Genesis of the Hero Character in Four Narratives of Attar's Hagiography

This study examines Attar’s hagiography from the perspective of characterization and genesis of hero character. Further, it selects four narratives as samples of this text (Ibrahim Adham, Hassan Basari, Bayazid Bastami, and Hallaj) from one of the best Persian hagiography. This study which is based on Northrop Frye's theories represents that the hero character in Attar's hagiography is too close to the literary genres of Romans; hero in this genre is the transfigurated form of the mythological stories. The heroes of hagiography (mystics) reveal a form of heroes of the reference texts; at the top of the reference texts are the Quranic stories. Therefore, this study argues that lots of narratives in Attar's book have been borrowed from the Holy Quran's pattern of narratives. Accordingly, this influence has caused these narratives, regardless of their historical authenticity, to be more believable for their audiences and the authority of this text is originated from this credibility.