of time. The article is divided into two sections: theoretical and applied. The first section explains St. Augustin's view of time as the theoretical framework of the study and the second section discusses H¤ ¦af¦ â¤z' poetry within that framework. In line with the classical theory, the linear time is divided into three sections: past, present and future and the poetic images are analyzed based on these three aspects of time.

In issue 35 of Na¦ meh-ye Farhangest¦ an, there is an article entitled: ``Did Farhang §S¦ âr¦az¦ â write Humor?''. In this article, the writer has ascribed three humorous books to §S¦ âr¦az¦ â: Sekan§jab¦ iyyeh, written in a mixed verse and prose language, in whose introduction the writer calls himself Ibn al-§Sey£ k al-Mof¦ âd Mo¤ hammad H¦a§ sem; Za£k ¦ar¦ if, written by the same person; and D¦ iv¦an-e Hazl, apparently written by the same person as the writer has referred to himself as Ab¦u H¦a§ sem, Ibn Mof¦ âd and §Sey£ k Ab¦u. None of these books belongs to Farhang §S¦ âr¦az¦ â. The writer claims to have a copy of the latter book which was published in Bombay in 1959 and on whose cover appears the name of a Seyyed Asadolla¦ h G¦ arr¦a. The book was presented to N¦a¤ seredd¦ ân §S¦ah, who ordered the book to be censored. This article is a detailed explanation of the above story.

In this article, the writer, drawing on comparative studies, first describes the cow protecting the mythical Fereydu¦ n, and suggests that there is a connection between this motif and the ox, mother of M¦ar¦uts, in the Rig Veda. Based on this hypothesis, the writer compares this story with the fairly tale of ``M¦ah P¦ ⧠s¦an¦ â'' (the beauty with a moon on her forehead), to shed more light on the connection between the moon and the cow in the latter story. Finally, the writer makes an attempt to show the special symbols used in these two stories in connection with the moon, the cow's horn, the ox-headed mace and the cask.

In the two previous sections, three structures of compound words were discussed. In this section, four more structures are discussed as follows: Structure 4: Noun + ``A'' or ``¤A '' + Noun, as in the words ``²± AoM '' and ``u½nkTØ §AØ e''. Structure 5: Noun + Objective Adjective. Structure 6: ``j±ÇÇÇÇÇÇÇÇi '' + Objective Adjective. These compound words, all being adjectives, are not too many, but because there are various syntactic relations among their constituting parts, they are divided into four groups. Structure 7: Noun + Subjective Adjective. The compound words falling into this group are all adjectives; they are divided into two groups, depending on whether they are derived from a compound verb (e. g. ²k®®So{) or are made of a noun and an objective adjective (e. g. ²k‾p±«CJjA).