نشریه تاریخ ادبیات
سال پانزدهم شماره 2 (پاییز و زمستان 1401)

Despite the importance of the masnavi as a poetic form in Persian literature, many authors of tazkeres (compendiums of poets’ biographies) have not paid adequate attention to this form. They have been parsimonious in mentioning masnavi poems in their tazkeres. Notwithstanding the fame of some poets in composing masnavi, other forms of their lyrics are mentioned in tazkeres. This article examines masnavi form in Persian tazkeres and the reasons for the negligence mentioned above. To this purpose, the existence and development of the masnavi form are studied in twenty Persian tazkeres. The main reasons for excluding masnavi poems are their length, the unwillingness of the authors to summarize verses for its difficulty, the limits in the size of the tazkeres, the dominance of other forms, and the unavailability of the poems. In the early tazkeres (Lobab ol-albab and Tazkerat al-shoʻara), there is no reference to the lyrics, or if they are, the verses are not cited. From late 9th AH/ 15th century, restricting poems to their significant verses and the increase in poems led to noting one or some limited verses in tazkeres, and during the following centuries, the number of masnavi poems increased. The compilers of exclusive tazkeres and some later public tazkeres, such as Majmaʻ ol-Fosaha, included masnavi poems without any restrictions. Despite some verses mentioned in sources such as dictionaries, ignoring the masnavi form has caused ambiguities about the works and the correctness of their attribution, their topics, and the time they disappeared. Therefore, the two categories of sources (tazkeres and secondary sources such as dictionaries) are non-complementary.

Not only was Sanai a literary man and a poet who was praised and imitated by other poets, he was also - as researchers studying his works believe - the one who systematically blended mysticism into poetry and made the chapters of Sufism - up until then articulated in prose - eternal by exposing them in poetry. He gathered all Islamic teachings - which were scattered in other writers’ works until his time - in his works. Sanai has a special place in the history and chronology of literature and mysticism because of his contributions to changing the context and contents of Persian poetry; therefore, acknowledging his place and studying his works and life are a step in understanding the knowledge, wisdom, culture and society of his age i.e. the late 5th century and early 6th century. Sanai was praised and introduced by scholars of his homeland 60 years ago, a time in which the works concerning Sanai and his life were widely recognized by researchers from all over the world, particularly Iran. Later, due to wars, coup d’état, and Soviet invasion in Afghanistan, these studies came to a halt; as a result, the Afghan researchers were influenced by their non-Afghan (especially Iranian) peers. Analyzing the three historical periods of researching Sanai in Afghanistan and the influence of afghan researchers on Iranian ones and vice versa, and the reasons of these influences, by using descriptive analytical method and deploying library means, are the pivot and central concerns of this article.

The fact that Arabic-to-Persian dictionaries contain ancient Persian words and, therefore, can pave the way for accessing the original meaning of these obsolete words makes it incumbent upon us to study them. One of the most valuable of all these dictionaries is Anis Almo’asherin, written by an anonymous author during the late Ilkhanate era, which has fallen into obscurity and remains unknown. Anis Almo’asherin is a thematic dictionary organized into 38 different subjects under four major parts. The oldest available version dates back to 704 AH, and it is assumed that the book was written shortly before this time. This manuscript, which has not been edited nor printed to this day, deserves further research and publishing owing to its relative archaism. This article, looking into the structure of the manuscript in question and analyzing its compilation in the first place, examines the methodology of lexicography used by the author, identifies some of the resources employed in his work, and eventually focuses on the book’s remarkable features, including a list of very uncommon words along with their definitions.

The main subject of this descriptive-analytical study is to critique and analyze Naser Khosrow’s views of the concept of Soul and to investigate its origins. In Naser Khosrow’s cosmology, the soul stands on the third level of the creation which emerges from the general intellect. The intellect and the soul comprise the masculine-feminine couple of the spiritual world which is the origin of all its lower levels. The general soul, influenced by the general intellect, creates in the spiritual world fortune, opening and imagination and in the physical world generates the general nature, the form and the matter. Plant and animal souls in the lower levels of the world originate from the general soul. The general soul is incomplete compared to the intellect; although to compensate this deficiency, provides the circumstances for human creation by creating lower levels such as celestial bodies and elements as the ultimate goal of creation. The speaking soul in humankind that is a part of the general soul applies the religious teaching and acquiring knowledge to save itself and help the salvation of the general self. The background and origins of Naser Khosrow’s ideas about the soul, in addition to the Islamic teachings, go back to mythology, Greek religious and philosophical teachings, as well as Gnostic and Neoplatonic ideas.

Historiography is one of the important branches of Islamic sciences which received great attention and success in the Safavid era. The presence of the historian in the text is one of the challenging issues of traditional and modern historiography, and two different views have been proposed in connection with it. The absence of the historian in the text and having an impartial position is one of the principles that is emphasized in traditional historiography; on the other hand, in modern historiography, historians are considered to have a serious and decisive role in the analysis of historical events. Studying a number of traditional historical books reveals that there are cases of the historian’s presence in the text, which violates the principle of the absence of the historian. This research seeks to investigate and evaluate the effects of the presence of historians in the historical books and how they position themselves by applying an analytical-descriptive method to two history books, Tarikh-e Alam-ara-ye Abbasi and Ahsan al-Tawarikh. The findings of the research indicate that the presence of the historian in the cited works is attested in the following forms: the historian referring to himself, having a biased view by employing positive and negative adjectives, describing the character of friends and enemies, rhetoric and the use of literary sentences, citing poems, referring to verses and hadiths, and using prayer expressions. Although Hasanbeg Rumlu and Skanderbeg Munshi are two contemporary historians who have recounted the same events in their works, the presence of Hasanbeg Rumlu in the text is far less than that of Skanderbeg Munshi and his position is more neutral.

This article examines a Qur’an translation available on microfilm at the Central Library of the University of Tehran (no. 3997), belonging to Masih Zabihi (1929-1977), a Gorgani author from northern Iran. As translators searched for exact equivalents for Qur’anic terms and expressions, their efforts led to the development of ancient translations’ most significant feature: preserving a vast treasure of words. Three approaches have been employed by Qur’an translators to achieve this goal: using forgotten words, dialectal words, and coining new words according to linguistic capabilities. Hence, examining these translations reveals many lexical features of ancient texts. In light of the vocabulary, grammatical, and linguistic features in manuscript no. 3997 and its comparison with manuscripts no. 999, no. 2046, and no. 1713 in Astan Quds, it can be concluded that Qur’an no. 3997 belongs to the Transoxiana linguistic area

The present research sought to extract the history of the concept of epic from dictionaries, texts, and press reports. In Persian, the term “Hamasah” denotes the epic genre. This equivalence has happened only recently. Earlier, the word was used in Arabic to suggest three different meanings: 1. courage, 2. Qasidas and Qetas in the Arab literature mainly revolving around the achievements of tribes and individuals, and 3. a type of poetry selection. Probably around 1828, the Arabic word “Hamasah” was considered synonymous with the epic and used to denote this notion for some time. However, after a point, Arab speakers chose the word “Malhamah” as an equivalent for the epic. In Persian, too, the word “Hamasah” has meant the same as was common in Arabic before being used to denote a literary genre. However, the instances of the usage of this word to indicate such meanings are scant in old dictionaries of Persian and are rarely used in texts. In the Persian language, the Kaveh newspaper was apparently the first to use the word “Hamasah” in its modern meaning. Notably, this newspaper was not published in Iran. Afterward, the press and books gradually began utilizing this word. However, the word continued to be used to denote its old (particularly honor and achievements) and new meanings for a while. In some instances, it was used in a way suggestive of both meanings.

Mehrak Noushzad is one of the characters of the Shahnameh and Karnameh-e Ardeshir Babakan, who is also mentioned in some historical texts of early Islam and plays an important part in the beginning of the Sasanian monarchy. Mehrak's daughter marries Shapur, the son of Ardeshir Babakan, and is the mother of Hormoz, the next king. The story of the life of Mehrak and his daughter was so famous in the Islamic era that it was mentioned in historical texts. This story is described in detail in the Shahnameh, but in the historical texts, details of his life were reduced or changed; for example, the Shahnameh claims his realm to be Jahrom, but Tabari's history considers it to be Abrasas or Irasestan in ArdeshirKhore. Traditional accounts also consider Mehrak's daughter to be a “kurdzadeh”, which means the daughter of shepherds. While this article tries to recreate the face of Mehrak in literary and historical works in a descriptive-analytical way by comparing local narratives and geographical works, it also tries to find the name, place of residence, government and the reason for the story of Mehrak being in the Shahnameh in a comparative way. According to the results of this research, Mehrak was a historical figure of Parthian ancestry; he was the ruler of Jahrom city and the southern regions of Fars and Irahestan and the connection of his family with the Sassanians led to the peace of Iranshahr and the disappearance of local riots. Jahrom and Irahestan are essentially the same in historical and epic texts, and both refer to the tropical regions of Iran and the shores of the southern seas.

While literary modernity in Iran had national underpinnings and was brought about by changes in the economic and political relations and infrastructures of the country, it was also influenced by the knowledge of Western literature, and Iranian intellectuals who were producing works of literature also promoted new perspectives and styles in literature through the publication of their works. Examining the publications in the time period starting from the Constitutional Revolution to the end of Qajar era, we found that the issue of literary modernity was present in the following areas: theoretical issues of literary modernity, innovation in the form and content of literary texts, flourishing of translation, development of literary research, and flourishing of literary criticism. However, Iranian intellectuals and scholars had different understandings of modernity. Some believed that modernity was tantamount to destroying tradition and everything belonging to the past, and that it meant moving away from the literary past to create a literature that suited the contemporary times. Another group of modernists who had nationalist tendencies considered the aim of literary modernity to be the purification of Persian language by eliminating Arabic and Western [loan] words. Another group of scholars took the middle ground on the issue of modernity. They believed that new topics could be addressed while preserving the literary tradition. To them, tradition and modernity were not in conflict, but rather were a continuous issue, and modernity could take shape alongside tradition.

This study aims to find a meaningful connection between the occupation of characters and their social status in the plays of Akbar Radi in the 1980s in the context of the events leading up to the 1979 revolution in Iran. The characters of these plays live in turbulent condition that changes their occupation and social status. The establishment of new institutions, the expansion of new jobs, and the consequent disappearance of some traditional jobs led to widespread social changes. Some productive jobs in the agricultural sector were lost due to the migration of villagers to the cities, and new job opportunities were created in the manufacturing industry. These structural changes play a pivotal role in the emergence of dramatic crises in these texts. This study proves that these events are a determining factor in the way of life and destiny of the characters in these plays. In the current study, by analyzing the occupations of the characters during the mentioned events and the changes that occurred for them, the impact of the events on the social identity and destiny of the characters has been evaluated. It also reveals that the character’s quest to gain a job in these texts is to achieve social status and prestige rather than to amass wealth.

Colour, as one of the observable elements of poetry in Mehdi Akhavan-Sales’s poems, is connected with symbolic and mythological aspects. He was a poet of the New Style and an archaist who had mastery over ancient poetry and mythological concepts. He frequently employed these concepts in describing his time’s social situation and the use of various colours represents a symbolic reflection of his mentality. This article examines the abundant depiction of colours in Akhavan’s poems in Nima Style (Sheʻr-e Nimaaʼi), which is also the arena of the emergence of myth and demonstrates his beliefs about the conditions of his time. Moreover, poetry provided the ground for revealing Akhavan’s unconscious and expressing the concealed and dark parts of his being. The features of his personality that could not appear in his contemporary society were depicted in the form of colours, symbolizing certain concepts and themes since the distant past. Akhavan-Sales has used colours to express his desired themes more precisely: white, black, green, red, yellow, and blue are the most frequent colours that symbolize various natural, abstract, or social issues in his poetry. He additionally has used ancient terms for colours such as lajvardi (azure), shangarf (cinnabar), nili (cerulean), zangar (rust), zebarjad (yellowish-green), simgun (silver), and khazra (green/ blue), which were common in old poetry and Khorasani style.

Satire is one of the literary genres used in poetry and prose. The difference between satire and low humour is that the purpose of the latter is simply jest and amusement, but behind the laughter created by satire, there is bitterness and sadness, which are caused by the problems of society. Although satire makes the audience laugh at first, it seeks to subtly expose individual and social flaws, so that the people or the social classes concerned try to overcome their defects. Satire has been popular in Persian literature for a long time and this genre is also used by many people in the contemporary period. Among those who were able to use this method in their articles in the contemporary period was Parviz Natel Khanlari. Khanlari was a poet, writer, translator, researcher, university professor, founder of Sokhan magazine, founder and director of Iran's Culture Foundation, and Iran's Minister of Culture, all of which connected him to society in some way. One of the ways he chose to reform society was to use satire in his articles. In this article, we have shown that Khanlari's satire can be divided into two categories: political and social. Each of these categories has its general and specific audiences. In another classification, we have examined Khanlari's satire in two formats: in the form of "sentence" and in the form of "word". We have also demonstrated that another method by which Khanlari applies satire is using "humorous allegories".