The Narrative Function of Signs in Rabe e Tale of Attar's Elahi Nameh

Proposing a number of concepts such as system, code, communicative and distinctive nature of signs etc, semiotics has established a different method for reading the texts. Focusing on internal elements of system, this science illustrates the mechanism of meaning formation through signifying process of signs, and classifies and organizes them in the superficially confusing and unorganized stream of the text. Attra’s Elahi Nameh is one of the texts which has a remarkable role in the formation and development of short and long narratives in mystical works. Semiotic analysis of tales in this text can pave the way for demonstrating how narrative elements are organized in mystical texts. Using the descriptive-analytical method, this article aims to analyze semiotically the tale of “Ka’b daughter and her love and poem”. This tale, which has a direct relationship with the general narrative structure of Elahi Nameh regarding structure and meaning, shows that plot progression in this tale is done via opposition and tension in the elements of two codes of power and love; that is, being within the two codes, each element accepts narratively and linguistically a form and meaning which is proportionate to that code and the processing of tale’s narrative elements takes place via such oppositions. Regarding this matter and the point that such tale has been stated within the overall mystical narrative of Elahi Nameh, it can be said that all signs in this tale become meaningful structurally in a process of substitution within a wider system named mysticism. These are the rules and conventions of mysticism which affect the formation of narrative.