نشریه تاریخ ادبیات
سال یازدهم شماره 2 (پاییز و زمستان 1397)

Shah Jahangir Hashemi Kermani is a poet and mystic of the 15th and 16th centuries CE who was descended from Ghasem Anvar and Shah Nematollah Vally. After reviewing his works and other related historical documents and sources, it can be claimed that he was a great poet and mystic. His works can be categorized as the direct heritage of the mystic school of Nematollahiyeh. In his lifetime, Hashemi traveled extensively. Towards the end of his life he emmigrated to Sindh. There he was revered by Shah Hassan Arghoon, the ruler of Sindh, and other great personages of the region. His main verse collection was destroyed, and only a few of its poems have remained retrievable from some scattered Tazhkirahs. Mazhar-al-Asrar was his other work in which he was heavily inspired by Nezami’s Makhzan-al-Asrar. Fortunately, numerous copies of Mazhar-al-Asrar have survived. Composed in 1562 CE, Mazhar-al-Asrar was completed by Kermani while he was in Sindh. In 1568 CE, while he was returning from Sindh, he was killed by bandits. After reviewing and comparatively analyzing numerous sources, the present study presents a precise and comprehensive account of the life and the works of Shah Jahangir Hashemi Kermani.

The Grotesque is a literary-artistic genre which contains contrasting elements. Such contrast causes readers to develop confusing and multiple feelings and responses towards the grotesque. This genre mingles horrifying, humorous and disgusting aspects of life so that it can realistically convey life’s heterogeneous and asymmetrical nature which is materialized outside the abstract space of the mind. It is believed that the grotesque had been used as a literary-artistic genre from the 1st century CE, and due to social circumstances, scholars began studying it from the 16th century CE. Bakhtin and Cassirer are two of the key scholars who have discussed the grotesque extensively. As an artistic genre, the grotesque was used in the discovered ancient tablets, relics and containers of Jiroft in Iran. Due to the meekness of scholarly pursuits in this area, the present study defines the grotesque first. After giving a working definition, the study reviews the literaryartistic place of the grotesque in Iran’s art and literature. For such a review, it uses documents and library survey as its research methodology. The study believes that the grotesque needs to be discussed extensively since it has a determining place in the developmental history of Iranian art, literature and architecture.

Abdul Khaliq, the famous mystic of the 12th century CE and the founder of Khajegan mystical school”, has written a testament to Khajeh Awliyah. Although several manuscripts of the testament are available, academia has not studied it in its researches and scholarly pursuits. The testament can be regarded as one of the oldest manuscripts about the characteristics of Khajegan mystical school, explaining the ethical principles of this mystical school in its founder's words. Unfortunately, numerous sources and catalogues are mistaken in attributing several works to Ghajdwani, and introducing the testament under inauthentic titles. These two mistakes result in wrongful parsing of the testament, and its introduction in a series of abridged, decontextualized and scattered works. Through studying various manuscripts of the testament, it becomes evident that some of the manuscripts have given either an abridged or annotated account of the original testament. Such manuscripts have both misled scholars to attribute ideas and concepts which did not belong originally to the testament in the first place, and bereft scholars of studying some of its redacted parts. Through its editions and corrections, the present study amends the common scholarly mistakes of the registered testament in numerous catalogues and sources. In order to achieve this objective and eliminate inauthentic attribution of unoriginal manuscripts to Ghajdwani, the study reviews the existing manuscripts of the testament, and analyzes their styles and contents.

Satire has always shed new light upon various social, historical, political, artistic and literary issues. Mock epic is one of the most innovative comedic forms. It combines satirical and epic discourses. In the Mongol and the Timurid reigns, artists and writers, being afraid of persecution and severe penalties of direct criticism of the ruling system and their plunders, wars and martial nature, used mock epics with non-human characters. “The Mouse and the Cat”, “Moza’far and Baghra”, and “Souf and Kamkha” are three of the most famous mock epics in the pre-constitutional period of the Persian poetry. These works rely more on epic forms and motifs than the post-constitutional mock epics, and as a result, create a more direct incongruity between the comedic and epic discourses. The aforementioned pre-constitutional mock epics abide more by the conventions of mock epics, and therefore, maintain the direct and stark incongruity between two discourses. Generally speaking, incongruities – and the ways they interact and intermingle - make the bases of any successful satirical genre, and, as a result, scholarly studies of satire need to identify the existence of such incongruities in their surveys of any form of satire. Through its descriptive-analytic research methodology, the present study identifies discursive and semantic incongruities as the key elements of the aforementioned mock epics. In identifying discursive incongruities, epic motifs and forms, the epic impact of the Shahnameh, and heroism and antiheroism are surveyed. Through introducing the discursive incongruities, satirists discuss symbolically the shortcomings of their contemporary societies. Through reference to some epic characters and events from the Shahnameh, the surreal affinities of the aforementioned mock epics are moderated, and therefore, their contemporary social concern is focalized. In identifying semantic incongruities, literary hyperboles and understatements are used, and truth is presented comprehensively. Such comprehensive and variegated presentation of truth facilitates the writers’ indirect criticism of the dominant power relations and structures, and the social values such relations and structures have defined.

The Vasukht style of poetry includes literarily simple and plain poems in which the return of the beloved is the main motif. The research questions of the present studies are: In his sonnets, has Sanai been influenced by the poetic principles of Vasukht style of poetry? If the answer of the first question is proved to be affirmative, to what extent, have his sonnets abided by these poetic principles? The study believes that as a poet of the 12th century CE, Sanai has been heavily influenced by Vasukht style of poetry. Through its descriptive-analytical framework, the study proves that in various sonnets, Sanai was influenced by Vasukht style of poetry; the simple poetic style which shows both the loss of the earthly beloved and promotes the achievement of the transcendental love/beloved through Qalandariyya mystic lifestyle. Through such chiasmastic and structural relation between the loss of the earthly beloved and the achievement of the transcendental love/beloved, the Vasukht poetic motif is materialized in Sanai’s sonnets.

Identifying the historical moment which saw the first Persian speaking poet is a key – and yet confusing and undeterminable - issue in today’s scholarly circles of Persian language and poetry. According to some scholars, the court of Ya'qub ibn al-Layth al-Saffar and his successors revived Persian language and poetry through shunning the scriptural importance of Arabic language and poetry. In contrast to this observation, the present study believes that the court of Ya'qub ibn al- Layth al-Saffar and his successors – especially in the 10th century CE – did not exercise a linguistic and literary phobia against Arabic language and literature, and that it even encouraged the linguistic and literary status of the Arabic language and poetry in Persian language and poetry. After identifying the status of Arabic language and poetry through surveying pertinent library sources, the present study presents a number of reasons for not considering this court – and, by extension, this period – a revivalist period of Persian language and poetry. Through its analytic-descriptive methodology, the study also believes that the false claim of considering this period revivalist comes from a book called The History of Sistan.

Zahabiyah is known to be one of the Shiite orders of mysticism which emerged during the governance of a tyrannical regime in the first half of the 15th century CE. This order became well-established during the Safavid period. The key members of this order believe that in defining and comprehending mystic issues, the order continues to abide by the ideological principles of Kobrawiyah. That is why in mysticism, this order is also called as the order of Zahabiyah Kobrawiyah Razawiyah. The ideological roots of Kobrawiyah and Razawiyah can be traced in the teachings of the Prophet Mohammad, Imam Reza, and Ma’ruf Karkhi (Peace Be Upon Them). The present study believes that considering the historical developments of this order, Mir Seyyed Ali Hamedani nurtures the ideological, political, and social grounds and principles of Zahabiyah as a Shiite order of mysticism. In order to discuss different aspects of this order in Hamedani’s works, and emphasize Hamedani’s role in developing this order, the study analyzes the presence of various theories and ideas of this order in his works.

After the Battle of Manzikert and the establishment of the Seljuk empire, the popularity of Persian language and culture began to increase in Anatolia. The Shahnameh played a key part in the ideological, lingustic and literary influence of the Persian language and culture in Anatolia, even after the establishment of the Ottoman Empire. In their courts, the great Ottoman rulers had a number of experts for reading the Shahnameh, called “Shahnamehchi”. Heavily inspired by the Shahnameh, these readers also composed epic poems. Luqman was such a one. After emigrating from Iran to Anatolia, he became a Shahnamechi of Sultan Salim II, and Sultan Murad III. Luqman also wrote a number of books about the Ottoman Empire both in Turkish and Persian. Salimkhan Nameh is regarded as one of his key works. Written under the reign of Sultan Salim II, Salimkhan Nameh utilizes the literary style of the Shahnameh. Fortunately, a number of manuscripts of this work have survived. Using the British manuscript of Salimkhan Nameh the present study discuses its features and historical significance.