The comparative readings Ezeddin Ismael and Shafiei Kadkani on the function of literary tradition in modernism

Tradition and modernism are among the most important components of contemporary literature. The tradition in literature is the set of literary practices that have emerged and accumulated over the course of literary development of every ethnic group. Modernism, or literary modernism, is also a term sometimes used against literary tradition, denoting a break with existing traditions, rules and conventions, and new ways of looking at various literary issues, and sometimes means renewing tradition. Accordingly, the great tension between the adherents of literary tradition and modernism in the twentieth century has led to the emergence of the discourse of "tradition and modernism" in contemporary literary criticism. Contemporary Arabic and Persian literary criticism also welcomed this issue. Critics emphasize the contradiction and, in general, the connection between the legacy of the past and modern and modern works, as they see many benefits in this connection, and the result of these conflicts is nothing but the dynamics of literature and literary criticism. Many contemporary Arabic and Persian literary critics, including Ezeddin Ismael and Mohammad Reza Shafiei Kadkani, have addressed it. The two literary figures emphasize the positive influence of interaction between tradition and modernism and the necessity of the function of tradition in contemporary Arabic and Persian poetry, based on literature and ancient literary critique of Arabic and Persian. Similarities and differences in the views of these two critics are also due to tendencies, attitudes, environment, field of growth, and the dominant atmosphere of the thoughts of the two writers. On the other hand, the common cultural roots of them, especially in the field of literary criticism, have brought them, at least in the attitude towards the subject of interaction between tradition and modernism. This has necessitated a review and comparison of their criticisms. Here, by relying on descriptive-analytical method, tried to review the criticisms of these figures regarding the necessity of continuing the literary tradition in contemporary Arabic and Persian poetry. The question here is that the how these people view presence of literary tradition in contemporary Arabic and Persian poetry? Also, if they found the interaction among these schools as interactive or opposite? The result of this study showed they experienced both the tradition and the modernism. In most of their researches, by respect to the principles of tradition they found modernism in interaction with tradition. They always believe that tradition and innovation are two aspects of the continuity of a nation's culture or a nation, for tradition to continue, it must evolve with the help of innovation, and innovation can only be understood by turning to one tradition. Innovation without tradition and tradition is lacking in historical and social objectivity. They believe that in literature, tradition and innovation are two vital and indispensable factors. It can be argued that almost all the attention to tradition and its importance is clearly seen in all works of these two critics. In the face of modernism, both critics have an almost unified experience. Both believe that the process of modernizing poetry must be broken, but not in the sense of abandoning tradition, but of modernity. The two critics argue that the contemporary poet's relationship to tradition is a pervasive one and a conscious acquisition of the human-historical meaning of tradition, not merely the influence of tradition. Thus, the contemporary poet's attitude to tradition chooses positions that are permanent and enduring, whether that is a requirement of the classical approach or whether it is augmented by the poet himself. They want a renewal that is in line with the literature of the past and disconnecting from the past is not a good thing. They also see bigotry as a dangerous thing, because the past and the present must follow and recognize each other's boundaries.