Analysis of Transtextual relation between The Conference of the Birds by Peter Sis and Attar's Mantiq al-Tair

Attar’s Mantiq al-Tair, a classical Persian literature heritage, has transcended the local geography and has been considered at worldwide level. One of the fiction books published under the influence of Attar's Mantiq al-Tair is The Conference of the Birds by Peter Sis, the Czech writer, illustrator, and filmmaker. The book was recreated and illustrated by Sis for children, adolescents, and adults in 2011 and after it he won Hans Christian Andersen Award or the biennial Little Nobel Prize–the most prestigious literary and artistic award in the field of children's literature. Zohreh Ghaeini, a writer and researcher of children's literature, translated this book into Persian in 2016. Next year, she was selected as one of the nominees for the sixth period of receiving Golden and Silver Flying Turtle Award for adolescents at domestic festivals. Adopting descriptive-analytic method, intertextuality approach, and specifically Gérard Genett's theory of transtextuality with a critical look, this article attempts to describe and analyze the transtextual relationship between The Conference of the Birds and Attar's Mantiq al-Tair. Intertextuality has long engaged researchers with the premise that texts interact with each other. Intertextual method has roots in the works of Russian critic, Mikhail Bakhtin. All the theorists have presented their own view of dialogism. Among others, Genette proposed and completed his model of “transtextuality" in the twentieth century based on Bakhtin's dialogism principles. His theory of transtextuality includes five types of relations including "intertextuality", "hypertextuality", "paratextuality", "metatextuality", and "architextuality". In the following, these relations are described and analyzed in The Conference of the Birds. Paratextuality includes intra-textual and extra-textual paratexts that are the gateways to enter or exit the text. It is considered an influential element that affects the audience mind and perception. Examples of intra-paratexts are title, second title, book size, cover design, and the like. Extra-paratexts can be divided into two categories of paratexts created by the author and publisher to attract the audience, and paratexts created by other people, including critics or reporters and other authors to promote or critique the text. The Conference of the Birds by Peter Sis is an adaptation of Attar's Mantiq al-Tair based on paratextual sources and documents. The author's explanations concerning the book's connection to Attar’s and his announcement of copyright permission granted to Research Institute of Children's and Adolescents’ Literatureare examples of intra-paratexts. Extra-paratexts can also be seen on Persian and English sites and some media. Intertextuality is the interconnection and relationship between two texts, which includes explicit (verbal), non-explicit, and implicit relations. Implicitly, the essence of Mantiq al-Tair is reflected in the main and general plot of The Conference of the Birds by Sis. From the beginning, through paratexts and references to Attar's metamorphosis to Hudhud, Sis acknowledges that this work is a rewriting of Mantiq al-Tair and with these references he avoids using quotes in the text. Examples of intertextuality are the birds being called by Hudhud to seek the king and set out on a journey to Mount Qaf; the birds bringing pretexts for not going on the trip; the seven valleys (Haft Wadi); and reaching Simorgh. Metatextuality is the explicit or implicit critical commentary of one text on another. In The Conference of the Birds, which is itself an adaptation of Mantiq al-Tair, the effects of conforming to Mantiq al-Tair’s atmosphere in the general formation of the new work cannot be neglected. During the transfer, Mantiq al-Tair’s atmosphere, which is mystical-didactic, has been reduced to a moral-didactic one in The Conference of the Birds; a kind of description and confirmation that the author has adopted in recreating that great classic work taking into account the target audience and the circumstances. Thus, metatextual relations between The Conference of the Birds and Mantiq al-Tair are formed based on the main story. Architextuality is the relationship between a work and the generic category to which it belongs. The genre of Mantiq al-Tair and The Conference of the Birds can be viewed from two perspectives: one is the genre of mystical epic, and the other is the sub-genre of Risalat al-Tair, a branch of didactic genre. The epic genre has indeed been transferred to The Conference of the Birds and has turned it to a didactic epic; however, the format of the new work has changed from a poetic story to a prose one. This part is one of the aspects that Genette's transtextuality considers it to be weak in terms of architextual relationship. Hypertextuality is a relationship based on the adaptation of text B from text A; which is divided into two types of transformation or imitation. From imitation view, the plot and structure of the work can be considered an imitation of the original plot and style of Attar's Mantiq al-Tair. This imitative plot, which forms the plot of Mantiq al-Tair, has been rewritten for children and adolescent audience. Reducing the volume, adding imaginative illustrations, and reducing the mystical dimension could be considered as instances of transformation. Accordingly, by exploring Genette's transtextuality, different dimensions of textual relationships can be examined which have even been created at various geographical boundaries and over different times; though some criticisms are leveled against this model by reader-oriented and systematic analysis approaches.