A Study of the Minimalistic Structure of Gulistan of Saadi

One of the existing misconceptions regarding literary theory is that one can only find literary theory and criticism in contemporary texts. However, this is not true since criticism is a scientific approach and any text, whether it is classic or contemporary, could be analyzed through a modernist perspective. Short story is one of the literary genres that have undergone extensive changes in recent years. Minimalism is a new version of narration in which stories shrink in size day after day. Using an analytical-statistical design and examining samples in terms of size, time and place restrictions, few characters and so on, the present study tries to show the minimalist properties of stories in all the stories of Gulistan of Saadi. It was found that many of the stories narrated in Gulistan reflect features of minimalistic stories. The majority of stories of Gulistan are lacking in plot and in case they have a plot, the plot is not complex and the story is narrated with the least complication. Another minimalistic feature of the stories in Gulistan is time and place restrictions; a close look at Guilstan shows that many stories are lacking in precise time and place and, if time is addressed, it is treated vaguely in the form of a day, a night, a year or a village, a city or the like.