فصلنامه نقد ادبی
پیاپی 58 (تابستان 1401)

Mimesis, as one of the fundamental views on the nature of art and literature, has always been a dominant theory in the philosophy of art from ancient Greece to the eighteenth century. In the contemporary period, thinkers such as Auerbach, Gerard, and followers of the Chicago School - each from a particular perspective - have given a new reading of it. However, mimesis is essentially an anti-formalist theory that focuses on the state of affairs in the real world due to its adherence to the principle of reference. Accordingly, the theory of imitation implies the examination of the truth and falsity of works of art based on the principle of conformity and attention to the referential function of language. This is why mimesis in Plato's system of thought leads to his anti-artistic stance. However, the present study has emerged from the heart of the tradition of imitation in the philosophy of art. Relying on the principles of the theory of mimesis, it has tried to examine the origins of this view and make arguments according to which mimesis, in case it addresses the form and not the subject of mimesis, has the potential to become, in a new reading, an introduction to formalist theory and not necessarily an alternative or competing theory. In this research, it becomes clear that mimesis in its specific meaning, in the first place, requires the abstraction of the form of affairs. In the second place, the abstracted form is reconfigured and takes on a new form based on the artistic matter (which, in verbal art, is language and its signs). In this way, the truth and falsity of the work of art in this case is possible not by referring the extra-text or the outside world but by examining the internal system of the work. This entails the self-sufficiency of the work of art, which is one of the fundamental traits of formalism.

The novel has been considered by various researchers as a social work (influenced by and affecting the community). Based on this preliminary assumption, this study engages in a case study of four war novels in order to show the difference between formal narrative of war in different media, including literature, and what is narrated in these works. The research method is based on a combination of theoretical foundations existing in sociology criticism, specifically the Lukach-Goldman model, Leventhal social criticism, and Pierre Bourdieu's viewpoint on institutions of power. The four selected novels include The Scorched Earth, Pilgrimage Customs, Winter 62, and Crystal Garden. These works were all written during the wartime period and are all considered outstanding and popular works. To achieve the research purpose, each novel was interpreted based on the sociological criticism model, and attempting to avoid any bias. The characteristics of each of the four novels were then highlighted in contrast to the formal war narrative, and how features such as personality, narrative style, tone, point of view, and even the content of the work served to reflect the minority discourse. Minority discourse is a multiplied voice that is completely distinct from the formal war narrative, and its manifestation is evident in the war novel as opposed to poetry and other literary forms related to war literature (such as memoir writing and oral narratives).

Philosophy for children is one of the most important and comprehensive approaches to teaching children how to think. It uses various methods such as games, movies, animations, discussions, and stories to teach children how to think philosophically. One of the tricks that can be used as an effective means to achieve the goals of this program is the category of "humor". On the one hand, humor is related to the themes of philosophy for children, such as democracy, moral virtues, creative and critical thinking, social interaction, discourse and routine experiences of children, and on the other hand, it is close to Iranian humor culture and spirit, which will have a positive and effective function in the philosophy program for children. Humor can also play a role in increasing the literary richness of such stories, attracting the children of the audience' and influencing them through philosophical stories without disturbing the functions of philosophy by playing a role in characterizing, releasing and reinterpreting signs in children's philosophical stories for children and contributing to achieving the goals of this program.

One of the important features of the Constitutional revolution's literature is the linguistic and literally violence. This feature is seen in two fields: Intergroup and Extergroup. The first relates to internal disputes between literatures and the second is related to literary disputes with those in power of in society, both clerics and politicians. The essence of this violence is rooted in political turmoil in this period of contemporary Iranian history. This violence often originates from social issues not individual ones. As well as its field of publications is public newspapers. Improvisation and informality are other characteristic of this literature. An analytical study of these literary works reveals that there are several motives for their emergence: Political differences, Competitions for social status, Weaknesses in literary language, highlighting the moral weaknesses of the competitor. The socio-political reasons for this phenomenon are as follows: Political instability and the prevalence of the chaos, and insist on prejudice and disregard for the principle of tolerance.

One of the key motifs in Shahnameh is the struggle between evil and good. Motifs serve a unique and essential role in the text’s visual and narrative networks because of their distinctive repeating feature and characterization. As a result, they assist in enhancing the text’s semantic layers. In Shahnameh and epic literature, the struggle between evil and good permeates human social interactions and appears as motifs in heroic and epic stories. Motifs are used by the painter to create visuals throughout the text visualization process, and visual elements are placed in the composition in line with the motifs employed in the literary text and take on the function of symbols and signs. This study examined the roles that literary motifs play in the visualization of an epic narrative and in shaping the visual narrative. The main research question was: What functions do the literary motifs from Rostam’s Seventh Labor play in rendering paintings and transforming the text of Shahnameh into a visual text, and what techniques does the painter employ to visualize such motifs. A descriptive-analytical methodology was used in this qualitative study. A desk study was used to collect the data. The results showed that the motifs of the text are represented in the visual symbols and signs of the paintings. Paintings can be composed and planned utilizing these aspects in accordance with the priority of motifs employed in the literary narrative thanks to this visual translation from the literary text.

The new fields of Persian language and literature have fundamental drawbacks besides their benefits. The lack of theoretical foundations in defining these fields is the most important drawback. The lack of specific, methodical theoretical foundations has caused the involvement of some unconscious presuppositions in the targeting and definition of these fields and their curriculums. In this article, by reviewing some of the subfields, these non-methodical foundations and their blind spots have been discussed. The most important of these items are (1) traditional and theme-oriented view of classification and definitions, (2) lack of problematic and methodical view in the definition of subfields and curricula, (3) reductionism in selecting the texts and subjects because of superficial focusing on localization, and (4) lack of interdisciplinary approach. These drawbacks are in close relation to each other. The greatest impact of these drawbacks is the lack of research findings in the academic literature. In this paper, we have focused attention on the interdisciplinary approach for methodological and research expansion of the field of Persian language and literature.