Maqalat Shams and Minimalism

The growth of industry and modernism not only transformed the life of man but also influenced the realm of Art and Literature to a large extent. Appearance of Minimalism as a movement in the field of storytelling is the consequence of such influence. The writer employs the minimum number of diction in order to tell a story with a simple plan. Although Minimalism is a new genre in the west, but in the vast realm of Persian Literature there are numerous instances which totally corresponds with the features of a minimalistic story.Maqalat Shams Tabrizi holds great significance not only in terms of content, religious and mystical instructions but also in terms of storytelling. The most significant characteristics of the accounts and anectodes in Maqalat are the fact that they are succinct, laconic and concise, have attractive themes, without excrements which make them fall in complete accordance with the minimalistic features of storytelling. Analysis of such stories in Maqalat based on those features is the purpose of this article.