نشریه تفسیر و تحلیل متون زبان و ادبیات فارسی (دهخدا)
پیاپی 26 (زمستان 1394)

There are different commentaries on Rumi’s Masnavi, each focusing on it from different pints of view such as literary aesthetics, mysticism, philosophy and subject matter. These various commentaries – including those by Reynold Nicholson, Jafar Shahidi, Mohammad Estelami and Karim Zamani – make their comparison and contrast inevitable. Despite their great affinity, they are different from each other considering their mystical interpretations, allusive references, religious credence, and vocabulary and verse variations. This article is to compare and contrast the commentaries on the second book of Masnavi.

In the domain of Persian language lexicography is a significant category.  The 10tht and 11thh (AH) centuries were the golden period when great lexicographers, especially in India, composed and compiled dictionaries. One of those dictionaries is Abd-al-Rahim Ben Ahmad’s Kašf al-Loghāt wa’l-Estelāhāt</em> (Revealing [of the meaning] of words and terminology). A great Sufi, Abd-al-Rahim Ben Ahmad compiled his book in 673 chapters before 1017 (AH), most probably around the middle of the 16thh century. It uses a simple and scientific language and contains information in various subjects. This article first gives a brief history of lexicography and then reviews the life style and ideas of Abd-al-Rahim to study the structure, style and linguistic features of his dictionary.

Among the modern literary topics one is the intertextuality that explores the semantic, stylistic and sociological relations in literary works, as well as the course of cognitive grounds and their evolutions. According to the theory of intertextuality, no context is independent of other ones; contexts are interrelated and bound to the contexts before and after them. This article aims to study the intertextual relations between the sonnets of Hafiz and Houshang Ebtehaj aka Sayeh. From among the Iranian contemporary sonneteers Sayeh is closer to classic poets and to Hafez in specific, regarding his fluency and stylistic composition. The question here is the intertextual frequency between Sayeh’s sonnets and Hafiz’s.

The most valuable literary-cultural treasures of any country include travelogues. They reflect the viewpoints related to social, political, cultural, literary and religious functions of the society. Regardless of their form and purpose, travelogues are of great significance, especially the ones recorded by well-known itinerants and literary elite. Haj travelogues, however, are more important, since their recorders are literati who thrust into them their mystical and insightful impressions to reveal the outer world and its cultural differences. Now the present research tries to analyze and compare and contrast two Haj travelogues recorded by two Muslim – one Iranian and one non-Iranian – women.

This essay aims at considering the characteristics of Shahnameh through a literary cosmopolitan approach. Since many new theories are inspired by antecedent ideas, we should bear in mind that literary cosmopolitanism leads us to two previous theories i.e. world literature and comparative literature. The new reality of global village has impressed literature as well and resulted in a kind of literary cosmopolitanism. It is a new practice for magnificent literary works to stabilize their place on the list of world literature masterpieces. Shahnameh is one of these masterpieces which have been preserved through the ages. Shahnameh closely matches with the criteria of literary cosmopolitanism and invites the readers all around the global village to intelligently read it

Bildungstroman, or coming-of-age novel, is a genre in which the life of a character is depicted from childhood to adulthood and in the end, the callow naïve child turns into an experienced mature person with a good social position. The important features of classical Bildungstroman are: chronological narration, depicting the ups and downs of a child’s personal life that has a special and unique personality in comparison to other children of his age, and experiencing two kinds of love; first a superficial one then an everlasting and real one. In the twentieth century the chronological narration of Bildungstroman novel underwent some changes; moreover, women as well as other racial minorities presented their own interpretations of it. Nowadays Bildungstroman is women’s favorite genre in writing novels and they create new feminine kinds of it. What can be seen in these feminine Bildungstromans, are the differences between women and men’s lives and the process of growing up and also their different perspectives toward family and “the other”. One of these differences is “women’s loyalty to other women.

The culture of a nation is formed by a set of beliefs and convictions, which have emerged gradually or have been borrowed from other cultures and nations. In the ethos of the Iranian people, as well as the other nations, there are beliefs that have origins in Iranian culture or are the outcome of interaction of different cultures with the Iranian culture. Iran has been invaded three times in different periods, and in addition to the vast destructions and losses, has been culturally influenced by so many subduing beliefs. One of the non-Iranian beliefs is to consider the owl as an ominous and hated animal despite its being beautiful and heavenly auspicious in Iranian culture. In this study, after a brief introduction about Iranian culture and the influence of foreign cultures on it, the focus shifts to the owl and the common belief in its auspiciousness and ominousness. Then the impact of these beliefs have been discussed in the works of Ferdowsi, Khaqani, Nezami, Sa'adi and Sa’eb, and in the end, the origins of Iranian's belief as to consider the owl an auspicious bird is explored.

By means of an examination of tales and legends among different nations, one can find out about similar elements and characteristics that are liable to be studied from different perspectives. Simorgh, as one of the recurrent emblems in Persian literary works, is noteworthy and its presence in Iranian culture dates back to pre-Islamic era. The first presence of this legendary bird had been in epic and then in mystic literature of Iran, and poets such as Ferdowsi, Attar, Rumi, Sa’adi and Hafez have depicted it in their works. In Shahnameh it has a divine-demonic, and in later mystic works it has a spiritual manifestation that reveals such mysteries as immortality, existence unity, and absolute essence. With respect to what already mentioned, this article aims at exploring the different aspects of this mythical bird through studying two Persian masterpieces – Masnavi and Conference of Birds – to reveal its mythical and mystical character.