Recognizing Narrative Periods of Risalat Al Tayrs Based on Four Generations of Narrative Analysis

Narration of the Risalat al-tayr (TREATISE OF THE BIRDS) has an important place among the educational works in Persian Literature. In each story, value/s are defined by means of actors trying to achieve them. The narrator makes an attempt to get the actor to the axiological system of story and create narrative periods. By Narrative periods we mean that from the 1960s (the peak of structuralism till now), narrations have been based on a model, each period is different from the other in terms of theoretical and semeiotic and semantic aspects. Semiotics and semantics tries to categorize the narrative periods of classic and modern literature. Identification and exploration of narrative periods of Farsi and Arabic Risalat al-tayr with focus on investigation of axiological system of dialogue allows us to move beyond this generation and provide a model for narrative division of the literary texts.
In this regard, the purpose of this research is to investigate the narrative periods based on Manṭiq al-ṭayr (conference of birds) by Attar in order to explain the related model to study the narrative systems. Narrative periods make us encounter with the transformation of the narration. For this purposes, one of the research goal is to provide the narrative periods based on Manṭiq al-ṭayr in order to provide a comprehensive method to literary text analysis. It is assumed that in Manṭiq al-ṭayr this function has a multiple concept. In other words, the actor experiences different periods to reach the value. Other questions are also as follows: what are the underlying components of the axiological system in Risalat al-tayr? How these components are organized? With investigation of Risalat al-tayr, which is the suitable method to measure the effect of the stories on each other. Risalat al-tayr uses a unique similitude in storytelling, for this reason, it benefits from a special kind of narration. So, by investigating the narration of this text, it is possible to understand the mentality of the narrator and depict the effect of these stories based on their narrative style in order to reach a model of studying the narrative transformation. To this end, the authors have adopted Paris school Semiotic approach. The findings of the present research indicate that the Risalat al-tayr is totally composed of narrative periods including “Programmed Actional Regime, “Interactional system based on dialogue and negotiations” “ Actional regime based on competence” , “ Passive tension” , “ Sensible paradigm based on subject adjustment to the existence”, and “ attraction- correlation and assessment”. First and second periods are called tension periods and are an introduction to the periods of action, sensation, and assessment. Only Manṭiq al-ṭayr by Attar contains all these periods. In other treatises, only some of these periods are observed. In the first three periods and the period of assessment, the value of thing is outside the actors and in the periods of tension, sensation and attraction, the value is in the subject. In all of these texts, the value is added one by one to the text.