Grotesque Characters in Tadhkira Yakhchalieh

Tadhkira Yakhchalieh (a biography), written by Mírzá Muhammad ` Alí Mozahhab Isfahani whose pen-name was Farhang (in his youth) and Bahar (in his old ages), is one of the detailed parodies of Persian literature created in the form of Tadhkira Atashkadeh of Lotf ‘Ali Bayg “Azar” Baigdeli. Mirza Mozahhab creates 30 characters in his work to criticize claimants of poetry who drooled in his living period. His characters, who are disgusting on one hand and humorous on the other hand, incite a multiple sense of hatred, anger, fear and humor in the audience. These grotesque characters can be traced in many famous literary works. Presenting a definition of parody and its functions, it has been tried in this paper, to analyze grotesque characters of Tadhkira Yakhchalieh. Findings show that the characters in Tadhkira Yakhchalieh are mostly malformed and suffer from sexual disorders (Pederasty, Pedophilia, Sodomy, etc.). In other words, the grotesque theme of this work is initially unreasonable sexual issues and then moral vices such as greed, covetousness, theft, people abuse, etc. It can be mentioned that the main function of grotesque in this work is to scandal the true nature of author's time.