نشریه تاریخ ادبیات
سال یکم شماره 1 (زمستان 1387)

The beginning of Constitutional Revolution was simultaneous with Nasereddin Shah’s monarchy and the responsibility of poetry and literature in this movement is undeniable. As ideologies and thinking paradigms changed, the subject of literature changed thoroughly. Persian literature, which was at the service of this cultural–political movement, started one of its most energetic periods in Persian literary history. Literary figures, poets and intellectuals prepared the background for a public rising through the presentation of new ideas and undoubtedly prepared the theoretical foundation of constitutional revolution. They protested against the inferiority complex that was the result of despotism and destroyed the old social and political conception of the past. Among these figures including the writers, poets, dramatists and journalists, names such as Mirza Malkamkhan, Talibuf, Zainolabedin Maraghaee, Mirza Habib esfahani are well-known. These figures should be considered as the initiators of literary constitutionalists.

In mystical ontological philosophy, the mystic's ultimate end is to arrive at absolute Truth(God) and be conscious of affairs and circumstances in which reason’s advance is cumbersome and that of the heart is swift and nimble. To reach this end he should, through honesty, bring about purity of heart, sight of eyes and familiarity of ears. In such a circumstance, his heart is filled with a light that the bereft have never found and his eyes are opened to spectacles that others have never seen and his ears are familiar with secrets that they have never heard. Such a purity, enlightening and familiarity is called “secret” by the mystics. To them the mystic, the original and the perfect is someone who endeavors to keep the “secret.” In his Masnavi and Sham's Kolliat, Molavi argues about secrets, keeping secrets and other related topics and delineated the significance of secrets and keeping secrets. The primary concern in the present article is the analysis of secrets and keeping secrets in Molavi's mysticism.

Shahriar's sonnets are amongst the most delicate sonnets in Persian literature. The reason for this beauty and elegance is rooted in the poet’s real experience as attested throughout his life. One may manifestly encounter in Shahriar’s sonnets romantic moods, e.g., the first sparkles of romance, crisis, perplexity, failure, worry, and anxiety. This article intends to discuss the positive and negative aspects of the poet’s life based on the evidence found in his sonnets.

The general belief is that paying attention to the issue of women and its reflection in literature has been configured during the constitutional era, but according to historical texts, the reflection of the issues of women has passed through an evolutionary path. Grounds for paying attention to the issues of women began in Fath Ali Shah’s era, by drawing comparisons between Iranian women and foreign women and followed a long historical process until the era of Nasereldin Shah and Mozafareldin Shah and reached its fructification during the constitutional era. Prose particularly carried the weight of development in social contexts including issues of women during Nasereldin’s era, through the expansion of contexts and a tendency towards simplicity in writing. In this era, not only do we encounter the topic of paying attention to women in different types of prose(travel accounts, memoirs, playwriting and journalism) written by men, but we also encounter women who reflect on their issues for the first time in the framework of letters, travel accounts, theses and memoirs and pave the way for the presence of women during the constitutional era more seriously. Conflicts between the supporters and opponents of changes in the traditional role of women generated a dialogue in the prose of this era which was an introduction to wider discussions during the constitutional era. This article deals with the reflection of women and their issues in the prose of the pre-constitutional era.

This essay, by reviewing the identity of the novel as the typical genre of the modern era, and surveying the “apparent realism” as the main characteristic of this genre, discusses the pre-conditions and effective elements of the genesis of the Persian novel. Besides reflection on the relation of the Persian and western novel and the evaluation of various ideas about the influences of the western novel on the Persian novel, the essay explains some important related topics, like: modernity and modernization in Iranian society, the emergence and development of the print industry in Iran, Persian journalism, translation, and last but not least nationalism as the dominant discourse which supported the Persian novel, and in turn, employed it to spread its new value system.

In this article, we are going to introduce the style of “literary return” and its formation. Then, we shall look into the language peculiarities of the poems of the period.For certain, any changes in the style of poetry are affected by political and social conditions. Literary customs, addressees, and personal matters of the poet can be influential in the formation of a style as well. The “style of return” was founded during the two historical periods of Afshariye and Zandiye (1148-1200 H). This school of poetry formed its doctrine in terms of political, social and cultural changes during half a century. Later, in the time of Ghajariye, it found its firm reality in a school of poetry. The poetic language of the period is generally based on research and imitation of the Araghy- Khorasany style. By carefully studying the works of the poets of the time, we can see that they were not skilful enough with grammar and other rules of poetic language. So the language of their poems is simple and rudimentary. However, it seems that they were affected by the Hindu or Afshariye-Zandiye style. In this article, we will explain this in details.

In this article, the author has set about to discuss and comment on the lifestyle, works, and thoughts of Massoud Bak as another Hallaj (comber) of the Islamic Mysticism. For this purpose, he has introduced 4 principal doctrines out of the mysticism doctrines in the Indo-Pakistan subcontinent and he has included Massoud Bak in his studies about the fourth tribe (Cheshtiyeh), concluding that the architects of the tall palaces of mysticism were the Iranians who migrated to that land with the purpose of developing the speaking divinity of Islam and displaying the Islamic flag in the format of the Persian language in the subcontinent. The author has then viewed Massoud Bak from the eyes of the writers and analyzed his mystic thoughts, which resulted in his assassination. Finally, the author introduces his prose and verse works and his position among the mystic sheikhs.

Extra-regulartiy is one of defamiliarization devices in Russian Formalism. In this technique, a rule is added to the rules of language leading to foregrounding in the literary text. Leech thinks of foregrounding as being possible through two ways‚ i.e.‚ divergence from rules dominating the language (norm deviation) and adding some rules to the regulations dominating the language (extra-regulartiy). Jacobson believes that the process of extr-regulartiy is equilibrium in its widest sense and this equilibrium happens through verbal repetition. Rhetorics which is created through equilibrium is not of the same nature, therefore different types of equilibrium should be examined in different analytical levels. Utilizing extra-regulartiy‚ through which Russian Formalists think the literary work is formed‚ indicates the ability of the poet to benefit from language capabilities to defamiliarize and foreground the language. Coleridge‚ English poet and critic‚ believed that the poet through his imagination and because of the use of extra-regulartiy pushes the veil of habit aside and presents the reality of the entities in a new manner. This study is an attempt to examine Shams’s Lyrics through extra-regulartiy as one of the devices of defamiliarization in phonological and lexical analysis levels in order to account for the beauty and salience of his poetry.

Hadighatol-Haghigha by Sanai of Ghazne consists of different didactical trends. Alongside esoteric training, which is the main aim of this Masnawi, one can detect a special political undercurrent or "political Adab", the origin of which is different from Sufism. This is the political preaching, which is rooted in pre-Islamic Persian literature. The political preaching forms a homiletic trait in the Persian Masnavi tradition. This trait took shape in Shahname by Ferdowsi and after that, in Asady's Garshaspnameh and some prose works as Nasihat-olmoluk by Ghazali, and later this tradition appeared in Hadighe of Sanai. The keynote of this political preaching is the concept of justice and persuading the king toward it.