نامه فرهنگستان
سال بیست و یکم شماره 3 (پاییز 1401)

Various forms of enunciation can be examined in the works of Paul Valéry, French poet and author of the twentieth century, and Yadollah Royaee, the Iranian contemporary poet. The specific characteristic of two poet’s discourses expressed by “me” can be observed, as well as some perceptual and emotional specificities in the enunciation, which are imposed on the reader. In this study, our corpus is La Jeune Parque by Paul Valéry and the booklet Le Moi en Prétérite, Signature (The Me in the Past, Signature) by Yadollah Royaee. Analyzing the different strategies of “vision” and “perception” in the mentioned poems, takes place with the help of the semiotic theories, in particular, the theory of engagement, disengagement, and enunciating instances. The aim of this research is to show that “discourse” is all under the control of “I.” “I” in both poets’ works is dealt with the plurality, and there is a rivalry between various forms of enunciation in search of “identity” as an object of value. “Self” is in the process of becoming and evolving, and to achieve an identity, different instances are in conflict and make tension in the discourse. It is also worth mentioning that the tension is more complicated in Valéry’s discourse compared to Royaee.

Popular literature with its diverse elements and components is one of the noticeable subjects of study in the field of comparative literature. “The Wandered Nightingale” tale and its footprint in world literature, especially the story of “The Almond Tree” is a proper case for comparative literature and morphology studies. Based on the works of Vladimir Propp on functions and actions of fairy tales, as well as “binary oppositions” of Lévi-Strauss and other structuralists, this study seeks to examine the manifestation of the collective subconscious mind as the substantial feature of such stories and oral narratives. This paper, employing a comparative approach, also reveals that the origin of such stories is primarily the East, and they gradually spread among the nations in several variations of translation, imitation, adaptation, or rewritten forms.

The thoughts and attitudes of writers have always been influenced by the political, social, and cultural conditions of their societies, and their personality and life inevitably affect their literary creations as well. Iranian writers are no exception to this rule, and this paper, based on the new historicism approach and Foucault and Greenblatt theories, tries to first seek the influence of the lifestyle and personality of contemporary Iranian writers of 1920 to 2000 on the creation of their works. Furthermore, the impact of social, political, and ideological relations on their works is examined. Why specific authors and their works are selected in this study is a question tried to be answered, regarding the social circumstances and events. The data reveal that the creation of any novel or short story is in a complex network of diverse elements, and the novel is not just the product of the author’s genius and creativity. The author is influenced by certain discourses in society and the quality of his chosen language and themes is the result of his attitudes, motives, and the political and socio-cultural circumstances; moreover, it is a response to the needs of society.

One of the main features of contemporary literature is its strong connection with society and the reflection of common human concerns in the context of literary works. Among literary genres, novels have this capacity the most. In this paper, two novels are examined comparatively from a feminist sociology perspective, as they share many similarities in their narratives: We Will Get Used to It by Zoya Pirzad, whose author has a feminist orientation, and No Saints or Angels by Ivan Klíma, the Czech author. The paper focuses on the intellectual challenges of the novel’s characters and the existence or absence of conflict in their attitudes towards their roles as mother and beloved. The study reveals that from a feminist sociology perspective, the image of women in these novels reflects the idealistic thoughts of the authors and contrasts with the realities of the society in which they live.

Myth has been inextricably tied to literature and placed at the heart of many great literary works for centuries. Researchers in various fields of humanities such as literature, philosophy, linguistics, and anthropology are interested in mythology. Also, comparative literature analyzes the presence of ancient myths in literary works. Myths having been presented orally by the popular culture for centuries and adapted by writers and poets according to their own perceptions and intentions. This paper studies the new look of two playwrights on ancient myths in their plays: The Flies by Jean-Paul Sartre and The One Thousand and First Night by Bahram Beyzaie. The study reveals that the concept of “hero” has changed through rereading ancient myths by these two playwrights. In conclusion, the similarities and differences between the new images of the hero in these two works have been comparatively examined.

One of the artistic manifestations of imagination, which helps in deepening poetry is the literary device of symbolism. Symbols pull apart the superficial layers of the words, reflect their hidden meanings, and reveal their capacity in conveying mental images. In children’s poetry, symbolism carries out the same prominent role, but since the mental world of the audience and their understanding are limited, the symbols must be chosen as simple as possible. This paper aims to compare plant and animal symbols and their frequency in Persian and Kurdish children’s poetry. Findings show that the frequency of employing symbols in Kurdish children’s poetry is higher than in Persian. Animal symbols in the children’s poetry of both languages are more than plant symbols. Moreover, the most used symbolic animals in Persian children’s poems are birds, whereas in Kurdish are mammals.