The study of Ironic meaning formation in the conceptual fusion of the allegory of “Inadmissibility of indecent interpretation of the housefly” in spiritual Masnavi, based on the theory of literary mind by Mark Turner

Irony is an expression style which is based on creating surprisal or satire through binary opposition and contrast between two meanings or situations. MasnaviManvi’s allegories are often derived from folklore culture and common oral or written anecdotes. Yet, Moulana has created a wonderful world of meaning beyond the world and structure of Folk traditions for his readers. The influence of this transference of meaning is due to his special method of allegorization and his creative mental processes in choosing the conventional spaces to point out the unconventional purpose, the mechanism of blending dual spaces and providing meaning from the heart of this fusion. A meaning which is resulted from conflict between the opposed elements and concepts, and yet they are very prominent and influential.In this research, we intend to analyze the mechanism of creating ironic meaning through the study of projection and conceptual blending from a source to a target space in “Inadmissibility of indecent interpretation of the housefly” allegory based on Mark Turner’s theory of Literary Mind. The findings show that power and worth of such creation of meaning in this parable are resulted from Moulana’s creativity in choosing the unusual source and target spaces in a way that their blending, while corresponds structurally, possess a powerful conflict in terms of concepts and elements. The final meaning of a parable, as Turner says, is not resulted only from the meaning of each input, nor simply from sum of them. It is rather a resultant meaning generated from the contrast of the elements and contexts of the source and target stories. It is such conflict from inside of which an aesthetic technique like irony is generated from the point of view of Moulana’s mental mechanism. The ironic and humorous contradictions that arise from this mixing and tension have a persuasive and destructive effect on the minds of the audience, which is the semantic prominence of this allegory.