مجله فنون ادبی
سال سیزدهم شماره 4 (پیاپی 37، زمستان 1400)

One of the most important literary figures in Manicheism literature is simile as it was used by the Manichaeans to talk about their hidden truth so that they could properly propagate and spread their religion. Fable and parable are the impressive literary accomplishments of Manicheism literature in central Asia. As a result, in this study, we attempt to study the Manicheism simile and its different kinds used in this kind of literature. To do so, a library-based descriptive analytical approach was used where a summary of a fable is provided followed by its interpretation and a discussion of its morale. In general, a great part of the Manicheism prose written in Iranian languages consists of stories about people (parables) and stories about animals (fables) which were used by the Manicheans as a way to teach their doctrines and propagate their religion.

According to semiotic approaches, we live in a world of different sign systems. In this world, communication is primarily the task of "language" but is not limited to verbal methods and can include non-verbal methods. Images as social and cultural phenomena are among the sign systems that non-verbally communicate between human beings. In fact, with the prevalence of visual productions in modern times, part of the task of communication between humans has been assigned to images. The cover image of books is part of a system of visual cues that sometimes need to be examined in order to understand their secondary meanings through a process called "critique": "Criticism means the search for signs in their secondary meaning: pastime or Activity within the signs or about them ”(Culler, 2011: 10).

In the current article, the authors tried to evaluate some aspects of alternative history narration in the historical novel, Shah-e bi Shin, written by Mohammad Kazem Mazinani. Alternative history narration is an emerging genre in Persian literature, which could lead to the creation of attractive, compelling stories, somehow opposed to the historical imaginations of audiences. Alternative history finds a new timeline for historical narrating, using ingredients like having an appropriate scenario and finding a point of divergence (POD). Alternation of historical narration includes alternation in fictional events and fictional persons. The research background belongs to the historical novel, Shah-e bi Shin, limited to literary meetings and interviews, and no detailed research has been done, except for two short articles by Majid Estiri and Maryam Goudarzi. Alternative history is a new subject in fiction literature and is sometimes confused with historical metanarrative style and post-modernism. Shah-e Bi Shin narrates a real story of the Pahlavi period about a historical character, Mohammad Reza-Shah. This narrative allows writers who are interested in adding historical novels of alternative history to Iranian fiction literature, to use examples of alternate history that happened from the story character’s viewpoint. Shah-e Bi Shin, including components of alternation history narrating in branches of birth, death, lifestyle, and finally, the metamorphosis of character helps break the boundary between imagination and reality. In this research, we tried to draw the audience's attention to create new and intact narratives using historical events, besides introducing alternative historical genres and discovering novel power and imaginary narrations in Shah-e Bi Shin the historical novel. Alternation history has rooted in the historical imagination, for it can reach more readable and idealistic works of true history. This literary art seeks historical “what if”s, to show a new history to the story and its audiences. Shah-e Bi Shin novel has been narrated from Mohamad Reza Shah’s view. So, it consists of life details, personality, and behaviors of this historical character; a defeated character who always seeks in his mind the answer of “what if”s that could change the destiny and history of his land. This component makes us look for more components of this idea, and investigate historical alternate examples in this novel from the language of Mohammad Reza Shah and his surroundings. The alternation of historical events in this novel ends with the events that belong before Shah’s exodus from Iran. Events like coup defeat, Mohammad Reza Shah and Soraya’s unsuccessful escape, Shah’s assassination in university, and finally, leaving the homeland which was among the worst choices he has made, in Mohammad Reza’s view. Alternation of the historical character of this novel almost refers to Mohammad Reza, himself. These events occurred during the period from his birth to his death that happened outside Iran. During this period, he was complaining about everything and imagining other events and occurrences, in his mind, which if they had happened, would have changed his life and the history of his homeland. The novel’s atmosphere is a reflection of Mohammad Reza's childhood and such a stifling atmosphere continues after he had just survived an illness. He was upset about his birth all over the novel. That feeling of dissatisfaction spread to his destiny. He did not like this life and wishes he were a farmer or a lawyer in one of the American cities and had a normal life rather than being a country king and deprived of those works he did like to do. Mohammad Reza was so dissatisfied with this destiny, as he likes to come to a personal metamorphosis. This can help the imagination of alternative historical genres and create a story with a surrealistic atmosphere. Death and death types are other designs and deviation points which help to break down the timeline of the story. Modification in his death type or death time could cause other historical events and movements, and create a new history for novel and story audiences. Statistically analyzing the representations of alternate historical narration in this novel, we found a high frequency of alternate characters compared with alternate events (63 to 37%). Also among representations of alternative characters, statistical data that belong to birth change has the most, and personal metamorphosis has the least quantity.

Scientific journals are considered as a key axis in the transfer and spreading of knowledge in various fields of study, and the promotion of research depends on the activities carried out in these journals. In Literary Arts Journal, significant and applied studies are not few. Hence, considering the scientific nature that such studies give to literary studies, they help a lot in rejecting the thinking in which literature is considered a matter of taste and being unscientific. Therefore, analytical and pathological approaches to explain the positive and negative points of the articles could be beneficial. The extent of research in the field of rhetorical sciences, especially the field of expression studies, as the most prominent form of transmission and spread of literary knowledge, highlights the importance of content and methodological analysis of suchresearch.Therefore, this research evaluates the content and structure of the articles with a descriptive-analytical approach and leads to the point that some of the articles have weaknesses in terms of structure, content, and violation of rules in using sources. The results could help provide a basis for scientific journals to include rules in their guidelines that could raise the quality of rhetorical studies on the subject of rhetoric and increase referrals to them.

Satirical poetry appeals to a wide range of audiences. Satirical poets look at phenomena from fresh perspectives, choosing subjects that are usually avoided. One of such windows is the imagination of a poet who creates caricature-like pictures in the form of a satire. This very thing provides the audience with a kind of delicacy and freshness and allows them to see unseen points, too.In this respect, parody is a subgenre of lyrical literature, through which the poet expresses their intentions. Parodies are composed for the purpose of satire, criticism, entertainment, and fun in most cases; they sometimes come near to red lines and even cross them when they are facetious and lampoons.One of the prominent parody poets in the era of Qajar in the 13th century Hijri is Abdollah Ibn Fereydoun Gorji Isfahani known as "Eshteha" and "Sargashteh". From the perspective of poetry, he composed around 1400 verses in Abu Ishaq Atma’eh Shirazi's style mostly in the genre of ghazal that describe foods and drinks. His collection of poems represents the culture and civilization of his time. Through his poems, he has been able to keep alive the language and culture of his society that could have been destroyed by a foreign culture and civilization and protect the idioms, expressions, ironies and foods of his time in them.Knowing he was no match for great Persian poets like Molana, Saadi, and Hafez, he wisely went for a specific genre -- parody -- so that he could display his abilities and compete with his predecessors like Atmaeh Shirazi. In addition to showing his art, Eshteha saw poetry as an opportunity to convey important concepts and themes to his readers, too. Through his poems, he has displayed his art in satire and made criticisms of the problems and decencies of his era.An investigation into Eshteha's poems reveals that this poet has paid special attention to his readers who have been mostly from the lower and unlearned classes. In addition to using simpler figures of speech, he has used their potentials, created a coherent structure, and by disorganizing the poetic system of the poems memorized by the public, he has been able to display the turmoil of his society using bitter or funny satires.Eshteha has paid attention to similes and ironies more than other figures of speech. The reason is that his readers have been from the public who can understand simpler figures of speech more easily. In order not to both lose specialist readers and voice his criticisms indirectly, he has used metaphors in his poems as well. He has utilized sensory similes containing the five senses of taste, sight, smell, hearing, and touch for foods. Regarding metaphors, he has given a sense of life and joy to foods using animation and tried to make his poems more fanciful.Eshteha has tried to make full use of ironies and has also used the literary arts of tanasob, opposites, and equivoques. It should also be mentioned that figures of speech are expressive of his mental condition and terrible living conditions as well; an unsatisfied longing for foods which had become an obsession for him and found a way into his parodies. Deprived of food, homeless, and wandering the streets, the poet used to look for a portion of food. This overwhelming yearning for food has made him choose 'Sarghashteh (wandering)' and 'Eshteha (appetite) as his nicknames.

Mullah Mohammad Amin-e Qomi, known also by his pen name Darki, is one of the less-known poets of the 11th century AH (? -1063 AH). An investigation of Darki Qomi’s poetry, especially his ghazals (or lyric poems) shows that his poems represent many characteristics of the Indian Style of Persian poetry. A considerable stylistic feature in Qomi Darki’s poetry is a high frequency of occurrence of motifs and the creation of a network of associations around such motifs. This research, which has been conducted in a descriptive-analytical manner by referring to library sources, deals with the study and analysis of ten particular motifs in his poetry. The results show that Darki Qomi often derives these motifs from his surroundings or the common beliefs of the people around him and makes use of them within a network of associations in order to create new motifs.

Haft Peykar is one of the symbolic works in which the arrangement and selection of fictional elements and persons follow a symbolic and upward order. One of the important parts of this work is seven stories that are defined for Bahram for seven nights. With a new look at the upward trajectory of these stories in moving from black to white and from bottom to top, this research uses a library and descriptive-analytical method to investigate the depth of seven stories in Haft Peykar and compare it with the seven chakras in yoga. The results of the study show outstanding commonalities that are more in some stories and less in others. The existence of similar cases does not mean conscious imitation of the chakras. Rather, it is rooted in the same human nature, which has an unconscious desire for perfection and attainment of the lost paradise and returns to its origin. In addition to similar cases, there are differences, the most prominent of which is seen in the color of the domes and chakras. Haft Peykar is the culmination of Nezami’s poetic art, which describes the reign of Bahram Gour and the strange events of his life. One of the most important and detailed parts of it is the stories that the seven domed queens tell to Bahram Goor. Stories have a completely symbolic structure and full of motifs, themes, and symbolic elements that put a strange and mysterious atmosphere in front of the readers and astonish them with a magical expression. Assuming the systematic nature of the seven stories in this work, this study examines the theme and its depth in comparison with the seven chakras in yoga. Of course, this comparison does not mean that he knows the knowledge of the chakras. Bahram begins its symbolic journey from Saturday and the Black Dome. The most prominent feature between the first dome and the first chakra, Sahasrara, is that the head can be a symbol of the sky, the rope a symbol for the spine, and the king sitting in the basket a symbolic representation of kundalini energy that, after being released quickly, climbs towards Sahasrara. In the second story, the common denominator is the existence of three contents available in the second chakra, which are: the unconscious mind (ignorance), the collection of consciousness of Samaskara and the remnants of ancestral relics in the form of a special attribute of an old woman and maid, the subconscious conscience of the king and the inherited attribute of a Chinese maid. The most prominent and common element between the third story and the third chakra is the two forces of good and evil, which are manifested in ‘Manipura’ in the form of the two goddesses ‘Rudra’ and ‘Lakshi’. In the story of the fourth dome, there are several similar prominent and key elements, the most important of which is the similarity of the fourth chakra ‘Anahata’ meaning ‘unbreakable’ with the impenetrable castle of the queen of the fence. The story of the fifth dome is the narrator of the extravagance and greed of a man named Mahan. This story is in fact a narration of the symbolic stages of achieving perfection and self-cultivation, corresponding to ‘Vishdahi’ which means purification and center of mental cleansing. The sixth story is about the journey of Kheyr and Shar, which continues with the removal of the two eyes of Kheyr by Shar and deals with their fate. This story has important points in common with its peer chakra, ‘Ajna’, which is also known as the Third eye, the Wisdoms eye, the Connection between three rivers, the Center between two eyebrows, and the Shiva’s eye. Another common denominator between the sixth chakra and the sixth story is the number three; Ajna is the junction of the three rivers and good fortune is the junction of the three ladies, who are a Kurdish daughter, the king's daughter, and the minister's daughter. Also, the familiar relationship between the river (water) and the woman also symbolically justifies this alternative. In the story of the seventh dome, the failed hero realizes his mistake in four stages and gives up his carnal and illegitimate desire and marries the beauty of the harpist. This dome is equivalent to ‘Sahasrara’ chakra. This chakra is the place of the mysterious union of Shakti and Shiva. The prominent participation in the seventh chakra and dome is the presence of God and the prominent role of His will in the story, which is specifically mentioned in the influences of Sahasrara. This chakra is related to the feeling of oneness and separation and our relationship with the earth as well as with our fathers. This study shows that the stories of Haft Peykar have a content link in their depth of construction and similarities can be found between the sequence of the seven stories and the seven chakras of yoga that narrate a movement. It is ascending and perfecting because both of them narrate the inner ascending course of the poet and their main goal is to achieve inner excellence and perfection. Given that the desire for perfection is an innate desire that leads human beings, consciously or unconsciously, towards perfection and transcendence, all the arts, texts, philosophical, and mystical ideas and views that express this inner desire have elements. And there are similar and common symptoms that are rooted in the human subconscious. Therefore, beyond all cultures and religious and ideological tendencies, these commonalities can be found and studied in comparison with each other.

The semantic approach of discourse to reach semantic levels could be considered as a scientific and reliable method that gives new and remarkable findings through sentences, phrases, and finally the literary text, which is important from the point of view of literary research and provides a suitable context. It also provides a suitable context for linguistics and sociology of discourse on literary works. In terms of modern semantics, signs produce meaning in a process system. As such, sign-semantics is a term that shows the goals better.Regarding the choice of semantic approach to discourse, one should pay attention to the importance of the position of the satirist and the audience. It is necessary to make points about discourse and semantics.Theconcept of discourse, like concepts such as communication, interaction, society, and culture, is a concept for which there is no single definition, but common points can be found in the definitions of experts. Discourse is a form of language use, accordingto components such as who uses language, how, why, and when language is used. In this regard, three main dimensions are introduced: 1) the use of language, 2) communication between beliefs (cognition), and 3) interaction in social situations.Abolqasem Halat (1919-1992) was one of the most prolific and famous political satirists in the contemporary era. He was at the top of his field considering the diversity and multiplicity of his poems. Between his poetic works, three exclusively satiric books named Abol-eynak, Shookh, and Bantam were published in the time of the Pahlavi dynasty. In these books, Halat portrayed the political and social corruption of his own era with a critical view and in a plain and sarcastic tone. So far, there has been no research on Abolqasem Halat’s sonnets in the discourse system. Therefore, it is believed that the upcoming research is a novel study in this regard. The approach of sign-semantics is a new topic in the science of semiotics, which has been paid attention to by linguists and semioticians such as Grimas, Fontaine, Kurtz, and others in recent years. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to analyze the satirical poems of Abolghasem Halat using the semantic discourse approach.

The present descriptive-analytical study, first, deals with the lyric poems of the state based on the mentioned theory based on extracting the theoretical foundations of Garmas. In each section, according to the appropriateness of the subject processes, tables and diagrams were presented to make the concepts more objective. It should be noted that the selection of examples is random. Based on the purpose, the following hypotheses have been made: 1) Discourse in the works of Halat has caused the creation of an ‘open semantic system’; 2) he, in the introduction of the point of view, uses the technique of ‘perspective’ in order to organize the narrative information.

The discourse of meaning is a new approach in literature and linguistics that, by being influenced by data related to the science of phenomenology, opens a new window in the study of semiotics. In this approach, the sign of meanings appears under the supervision of the discourse process, and in interaction with each other, it becomes fluid, dynamic, multiple, multidimensional, and tense. Abolghasem Halat's poems, due to their emotional nature, have a good potential for semantic studies.
In general, “the knowledge of semiotics examines the types of signs, the factors present in the process of production and exchange and their interpretation, as well as the rules governing signs. Semiotics involves the study of the construction and formation of signs, allusions, significations, naming, analogies, allegories, metaphors, and communication codes. Signs are categorized based on the method or codes used to convey them, which can be specific sounds, alphabetic symbols, visual symbols, body movements, or even wearing special clothing. In order to convey the message, each of them must first be accepted by a group or community of people as a carrier of a special meaning” (Sojoudi, 2011, p. 128).The present study shows the appearance of meaning and the type of feeling and perception of the poet in dealing with the subject.Besides,  the more hidden layers of meaning are expanded in the reader with the help of this method to get a better understanding of the effect.

The lyric of Abolghasem's songs ‘Your Song’ and ‘Depressed Heart’ is in the perceptual, emotional, and aesthetic senses. In the analysis of these two sonnets, we are faced with a perceptual sensory discourse that the flow of meaning production in these poems is fluid, dynamic, and open. The purposefulness of discourses is formed when the narrator targets the grief of losing a loved one and takes a position about it. In light of the poet's feelings, new meanings emerge from the cognitive position of loneliness and the absence of the beloved. This regret culminates during the discourse due to the cage of the beloved's house, the grief of his house, the stranger chicken being the narrator, and the discourse towards a certain meaning. In the light of the poet's worldview and the way he feels, the way to get rid of the night is to compose and speak. With the help of discourse processes in the lyric of ‘Your Song’, the poet's feeling and perception in the face of external phenomena is expanded in front of his eyes and the poet's feeling and perception directs the discourse. The poet has composed under the influence of the absence of the beloved and the feeling of loneliness. Regarding the tense processes of the two discourses, it was observed that both sonnets, due to their predominant emotional subject and the lack of sensory stimuli, bear the emotional burden with the role of sensory-perceptual agents and the emotional pressure of the absence of the beloved with increasing power. The poet has an omnipresent presence in all the discourses and has distanced himself from the surface manifestations by avoiding norms.

Language has referential and emotional functions. It is the peak of the emotional use of language in poetry, especially the sonnet form. Emotion, imagination, language, rhythm, and form are the basics of poetry that make a work in a poetic form. In this study, the rhetorical elements of the Maktab-e-Voqu (School of Realism) are stylistically investigated. The studies conducted so far on the Maktab-e-Voqu have examined the theme, novelty, and expression and characteristics of the poetry of this school based on the poems of one or two poets. The purpose of this study is to investigate the level of poetry in the Maktab-e-Voqu, relying on the poems of famous people of this school. This research has been done using the descriptive-analytical method and through library studies. The richest poetic component of the poets of this school is ‘emotion’ and the poet's creativity is dedicated to the emotional dimension. As far as imaginary points are concerned, since the poets are looking for few words but rich in meanings, they use sarcasm a lot as well. Allegories and metaphors are simple and commonplace, and figures of speech are used frequently in their poetry. Also, the language of poetry is simple and colloquial. In music, the prosodic weights are chosen according to the poet's message and most sonnets are ‘Moradaf’ (melodious). Additionally, the poet enjoys verbal music more than spiritual music. In the form dimension, the poems have a coherent, continuous, and harmonious form that has led to a single tone.

The present study investigated the book Maqamat-e Hamidi by Hamid al-Din Balkhi in order to find the possible signs of the native ideas of the translation technique. The history of translation studies is divided into three periods: pre-linguistic (literal), linguistic (linguistic), and post-linguistic (cultural). Given the recent period (linguistic or cultural), it is now thought that cultures translate according to their needs. Given that the findings of the present study trace the existence of this idea in the preface of Maqamat-e Hamidi, it should be noted that Hamid al-Din Balkhi referred to multilingual and cultural issues in translation centuries before current scholars. In the post-linguistic stage, cultural expectation determines which text to be translated, why, and how and these elements moved the translation activity from lexical, meta-lexical, and textual levels to rewriting and recreating the translator’s ideas. In order to implement the idea of a translator-author, Hamidi, based on the principles of comparative literature, rewrote and recreated the Maqamat of Hamedani and Hariri’s ideas in Persian based on the principles of comparative literature. The present study is descriptive-analytical in terms of the method and nature, respectively. The results of the study showed that Hamidi in the introduction of his Maqamat has proposed the idea of discarding faithful translations in order to satisfy the users of the target language and to strengthen the language and literature of the target community. In this way, he paved the ground to rewrite and reproduce the source texts in the target language. It should be noted that the introduction of Maqamat-e Hamidi is based on the fundamental idea that the components of a literary polysystem are in constant competition for a dominant position in language and literature. Therefore, this system is always witnessing constant challenges and tensions between the center and its peripheral environment. In other words, literary genres that are located in the periphery of this literary polysystem are constantly trying to reach a dominant position in the center of the polysystem and other literary genres that are in the center of this system (in the face of rival species) are trying to establish their dominance. On this basis, so-called less valid genres such as translated literature can be considered effective factors in the dynamics of the literary system. Translated literature can help to invent new literary techniques in the target community and this is one of the main reasons for recreating Maqamat in Persian. Finally, it is necessary to ask a key question and answer it: What were the decisions made by Hamidi in rewriting and recreating Arabic Maqamat in Persian? His decisions and actions can be classified into the following categories: 1) Innovation in choosing the title of Maqamat; 2) innovation at the beginning and end of Maqamat; 3) innovation in the illustration of the narrator and the hero of Maqamat; 4) innovation in the journey of the hero of Maqamat; 5) innovation in the structure of Maqamat with extensive use of debates and arguments; and 6) innovation in the content of Maqamat.