An Analysis of Narrative Elements in Two Maqamehs: "Tibiyeh" and "Ramliyeh"

The term”Maqameh” means telling a story in a meeting or party. However, in professional tongue it refers to a certain kind of tale a main goal of which is to show verbal and semantic artifice. This renders the maqameh an interesting field of research for its narrative principles. The hero of a maqameh appears in the text of a tale, but after some time he disappears from the scene of that tale and appears again in a next tale. The present article tries to analyze the narrative elements in 2 of Hariri's maqamehs: "Ramliyeh" and "Tibiyeh". The researcher has found out that both of these maqamehs were narrated from the point of view of a first-person speaker. In both of them the plot is logical and consistent, while Abu Zaid is also both a symbolic and a dynamic character. His character is recognized often through his conversations, while the character of the literature-lover Hareth is revealed via the descriptions he gives about himself. The perversity of the Iranian society in the reign of the Abbasids, its cruelty and hypocrisy in particular, is a major theme of these maqamehs.