A Critical Comparison of Jami's Anecdotes in Baharestan and Minimalist Stories

Following the formalist tradition which was after creating new forms through the application of verbal strategies, the creators of literary works were also attracted to the issues relevant to form and technique. Using intricate forms and techniques, and expressing the themes in the shortest language forms as possible, this group of writers created a new story type to deeply influencereaders’ affects and beliefs. This new type of story writing, which was later known as minimalism, actually drew upon techniques such as simple language and concept, surprise, attractive themes, brevity and realism. As believed by some scholars, some of the classical Persian literary works such as Jami’s Baharestan include stories with minimalist features. This study was a descriptive-analytical comparison of Baharestan’s stories and the minimalist features of story writing. It was found that the short anecdotes of classical Persian literature including Baharestan are not absolutely compatible with minimalist stories. There were significant differences between the two, though they were superficially identical.