فصلنامه نقد ادبی
پیاپی 49 (بهار 1399)

Cultural Semiotics, concerned with revealing the processes of meaning formation and identifying inherent values and norms in texts, was established by Yuri Lotman (1922-1993). This approach to text analysis, by focusing on the interrelation of different semiospheres, provides a new possibility to analyze cultural events to identify the means of text production in a specific semiosphere. Mythological-theological texts appear to be significant cultural sources for such an analysis and therefore Avesta, as a mythological-theological text, was selected for the current study. This paper has focused on Jamshid and attempted to study the delegitimization process of Mithraism and legitimization process of Zoroastrianism. Jamshid was studied in the binary of Self and Other and he was viewed as a god in Mithraism who, by the depreciation of vedic ideas and the influence of Zoroastrian semiosphere, had obtained a sinful character. Sinfulness of Jamshid was explored here by analyzing his introduction to the new semiosphere, the rejection of Other and the emphasis of Self culture (Zoroastrianism).

The concept of determinism has been studied in Hafiz poetry by many scholars. Some considered determinism, like many other concepts, as a means for literary creation, some viewed it as a justification for astute utterances, while others regarded it as the outcome of Hafiz’ own deterministic views. Though the first two accounts seem accurate, the third one seems imprecise. His literary creation style and worldview, indicative of his free will and open-mindedness, which was manifested in his poems, coupled with the inherent paradox between determinism and reformism, makes it hard to presuppose a relation between determinism and Hafiz’ worldview. By employing an academic and methodological approach, while recognizing different interpretations, one can gain an understanding, which is closely related to Hafiz’ worldview, of deterministic propositions in his poetry. Following this approach, one should refrain from forming arguments on the basis of single verses. Therefore, the current paper has attempted to analyze deterministic propositions in Hafiz poems by applying Ernesto Laclau and Chantal Mouffe theory. Moreover, based on CDA’s presuppositions, language plays a major role in forming understandings and its means is not always clear. Hence, the paper was aimed at indicating that Hafiz’ use of deterministic propositions can be interpreted not as an indication of his worldview but as a method and medium to expand the discourse of astuteness and, at the same time, to undermine the hegemony of ascetic discourse, which had dominated the cultural atmosphere of Iran for centuries.

Beyhaqi, the renowned secretary of the Ghaznavid court, was a contemporary of Ferdowsi. In his historical account, The History of Beyhaqi (Tārīkh-i Bayhaqī), written on the basis of thirty-seven years of being a court secretary, Beyhaqi revealed many details of the courtiers of the Ghaznavid era. However, he did not refer to Ferdowsi and his interactions with Mahmoud's court at all. Moreover, to enhance the persuasiveness of his words, Beyhaqi has quoted from many poets, yet no verse or stanza, though highly related to the historical events of The History of Beyhaqi, was cited from Ferdowsi. In studies on this matter, most of the researchers focused on extratextual analysis and related this to Ferdowsi’s life events and his rejection by Mahmoud court. Noteworthy, an intratextual analysis of Shahnameh has been mostly ignored. Studying and examining these studies has shown that most researchers have imposed their own preferences on the analyses, undermining the validity of their studies. The current paper, by employing an analytical and descriptive methodology, was aimed at studying the anti-mythical views of writers, contemporary to Beyhaqi. After analysis, it became apparent that mythical texts, in Beyhaqi’s view, were considered as irrational and unimportant and Shahnameh was no exception. Therefore, he refrained to quote from Ferdowsi in his book.

The concept of determinism has been studied in Hafiz poetry by many scholars. Some considered determinism, like many other concepts, as a means for literary creation, some viewed it as a justification for astute utterances, while others regarded it as the outcome of Hafiz’ own deterministic views. Though the first two accounts seem accurate, the third one seems imprecise. His literary creation style and worldview, indicative of his free will and open-mindedness, which was manifested in his poems, coupled with the inherent paradox between determinism and reformism, makes it hard to presuppose a relation between determinism and Hafiz’ worldview. By employing an academic and methodological approach, while recognizing different interpretations, one can gain an understanding, which is closely related to Hafiz’ worldview, of deterministic propositions in his poetry. Following this approach, one should refrain from forming arguments on the basis of single verses. Therefore, the current paper has attempted to analyze deterministic propositions in Hafiz poems by applying Ernesto Laclau and Chantal Mouffe theory. Moreover, based on CDA’s presuppositions, language plays a major role in forming understandings and its means is not always clear. Hence, the paper was aimed at indicating that Hafiz’ use of deterministic propositions can be interpreted not as an indication of his worldview but as a method and medium to expand the discourse of astuteness and, at the same time, to undermine the hegemony of ascetic discourse, which had dominated the cultural atmosphere of Iran for centuries.

In the last few decades, the events and developments in both Iranian society and the world have led to the formation of women’s fiction writing in diaspora. In these stories, the protagonists are mostly women and, in contrary to traditional structures, women are not defined in relation to men, rather, following a deconstructive method, women’s views are considered as core views and the stories are narrated through their viewpoints to the world and also to the men. The current paper has indicated that these writers had maintained a relation between introducing women’s world to their readers and preserving the aesthetics in their stories. Regarding themes, some have incorporated feminine narratives to represent political issues, while others focused on identity issues and portrayed women as knowing subjects. Therefore, first person narrator is mostly adopted in these stories, enabling them to focus on the protagonist’s inner thoughts. In other words, it could be said that the writer is embodied in the first person narrator, the protagonist. Other themes include stories about sexual matters and narratives on everyday lives. The last category is mostly considered as pop literature and, though lacking a strong narrative structure, has attracted a significant readership

The school of romanticism emerged as a dialectical reaction to classicism and neoclassicism in the eighteenth century and it was influenced by philosophical, political and social factors of its age. Romanticism was characterized by its emphasis on individualism, the freedom of imagination, the sincerity of emotions and also the attempts to reach the transcendent truth, discernible beyond the scientific reality. Along with the formation of literary renaissance in Iran, many academians and literary traditionalists introduced modern literature as an imitation of the west in form of translations of western schools, including romanticism. Such an idea has been consolidated by the lack of valid and reliable literary research in the following decades. The current study has indicated that the interpretation of romanticism in Iran has been influenced by neglecting some of its essential characteristics, debasing its components from its philosophical and epistemological context and by inaccurate renditions of some of its core concepts. As literary schools contain conceptualized and structured components, literary research in Iran has seemingly employed this accessible structure in studying literary trends. Consequently, this has led to incomplete and even erroneous understanding of the trends of contemporary literature, due to focusing on sole descriptions of such elements as love and nature, without considering Persian literary traditions.