Analytical Reading of Nafthat ol-Masdur based on New Historicism

Nafthat ol-Masdur is one of the most important books in the history of Iranian literature that brings together the borders between history and literature. The affinity of history and literature is one of the basic foundations of new historicism. In this approach, history as a narrative text has interpretations that help to keep the text intact in the context of the blockade and the cessation of certainty. Zaidari Nasavi's method in the writing of Nafthat ol-Masdur is a dialogue between the whole of the text and the narratives that have been marginalized or obscured due to the overcoming of the power discourse and intellectual constructs. Zaidari did not mention or exclude some of the aspects of historical narratives in his book because of his education in the Ash'arite intellectual space and the court of Khwarazmian dynasty. These narratives have been investigated through the ways of critique of historicism via deletions, selections, duplications, implication, and coverings. The findings indicate that the mentioned text is related, in a complex way, to the social and material conditions of its age. In an expression of the chaos in the Sultan's system, Zaidari states in the face of some of the surrounding people that the sub-rulers of the regions are seeking to build power and ultimately the controversy in an oppressive and neglected way for their ‘will to the truth’. In such a situation, the struggle for survival from the top of the sovereignty to ordinary people prevails with betrayal, ‘Life to bread’ and ‘Feast to Fleece’.