An Analytical Study of ‘Boasting’ (Mofakhereh) in Persian Poetry based on Pierre Bourdieu’s Field Theory

Boasting (Mofakhereh in Persian) as a poetic theme or as a sub-genre has a strong presence in the books of poems of classical Persian poets. Adopting an analytical approach, this research attempted at analyzing ‘boasting’ in poems of Manouchehri Damghani, Sanaei Ghaznavi, and Khaghani Shervani based on Pierre Bourdieu’s field theory. To do so, after extracting instances of their ‘boasting’ odes and considering the historical and social issues of their times and their different habitus and mindsets, we tried to analyze the poems based on Bourdieu’s four literary field principles (habitus, capital, struggle, and disinterestedness). The results showed that Manouchehri, due to his inclination to the power filed, and to make a name and a living and to stabilize his position, used his art and poetry for boasting. He did not observe the principle of disinterestedness in the literary field which attempts at purifying literature from personal intentions. As a result, he was pushed to the margin. But as the power field changed during the second Ghaznavid and Seljuk periods and some new problems and instabilities affected poets’ conditions, poets such as Sanaei and Khaghani distanced themselves from the power field, due to their specific habitus, and attempted at purifying literature and fighting the power field. From the two poets, Khaghani was more successful due to his disinterestedness and observance of the rules of the literary field.