فصلنامه ادبیات عرفانی و اسطوره شناختی
سال هجدهم شماره 68 (پاییز 1401)

In Ferdowsi's Shāhnāmeh, many geographical and place names, including the city of Jahorm, are mentioned. The construction of Jahrom in the land of Pars has been attributed to mythological figures such as Bahman, the son of Esfandiar. In Shāhnāmeh, folk tales and some early Islamic historical books, the names of heroes such as Bonāk, Mihrak Noushzād, Bahrām Gur and Bārbod appear as famous faces of Jahrom. In the various manuscripts of Shāhnāmeh, the name of Jahorm is repeated between 8 and 17 times, and it is the place where some important events took place. The aim of the present research, by using descriptive-analytical method, is to analyze the strategic and military position of Jahrom in its historical and mythological past. According to the findings of the research, the presence of military forces, the existence of castles and the residence of crown prince in the city are among the reasons that caused the repetition of the name Jahorm in the Shāhnāmeh. By naming geographical places such as: the castle of Mihrak and Shāpurābād after prominent characters of Shāhnāmeh, these names have been preserved in the local culture of Jahrom. The existence of names and family titles related to heroes and royal families, the existence of place names and buildings named after kings and heroes indicate the epic history of the city. Some data of the research has been collected with the help of field research.

This research deals with the analysis of Manely, a long poem composed by Nima Yooshij, based on Jung's archetypal criticism. Archetypal (mythological) criticism is one of the new approaches in contemporary literary criticism, which engages the archetypes with a psychological perspective on myths and shows their role in literary works. On this basis, in contemporary literature (poetry), myth and archetype are somehow tied to psychology (based on the theory of Jung). In the poem, Manley refers to a mythological hero who, through an introspective journey, by passing from "ego" to "self", achieves "individuality", and by this transformation, he becomes distinguished from others. Also, Manely's actions can be adapted to some the stages of archetype of hero, including exploration and learning. In Manley, the archetypes of death and rebirth, the wise old man and water gain meaning in connection with the myth of the hero. The findings of the research show that Manley, the main character of the story, is a person who came from the lower class of the society and with the help of the wise old man, attains a true self-knowledge and returns to the society in harmony with nature.

Examining the interaction between texts is one of the ways to know texts accurately; hypertextuality is an approach to text reading that shows relationships between texts in a systematic way. Most of the anecdotes of Asrar Nama (composed by Attār of Nishapur) have their roots in previous works, but they have been changed and reproduced in this book very thoughtfully and purposefully. By using analytical-comparative method and based on Gérard Genette’s theory of hypertextuality, the present article attempts to investigate the relationship between the Asrar Nama and its subtexts. The findings of the research show that Attar uses subtexts in the form of explicit and implicit intertextual relationship in order to validate the narrative and confirm the content. The most type of hypertextual relationship between Asrar Nama and its subtexts is trigonomy or homogeneity in a quantitative transformation and pragmatic transformation methods. Processes such as transformation of motivation, transformation of value, qualitative transformation, amplification, expansion, cutting and summarizing the text lead to change the discourse of the stories, to highlight the content, to add fictional elements, to turn the text from a report mode into a narrative mode, to devalue or value the characters of the anecdotes and to adjust the goals in the Attār's narration. Hypertextuality in Asrar Nama is interpretive; it has played an effective role in explaining Attar's mystical views, expanding the themes, and symbolizing the anecdotes that are monosemantically and superficially narrated in the sources of Asrar Nama.

One of the most important topics among mystics has always been the expression of mystical experiences. It is not possible to study the phenomenological aspects of these experiences outside of language. But language is insufficient in explaining mystical experiences, and for this reason mystics have turned to artistic and literary forms of language. Symbol and allegory are two forms of artistic language. By using analytical method, the present research investigates the question of how Jalāl-al Din Rumi used allegory and symbols to reveal his mystical experiences in Masnavi Manavi. Considering the limitations of human language, Rumi has tried to open the way to mystical interpretations for himself and the audience with his special language. To understand the language of Masnavi, it is important to know its symbolic language. The findings of the research show that Rumi has given dynamism to his mystical language by using his own verbal capacities. Attention to language and its defects, semantics, repetition of special words and focusing on a single thought, awareness of mystical experiences with regard to their inexpressibility and the level of understanding of audience are among the effective factors in the mystical language of Masnavi.

"The hero's journey", Joseph Campbell's famous theory, is influenced by Jung's ideas and based on Arnold van Gennep's ideas. Campbell has considered the three-phase pattern (separation, transition, and return) along with their subsets as his model. This pattern, along with other patterns that have emerged from it, is the basis of the archetypal criticism. In the present article, by using analytical-descriptive method, the story of "Zāl and Rudāba" of Shāhnāmeh is analyzed based on this pattern. The findings of the research show that the story is generally consistent with Campbell's hero's journey pattern, but its details and subcategories have differences with the pattern. In the story, the stage of the "belly of the whale" is not seen; There is no "temptation" in the stage of transition to prevent Zāl from continuing the journey; and in the stage of return, refusal of the return, magic flight, and crossing of the return threshold are not seen.

In the present article, we have investigated and analyzed motivations and reasons for satirical speech and humorous behavior of Abu Said Abul-Khayr, a prominent mystical figure; and by using the method of content analysis, we have studied the effect of his moral and mystical characteristics on his satirical speech and humorous behavior. The main aspect of Abu Said's humorous personality is his improvisation and his dominance over verbal games. The findings of the research show that the most important aspects of Abu Said's satires can be analyzed in thirteen categories. The three cases of 1. improvisation and dominance over verbal games, 2. humor of the situation or practical teaching of mysticism based on humor 3. avoiding selfishness and egoism, constitute more than 60% of his satirical motives. The topics discussed in this research are as follows: Abu Said's inherent sense of humor; the issue of people liking him because of his humor; humor as a marker of his mystical, moral, and social characteristics.

Arthur C. Clarke seeks to present a new spatial eschatology. Until now, the analysts have only pointed out in a scattered and inconsistent way the eschatological and religious nature of the presence of aliens and gods along with space travels. In the present article, we have coherently analyzed the eschatological elements and compared them with their origin in the stories of Clarke. These elements of modern spatial eschatology are mythological answers to the needs of the contemporary era, based on the intellectual assumptions of modernity. The method used in the article is analytical– comparative. The findings of the research show that Clarke's stories, such as The Hammer of God, 2001: A Space Odyssey and Childhood's End, present a seemingly new eschatology along with myths about immortality, resurrection and the end of human history, in order to respond to the intellectual needs of contemporary mankind. But Clarke still uses the elements of the past ecclesiology, which shows that he has not completely broken with the previous eschatological systems and indicates that he has revived these systems in a transformed form.

The Epic of Koroghlu belongs to the Turkmen people and is one of the works that have traces of ancient mythology in it. Epic works have an unbreakable link with mythology, so the analysis of mythological themes in these works helps to understand them better. At the heart of epics are myths, and this is due to the belief and culture of a people in a special ritual. In the present article, the mythological themes in the Turkmen Koroghlu epic are studied by using descriptive-analytical method. The findings of the research show that the reflection of ancient mythological themes, including the strange birth of the hero (coming out of the grave), the presence of a guide or wise old man, the battle with the dragon (dragon slaying), crossing water with a horse, the presence of a winged horse called Gyrat, and the presence of fairies and magic, in the epic is remarkable.

In the present research, with a linguistic approach, we examine the conceptual metaphor of love in the story of Sheikh Sanān from the mystical book of Attār of Nishapur, Mantiq-ut-Tayr, taking into account the theory of George Lakoff and Mark Johnson. For this purpose, we have divided the story into three periods of sharia (law), tariqat (mystical way) and truth, and in order to understand the abstract concepts of love, we have analyzed all three periods by using analytical-comparative method. Also, based on the conceptual metaphor of love, some examples of the verses of the story have been examined. The findings of the research show that Attār has used various conceptual metaphors to represent love in the story of Sheikh Sanān. The micro-metaphors used in the surface structure of the story have a basic substructure called "mystical love" that gives them coherence. In terms of frequency, the macro-metaphors of the story are placed in three categories: ontological, orientational and structural metaphors. If we pay attention to the metaphors in the story, it becomes clear that the macro-metaphor "God is love" is the most central metaphor and all micro-metaphors have played a role in the evolution of this macro-metaphor.

Creative misprision is a theory proposed by Harold Bloom based on intertextuality and the relationships between literary texts and their influence on each other. The theory posits that there is always a conflict between poets and writers of the past and the succeeding ones. In his most important work, The Anxiety of Influence, Bloom emphasizes the two-way but hostile relationship between new writers and past ones. To get rid of the anxiety of influence of the past texts, poets and writers use methods through creative misprision to create new works in an attempt to show their own superiority to their predecessors. In the present research, we analyze the transformations that Jalāl al-Din Rūmi has applied in order to get rid of the anxiety of the influence of past texts , and to study the role of Bloom's creative misprision in Masnavi by using analytical-comparative method. The findings show that Rumi's creative method in the creation of stories and anecdotes to get rid of the influence of past texts is an instance of the creative misprision. For this purpose, he has employed a variety of techniques such as association, using educational, religious and philosophical themes, changing the elements of the stories, and symbolism.