The Comparative typology of Persian and Arabic historical novel from (the British Sir Walter Scott and Georgi Zidan to Mohammad Bagher Mirza Khosravi Kermanshahi)

One of the prominent branches in comparative literature research explores the development of schools and literary genres and movements, explaining their differences and similarities with regard to their history, tracing the story of their emergence and their fading away across the literatures of various nations. What histories epic poetry, dramatic literature, novel and other genres have had in Persian and Arabic literature? How has historical novel found its way from European literature into Persian and Arabic literature? These are just a couple of questions among many others and critical scientific concerns which the aforementioned research area investigates. The above question is exactly the issue that the current study, which is also close to the sub category of comparative literature and translatology, has been prepared to seek answers for. The present research, through relying on the basic hypothesis that translation (and especially the works of author- translators) has had an undeniable function in introducing historical novel from European literature to Persian and Arabic literatures and has ended in the creation of a new literary genre in the target language, follows the development of this literary genre from European literature to Persian and Arabic literatures. And through analyzing two examples in Persian and Arabic literatures, it depicts some fundamental differences of the historical novel in Persian and Arabic literatures. It also illuminates that "The Sun and the Monogram" (Shams and Toghry) the masterpiece of Mohammad Bagher Mirza Khosravi Kermanshahi, who is although one of the translators of Georgi Zidan’s historical novel (Zidan being in turn more influenced by Sir Walter Scott), is closer to the French version of historical novel and compared to Shami Virgin by Georgi Zidan is more matured technically and structurally.