نشریه نقد و نظریه ادبی
سال هشتم شماره 1 (پیاپی 15، بهار و تابستان 1402)

Yuri Lotman’s ‘semiosphere’ refers to an abstract enclosed space in which signs possess their meaning. What is placed within the boundaries of this sphere possesses culture and internal order. On the other hand, the outside is an extra symbolic or non-symbolic disordered and chaotic space in which the semiotics cannot be defined. Lotman believes that the semiosphere is in constant change due to mechanisms such as exclusion and absorption at the borders. Shamlou’s “Dar Astaneh” is a long poem, written in the late stages of his life, which summarises his philosophical and religious views regarding life, death, and the afterlife. This article employs Lotman's theory of cultural semiotics to analyse the semiosphere of the poem. The analysis concludes that Shamlou excludes metaphysical elements from the semiosphere, highlights distinctions between humnan and non-human natures, and celebrates human centrality.

Yuri Lotman’s ‘semiosphere’ refers to an abstract enclosed space in which signs possess their meaning. What is placed within the boundaries of this sphere possesses culture and internal order. On the other hand, the outside is an extra symbolic or non-symbolic disordered and chaotic space in which the semiotics cannot be defined. Lotman believes that the semiosphere is in constant change due to mechanisms such as exclusion and absorption at the borders. Shamlou’s “Dar Astaneh” is a long poem, written in the late stages of his life, which he regarded as his literary will and which summarises his philosophical and religious views regarding life, death, and the afterlife. It deserves to be investigated in Shamlou’s and contemporary Persian studies.

Under the influence of Saussurean semiotics and Max Webber’s definition of culture, Yuri Lotman theorised cultural semiotics. He defines language and culture as two modelmaker systems. He classifies these two concepts under the semiosphere, which is the only sphere that defines language and communication. Semiosphere presupposes any text or defined language as if it created a broader system, outside which language could neither exist nor function. The fundamental characteristic of the semiosphere is creating boundaries that translate data to comprehendible information. In other words, the semiosphere is a spatial model with demarcations. Its identity is defined in comparison to what falls outside its borders. The self/other or text/no-text confrontations are in accordance with sign positioning in the sphere. The semiosphere is in no case a fixed system. It changes through interaction, confrontation, exclusion, and absorption.

This analytical-descriptive study employes Lotman’s conceptualisation of semiotics.

4.1 Excluding Metaphysical Elements
At the start of the poem, some signifiers are put aside from the poem’s semiospherical intellectual field. This process activates the otherness and exclusion in the poem. The poet highlights the elements which he believes are not from his culture and must be excluded from the semiosphere. Shamlou introduces these elements to the reader through a chain of negative statements. As a result, we can argue that the excluded elements have already been present in the semiosphere and function through the process of naturalisation.
4.2 Nature and No-nature Distinction
In the second part of the poem, Shamlou depicts a journey from the “outside” to the “inside.” In other words, it is a process of subjectification and identification which makes the poet capable of gazing at all the elements of the world. Lotman regards nature as something not yet humanised or historicised. In this sense, historicity is the concept which can change and influence its surroundings. Verbs and cognitive processes employed in the poem explicate the transition from the observed to the observer.
4.3 Semiospherical Core of the Poem
The moment the poet distances himself from the elements of nature, he makes himself distinct from water, soil, plants, and beasts and defines his creation as “the magnificent body of man,” he makes ‘humanness’ the center of distinction. Then he explains the man who, from Shamlou’s point of view, aims to understand and give meaning to the world. In other words, nature and no-nature are defined in accordance with their identifying or defining capabilities. Also, the innate characteristics of the ‘self’ are defined through the perception of these ‘others.’ The poet continues to discuss other human characteristics.

Shamlou employs exclusion to remove metaphysical elements such as ghosts, phantoms, saints, devils, and Ifrits from the semiosphere. He uses adjectives such as lawless, negative, and chaotic to signal the chaos and disorder that characterise metaphysical elements. He mixes commonplace descriptions with a lofty language to satirise characters and highlight a sense of primitiveness in the aforementioned beliefs. In other words, he tries to complete the process of othering. In the second stage, Shamlou, by emphasising the non-human borders, which are identifying and defining capabilities, highlights his distinction as an element of no-nature against nature. Lastly, he introduces man as the semiospherical core and underscores the centrality of human beings.

This article employs an interdisciplinary approach which draws on theories and concepts from fiction and architecture to examine the perception of architectural spaces in literary fiction. It investigates the process through which the perception of home in fiction reveals certain aspects of fictional characters. This study utilises Maurice Merleau-Ponty’s  ‘Phenomenology of Perception’ and Juhani Pallasmaa’s ‘Architectural Phenomenology’ in its analysis of Zoya Pirzad’s I’ll Turn off the Lights. Through the lens of Phenomenology of Perception, it becomes evident that the identity of the main character, Clarice, is intertwined with her daily and continuous interactions with home and concepts associated with it. She finds a new identity as an integral part of home which leads to a dissolution where both she and others forget Clarice. However, she becomes aware of the events in the story and gradually takes steps toward self-realisation. By the end of the narrative, Clarice transcends the threshold, undergoes transformation, and attains an independent identity.

In his The Phenomenology of Perception, Maurice Merleau-Ponty thoroughly investigates the role of the body in spatial perception. Although the mind/body binary oposition has always been a matter of discussion among philosophers, Merleau-Ponty believes in their fusion which is why he investigates the body and its function in sensory perception. In accordance with interdisciplinary studies, which employ theories from a specific field to analyse another, we can employ the phenomenology of perception as a tool for literary analysis. As a result, one can investigate this relationship in fiction to reveal interesting information about characters and other elements of fiction.

This study draws upon Maurice Merleau-Ponty’s ‘Phenomenology of Perception’ and Juhani Pallasmaa’s ‘Architectural Phenomenology.’ Pallasmaa is a Finnish architect who employed Merleau-Ponty’s theories in his studies on architecture. In accordance with the phenomenology of perception, he investigated the role of the senses in studying a work of architecture. He emphasises the importance of ‘lived experience’ in relation to a work of architecture, which in this interdisciplinary study is approached as a work of literature.

This article is an analytical-descriptive study which employs the phenomenology of perception as a critical tool for its literary analysis. Zoya Pirzad’s I’ll Turn off the Lights provides the corpus of this study. The analytic data explored in this study are taken from library sources.

In the novel, the identity of Clarice and home are ‘intertwined.’ Clarice is the narrator and specifies our point of view. Not only does she narrate what she sees, but she also describes all that she perceives. She describes the smells which trigger odour-linked memories and synesthesia.
The way Clarice acts as well as her perception of home represents the correlation between the subject and the object. Clarice becomes one with home to the extent that she is able to perceive the events without the need to witness them. She knows home and sees and understands the events taking place in it through and through. Merleau-Ponty’s ‘Intentionality’ conceptualises similar events. Another concept addressed by Merleau-Ponty is ‘Habituation’ which happens in Clarice’s life and is among the reasons which make her special in her surroundings. However, after what happens to her in the story and her decision to pursue her true identity, she starts to notice things which she was unaware of before.
In architecture, ‘threshold’ is a place between inside and outside. It is a passage from one side to the other. To reach her self, Clarice must cross the threshold. Step by step, she walks her journey of self-discovery. By the end of the book, she walks past the threshold and reaches her self. Clarice is in a state of metamorphosis due to her interaction with her home in Abadan and separation from her paternal home in Tehran. She constantly remembers Tehran in a ‘nostalgic’ sense; this foreshadows her return to Tehran, which symbolises a return to her-self.

Investigating Clarice’s relationship with home and her process of perception show that she is submerged in her home and has forgotten about herself. Her daily interactions have made her a part of her home. A close reading of the text reveals  that her habituation is a result of her relationship with her home. Unlike others, she does not need her eyes to perceive the events of the home. She is one with her home. As a result of this fusion, she is neither seen nor appreciated in her home. To understand her self, she unconsciously evades home by going out, but she is so deeply attached to her home that she can not enjoy the outside world. Another representation of this separation is a change in the process of perception and connection with her home. Among Clarice’s loved possiessions, one can easily detect her vases beside windows. In architecture, a window is a threshold or a border between the outside and the inside worlds. To realise her self, Clarice must go beyond the threshold. Her negligence toward the broken vases symbolises her detachment from her home. In the end, her decision to go to Tehran symbolises her moving beyond the threshold toward her self.

This research aims to provide a framework for the theory and criticism of young adult literature, which is different from children and adult literatures. Hubert Hermans' Dialogical Self Theory (DST), in conjunction with the field of adolescent psychology and philosophical ideas related to adolescence, offers a promising approach to progress in this direction. To this end, it is necessary to first conceptualise "adolescence" and understand the issue of young adult literature. The article then proceeds to discuss the implications of this symbiosis for the theory and criticism of young adult literature which conceptualises the adolescent as a dialogical and polyphonic being. The problem of young adult literature lies in the interaction between internal and external voices of adolescents, specifically in terms of dialectical movements of centralisation and decentralisation within the self. This interaction occurs within the tensions of the self, which can ultimately lead to self-development. This framework has implications for the theory and criticism of young adult literature, including the differences between this literature and children's literature. Furthermore, it invites a reconsideration of the definition of young adult literature. Drawing upon typical devices in Dialogical Self Theory, it provides an approach for the criticism of young adult literature.

Young adult literature scholars investigate the expansion of the theoretical horizons of Young Adult literature. As Karen Coats maintains, Young Adult literature has been instrumentalised, as if it were a house one passes on the way and not a destination in and of itself. Coats believes that to recognize the independence of YA literature, it is necessary to theorise it as a type of literature with its unique objectives and subject matters, the ones that distinguish it from children's and adult literatures. In other words, the theory and criticism of YA literature require endogenous approaches. This article aims to address such a need. Hubert Hermans' Dialogical Self Theory (DST) in symbiosis with theories of adolescent psychology and philosophical ideas about adolescence (which can be aligned with DST) identifies the concept and problem of adolescence. It will be revealed how this symbiosis contributes to the theory and criticism of YA literature. The present research investigates the contribution of this symbiosis to YA literature theory and criticism and takes a fresh look at the ‘philosophy of adolescence.’

This qualitative study employs an abstract-interpretative approach. The method of data analysis is inductive, as it extracts the concept of adolescence and orientation towards theory and criticism of adolescent literature in light of Hermans’ view in conjunction with adolescent theories.

This research draws upon Hubert Hermans’ Dialogical Self Theory (DST). Hermans, a Dutch psychologist and a well-known scholar in narrative psychology, developed his theory in the 1990s. DST provides a conceptualisation of the self and fluid identities. In this theory, the self is originally social and potentially dialogical. It consists of multiple "I-position" or multiple and dynamic voices that maintain dialogues in the self. Re-positioning itself spatially and temporally, the self continuously adapts I-positions or the voices of the society and others, and the acquired voices or positions are always in the process of becoming and reconstructing in the self. Positions in the self, are analogous to people’s behaviour in a community: some cooperate and form a coalition with common purposes or values, whereas others are more competitive and less tolerant toward the others (Hermans, 2002: 149). This theory is in line with Pragmatist traditions about the self and literary and philosophical traditions about dialogue.

In Hermans’ theory, the major problems in adolescence are ‘dialogue and polyphony.’ They are intersects where the adolescent and YA literature meet. In the theory and criticism of YA literature regarding adolescence concerns, the knowledge of theory and criticism of YA literature joins these two subjects and forms an interconnected triangle. Through I-position, meta-position, etc., DST explains the mechanisms and processes of power representation, subjectivity, identity, conflict, growth, maturity, and abjection as prevalent issues in YA literature. One of the implications of DST in symbiosis with adolescent theories for endogenous theory and criticism of YA literature is a fresh interpretation of the difference between children's and YA literature. In this light, the differences between the two need to be seen in the quantity and quality of children’s and adolescents’ internal voices or positions, the types of dialogue they have with each other, and the way the voices play their role under the influence of the two fundamental structures of development, i.e., centralising and decentralising forces. Re-defining YA literature in light of this development and search for meaning and identity are intersubjective processes between adolescents and adults and are among the central concerns of the present study.

‘Voice’ is a fundamental motif in adolescence and YA literatures. Given the fact that the concept of voice as a process and is always in change and reconstruction, and YA literature is a manifestation of this process, the critics and researchers of YA literature need to pay special attention to the existing and emerging voices in YA literature.
While most YA literature theories consider the process in which the adolescent character reaches maturity after dealing with different voices as bildungs literature, in accordance with DST, maturity and the search for identity are intersubjective; this renders the development of the self ‘relational.’ In this process, people of all ages might achieve a more mature mental state.
The difference between adult and YA literatures is in the quantity and quality of the repertoire of voices and manifestations of centralising and decentralising movements.
DST provides an appropriate framework for the analysis of emotion as a marginalised issue in YA literature. In a detailed analysis of emotion, one should identify interactive voices, the process of emotion/cognition interaction, the relation between them, the orientation of the author regarding their authenticity, and the position of the implied adolescent on the rational/emotional scale.
When analyzing YA literature, the critics need to focus on voice devices embedded in literary work and assess such devices as I-position, third position, enhancing positions, de-positioning, combination, etc.

Environmental crises and their consequences, among which are the growing environmental concerns, have given rise to new theories in environmental ethics, which aims to explore certain rights in ethical considerations, such as Ecofeminism. Ecofeminism investigates gender and environmental concerns to make a meaningful connection between women, environment, and their emancipation from dominance. In all three conceptual, experimental, and epistemological aspects of this theory, women are relatively closer to nature than men; this in turn renders them more sentimental and vulnerable toward the destruction of nature. In her “I Pity the Garden,” Forugh Farraokhzad narrates the sympathetic feelings of women regarding the death of the garden. This analytic-descriptive study is an ecofeminist reading of the poem which investigates the relations between the characters’ indifference toward the death of the garden and the indifference toward the environmental crises on a global scale. This article claims that the masculine discourse of negligence is rooted in anthropocentrism, generation gap, economic interests, arms race, and philosophical despair. Likewise, feminine discourse might suffer from similar apathy due to over-sensitivity toward the destruction of nature, superstitious beliefs, reliance on synthetic life, and distancing from nature. At the same time, the inclusion of feminine ethics of care in relation to nature can be influential in preventing environmental destruction.

Women and nature are among the most recurrent concepts in Forugh’s poetry, even though her conception of nature and women differs from her conception reality. She speaks of a woman who lives and endures her life with all its hardships, desires, and dreams. On the other hand, her descriptions of nature represent her present language; in other words, they reflect her true self. For Forugh, nature is mostly an object, which through her creative mind, signifies its meanings. These meanings are affected by point of view, emotions, excitatement, and cultural and social elements that surround the subject. As a result, Forugh’s nature is not like the kind of nature we understand in ecology or ecosystem. Her “I Pity the Garden,” has the potential to represent her femininity and the way she poetically describes nature; it also functions as an ecofeminist tool, which exposes her father’s and her brother’s different sensitivity toward the garden. 

Ecofeminism is a movement which investigates the complex relations between nature’s dominance and women’s exploitation. The ecofeminists regard most of the Western thought as influenced by the “oppression mentality” which is the dualistic mentality that prefers and values one side of the duality over the other. Ecofeminism categorises the interaction between women and nature as experimental interaction, conceptual interaction, cultural/symbolic interaction, and epistemological interaction. This study is concerned with the second categorisation, according to which, women are closer to nature and more sensitive to ecological changes.

The present analytical-descriptive study aims to investigate Forugh Farrokhzad’s “I Pity the Garden” in light of ecofeminism. Also, the article studies the function of gender in environmental sensitivity represented in reactions shown to the death of the garden.

The central incident in Forugh’s narrative is the death of her father’s garden. The poem probes into the characters’ reactions to this incident. The characters of the poem include Forugh, her father, her mother, her brother, and her sister. The analysis of their reaction shows that women are more sympathetic to the incident. On the other hand, men are indifferent toward the death of the garden due to economic difficulties, personal problems, philosophical despair, and short-sightedness. Although the three women in the narrative are more sensitive than men, they also have different reactions to the incident. Forugh’s reaction is intertwined with maternal emotions, knowledge, awareness, and responsibility. As a result of her insensitivity, inaction, and alienation, she feels vulnerable and lonely.

An ecofeminist reading of Forugh Farrokhzad’s “I Pity the Garden” shows that the poem symbolically portrays the garden as a representation of ecological destruction which endangers the present world and the future of the earth. At the same time, the reaction of the family and their reasoning symbolises - in a broader sense - the passivity and indifference of nations toward the environmental crises. The findings of the research reveal that the main reasons behind these indifferences are generation gap, anthropocentrism, unbridled urbanity, economic interests, superstitious beliefs, introversion, consumerism, and negligence. This study investigates the aforementioned reasons in light of environmental ethics. At the same time, Forugh’s women are more concerned with nature which - according to feminism - is due to their maternal ethics of care in protecting the environment. On the other hand, men’s materialistic, abstract, and philosophical approaches combined with their arms race and belligerence prevent them from understanding the ongoing reality. It should be noted that Forugh regards wise and calculated actions, alongside maternal emotions, as influential factors which can promote the sense of responsibility towards the environment.

One of the functions of narrative setting is to prepare a platform to explain the personality and nature of the characters. Setting, ambiance, character features, and narration deepen the reader’s understanding of the text. This study investigates the process of locality and its connection to characters in Qolam Hossein Saedi’s Azadaran-e Bayal. The analysis is done through a combined narratology which employs relevant narratological theories. Through investigating the narrative setting, this study argues that the subjectivity of location has an everlasting impact on all narrative elements in the selected stories. Bayal functions as the macro text setting and habitat for the characters and reflects the influence of the setting on the psycho-sentimental ambiance of the narrative. The positioning of Bayal at the narrative locus of the eight stories comprises the symbolic aspect of a place which exposes the creativity of the author. The characters are placed in the setting and metamorphosed into it. To revive itself, each time Bayal sacrifices one of the disappointed, passive, and helpless characters. In the process of reading, the reader plays a complementary role in recreating the scenes and characters.

The element of place and its close connection with other elements of fiction necessitates the study of its representation in the narrative process. The study at hand investigates the subjectivity of place and its relation to narrative characters in Qolam Hossein Saedi’s collection of short stories called Azadaran-e Bayal (1346 [1967]). Its qualitative and quantitative impact has left its long-lasting mark on the characters of the stories. In some cases, place functions as a metonymy for the characters. For example, a character’s house becomes a continuum or extension of itself; thus, if the house is described, it seems as if the character (not the house) were being described (Wellek. 1373 [1994]: 12). Azadaran-e Bayal is among the outstanding literary works of the 1960s. It consists of eight interconnected stories which are set in a village called Bayal.

This study is done through a combined narratology which employs relevant narratological theories. By analysing the text in accordance with narratological patterns, the present article enters sub-textual levels such as narrative and character-place correlation. To understanding the text and discover new concepts that are pertinent to the subject matter at hand, this study also employs theories from Seymour Chatman, Gérard Genette, and Roland Barthes.

As an element of fiction, location is a space which hosts and presents the characters, events, and actions of the narrative. Narratology regards narrative setting as an element of modern narrative, and place as a platform which embodies time, characters, events, and relations in fiction. Seymour Chatman argues that the poetics of narration is the logical explication of the narrative structure, elements, composition, and systems of fictional elements (Chatman, 1978:3). Therefore, fictional elements create an organic unity. Since Aristotle, the narratological focus has been on studying time. Although this statement is true, one cannot ignore similar representations in time and place (Abbot, 1397 [2018]: 287).
In narratology, the narrative character is an important piece of the plot, and – just like time and space – is a crucial element of the fabric of fiction. Contrary to Chatman’s belief, the character is not a suspended and isolated being; as a matter of fact, she/he is the locus of the narrative. As long as the character is not bound to the central and marginal issues of the narrative, it possesses no identity of its own (Chatman, 1390 [2011]: 188). Structuralism categorises the character in accordance with binary opposition and highlights their contrasts. Scholes conceptualises the narrative character through individuation and type-formation. He argues that famous fictional characters who pass the test of time are the sum total of both (Scholes, 1968: 20).

Bayal, as the hotspot of all the events in Azadaran-e Bayal, is more than a place. It influences the characters’ traits, personality, and their actions. Bayal is a space that influences plot development and the characters’ narrative nature, and sets the mood of the narrative. Its importance is also captured in the title of the collection. The term “Azadari” [Mourning] gives a gloomy and tragic mood to the whole work. To describe the narrative setting, Saedi employs both direct and indirect descriptions. Also, by highlighting the equivocating details and location-based motifs, he creates the fictional character of Bayal that imposes its subjective authority on the stories (Butor, 1971: 88). Through a direct and vivid description, the first sentence of the first story introduces the setting of the text to the reader. The ambiance is interconnected with the whole narrative. The psychological and sentimental setting fuses with the real to suspend and relativise the setting and encourage the reader to find his/her position in the text. The unbiased third-person narrator narrates the dialogues, events, actions, and settings, and binds the settings and the characters.

By positioning Bayal in a narratological context and a psycho-sentimental location, this study illustrates Bayal as a fictional character who, with a dark heart, controls the lives of the villagers. In the character and place continuum, the characters are an extension of the setting. They are the side-effects of their existential residence place. The hatred and resentment engendered by the place and the psychotic mood leave their imprint on each of the characters, making them look strange and unpredictable. The setting of Azadaran-e Bayal’s creates spaces, scenes, ambiances, and environmental elements. Bayal sacrifices one character after each disaster. Those who survive, flee to the city, which is also an infected shadow of Bayal.

This article evaluates the possibility of theorising “poetry as a foundational pillar” – Amoud al-Shear – in accordance with Arabic rhetoric and literary criticism. This metaphorical name regards poetry as a pillar of literature and culture. Arabic scholars consider Amoud al-Shear as a theory which supposes poetry as a foundational pillar of language, literature, and culture. This study aims to answer the following questions: does Amoud al-Shear have the characteristics and functions of a literary theory? What are its intellectual and cultural origins? And what impact did it leave on the corpus of Arabic language and literature? In order to analyse the theorisation of Amoud al-Shear, the study employs six assessment criteria of theory and examines its credibility and efficiency in light of historical evidence. This study relates the theory of eloquence in the Persian language to the Amoud al-Shear theory.

This article investigates the possibility of theorising “Amud al-Shear” – or the pillar of poetry – as a literary and cultural theory. It examines this issue in light of the criteria and the six principles of theory. One can classify the contents of Islamic rhetoric and Arabic literary criticism in three major categories: rhetorical features of speech, rhetorical contemplations, and reference theories. Various literary theories, such as word-order theory (inimitability of the Quran) and “the pillar of poetry,” have been proposed in the history of Iranian and Islamic rhetoric. The question is whether these conceptualisations possess the characteristics of a theory. To answer this question, the author investigates the possibility of theorising “ Amud al-Shear” in light of the criteria of a theory. The “Amud al-Shear” concept is associated with the study of poetry and its various elements, including structure, meaning, and aesthetics.

The research is a case study which uses a speculative analytical method. Such a methodology is not based on mere information and citations but concentrates on a methodical contemplation and systematic development of the data provided by the corpora.

The theoretical framework of the research is in accordance with the author's elaboration and investigation of the criteria and the six principles of a theory. As such, there is no formulated or already known theory to be utilised in the article.

To answer the above-mentioned questions, this study employs the criteria for evaluating a theory. The evaluation, critique, or refutation of a theory is based on six criteria and is discussed as follows:4.1 Explanatory
A theory should provide a clear, precise, and transparent description of its subject. “Amud al-Shear” has brilliantly explained the state of Arabic poetry until the third century. This theory sought to protect Arabic poetry (eloquence) from the onslaught of numerous Arabic dialects which entered the Islamic world and aimed to create an understandable poetry that is eloquent, fluent, proportionate, harmonious, and rich in meaning for people all over the Islamic world, from Transoxiana to Egypt.
4.2 Dialectical Approach
A dialectical approach sets these theories apart from other rival theories. The idea of "the pillar of poetry" emerged from the conflict between ancient poets and neoclassicists in Arabic poetry during the third century A. H. (Abbasid era). At that time, new Muslim nations and tribes entered Arab civilisation, and new Arabic poetry moved towards modernisation. As a result, poets distanced themselves from the ancient Arabic discourse and the atmosphere of the desert.
4.3 Durability and Consistency
The conceptualisation of “Amud al-Shear” established a solid framework for Arabic literature such as morphology, grammar, rhetoric, literary criticism, and Arabic literary history, and has also organised and led the creation of poetry and the understanding of Arabic literature for centuries throughout the Islamic world. This concept has retained its effects on Arabic literature, even ten centuries after the death of its founder, Mazrouqi Isfahani.
4.4 The Scope of the Subject
The scope of the application and impact of "the pillar of poetry" does not cover modern and contemporary Arabic poetry, nor is there any mention of this theory in the history of world literature and literary criticism in relation to other languages and nations. However, the theory of eloquence in Persian literature has a close relationship with the concept of “Amud al-Shear,” and the roots of the theory of eloquence in Persian literature can be traced in Arabic rhetoric and literary criticism.
4.5 Prediction
The “Amud al-Shear” theory predicted that the Arabic language and literary taste would transform due to the linguistic and cultural interconnectedness of various Muslims who wrote poems in Arabic. The change in language and taste threatened the foundation of the system of thought, knowledge, and language. This prediction was relatively accurate.
4.6 Problem-solving
A theory should solve the problem of its subject, which in this case was chaos, fragmentation, and variation of literary tradition and the distortion of Arabic language. The concept of “Amud al-Shear” could safeguard the foundation of Arabic culture, namely poetry, which was called "Diwan al-Arab," for twelve centuries (until modern times) and provide a solution for slowing down the distortion and rapid changes in Arabic language and culture by returning to the original form of poetry, clarity, and elegance. Although it was an effective solution for a long time, it could not withstand modernisation.
4.7 Impartiality
A credible theory is the result of impartial observation and contemplation. However, “Amud al-Shear” is not impartial; it is a prescriptive theory. It was established to monitor, protect, and improve Arabic poetry. This theory prevented the entry of foreign vocabulary.
4.8 Origins of the Pillar of Poetry
First theorised in the fourth century in central Iran, the pillar of poetry became favoured in Iranian courts such as those in Isfahan, Rey, Nishabur, and Shiraz. About ten Iranian scholars played a significant role in the formation and popularity of the “Amud al-Shear” theory. The purpose of the theory, which was protecting the principles of Arabic poetry, also continued in Persian literature through Persian eloquence theory. Persian poets investigated all the principles of "the pillar of poetry” theory. For eleven centuries, Persian verse and prose – the language of the courts and the Persian standard language –protected a cultural and aesthetic system called “the old poetry system,” which rose to prominence by a Persian literary movement called "the return” in the 19th century. At the beginning of the 20th century, under the Reza Shah regime, the theory became anthologised and played a significant role in promoting cultural achievements and refining the Persian language by the first academics of Persian literature. The Persian language and literature education system still borrows its models and principles from the foundations of the theory of eloquence and the pillar of poetry.

The theory of "the pillar of poetry" is believed to have several characteristic features, some of which are new lines of thought, impartiality, and universality. However, this article seriously doubts the universality of this theory since it played no role in creating literary tendencies and the modernisation of Persian and Arabic civilisations. It has not opened up much new ground for literature and literary thought. However, it has been employed in preserving literary and cultural traditions. The rather impartial theory of “Amud al-Shear" was designed to prove the miraculous nature of the Quran. The theory also defended the classical Arabic and Persian poetic structures and prevented drastic changes in the language and taste of Arabic and Persian speakers. Furthermore, it played a significant role in preserving the Islamic tradition and the continuity of Arabic and Persian literatures. Although it has some limitations and has not contributed to creativity and innovation in literature, it has been successful in preserving the classical structures of Arabic and Persian literatures, and the fact that Arabic and Persian texts from centuries ago are still understandable today is a testament to its success.

Reza Amirkhani’s bestseller novel, Man-e Ou, has never been semiotically studied. This study aims to investigate this novel in light of Roland Barthes’ narrative codes theory. This article employs an excerpt reading method to ideologically analyse the narrative codes and draws upon Pierre Macherey’s and Terry Eagleton’s theories. The critical analyses of this study turn around concepts such as ‘absolutism,’ ‘anti-scientism,’ ‘fatalism,’ and ‘originalism.’ Amirkhani highlights and reproduces these concepts to cover up class and social conflicts throughout the novel. In other words, his ‘absolutism’ ignores the opposition, his ‘anti-scientism’ and ‘fatalism’ manipulate the objective reality, and his ‘originalism’ fabricates a value for Tehran-dwellers to pave the way for his hero’s ideology. His attempt to correct and justify a number of social predicaments renders his work self-contradictory and problematic.

Reza Amirkhani’s bestseller novel, Man-e Ou, has never been semiotically studied. This study aims to investigate this novel in light of Roland Barthes’ narrative codes theory. This article employs an excerpt reading method to ideologically analyse the narrative codes and draws upon Pierre Macherey’s and Terry Eagleton’s theories.

The present study employs a number of carefully selected narrative codes to analyse Man-e Ou. Among the five narrative codes, only three (semantic, symbolic, and cultural) reflect infinite mechanisms and move beyond the boundaries of implications. As a result, considering the limits of hermeneutic and proairetic codes in a hypertextual and cultural analysis, we employed the semantic, symbolic, and cultural codes in our analysis. It should be noted that the other two codes are also implemented in the course of discussion. Lastly, this study employs narrative codes to make a hypertextual analysis and investigate the ideological implications of Man-e Ou.

Introducing the five narrative codes in his S/Z, Barthes formulates an unprecedented textual analysis through which the implied meanings of the text are exposed. Some of these interpretations might even go beyond the text. He divides Honoré de Balzac’s Sarrasine into 561 units of reading and conceptualises five narrative codes including hermeneutic code, proairetic code, cultural code, connotative code, and symbolic code. The hermeneutic code refers to any element in a story that is not explained, perplexes the reader, and raises questions that demand explication. The peoairetic code refers to the other major structuring principles that create interest or suspense in the reader or the viewer. It applies to any action that implies a further narrative action. The semantic code points to any element in a text that suggests a particular, often additional, meaning by way of connotation. The symbolic code is a deeper structural principle that organises semantic meanings, usually through antitheses or mediation between antithetical terms.  The cultural code designates any element in a narrative that refers to a scientific fact or a body of knowledge. In other words, the cultural codes tend to point to our shared knowledge about the world, including properties that we can designate as physical, physiological, medical, psychological, literary, historical, etc. This theory analyses the text on the micro-scale and paves the way for a hypertextual reading of the text that utilises Terry Eagleton’s and Pierre Macherey’s relevant theories.

The results of this study show that by employing the semantic, symbolic, and cultural codes, the author glorifies concepts such as ‘absolutism,’ ‘anti-scientism,’ ‘fatalism,’ and ‘originalism.’ He highlights and reproduces these concepts to cover up class and social conflicts throughout the novel. In other words, his ‘absolutism’ ignores the opposition, his ‘anti-scientism’ and ‘fatalism’ manipulate the objective reality, and his ‘originalism’ fabricates a value for Tehran-dwellers to pave the way for his hero’s ideology.

By employing the semantic, symbolic, and cultural narrative codes, the author both legitemises Haji Fath’s affluence and denies the significant role it plays in his hero’s journeys. In any case, it is obvious that the protagonist of the story is a wealthy person and as a consequence he can lead an expensive and comfortable life in Tehran and Paris. His residence in Tehran and his nationality justify his wealth, good-nature, and martyrdom. Although the author tries to offer a logical rationale for this ideological contradiction, his attempt to correct a number of social predicaments renders his work paradoxical and problematic.

Conceptualised in the 1990s by the Scottish writer, poet, tourist, and philosopher, Kenneth White, Geopoetics is a new spatial approach to literature. Contrary to Gaston Bacherald’s “Poetics of Space” and Bertrand Wesphal’s “Geographical Criticism,” which mainly focus on places and descriptions, Geopoetics also investigates the author’s critical approach towards places and the profound relationship between man and the earth. This study employs content analysis to geopoetically investigate Jalal Al-e-Ahmad’s travelogue Khasi dar Miqat, focusing on the significance of place in travelogues and the psychological impact of the spiritual atmosphere in the land of revelation on Al-e-Ahmad. This article foregrounds the interconnectedness of place and geopoetical elements such as culture, place, poeticity, philosophy, spirituality, and emotional entanglement, all of which are elements in a geopoetical reading of travelogues. Unlike other realist authors who objectively provide detailed descriptions of locations, Al-e-Ahmad also adds a spiritual and philosophical quality to his accounts, as if his emotions were entangled with the ambiance, to critically describe places and juxtapose them with a better world.

Conceptualised in the 1990s by the Scottish writer, poet, tourist, and philosopher, Kenneth White, Geopoetics is a new spatial approach to literature. Contrary to Gaston Bacherald’s “Poetics of Space” and Bertrand Wesphal’s “Geographical Criticism,” which mainly focus on places and descriptions, Geopoetics also investigates the author’s critical approach towards places and the profound relationship between man and the earth. Jalal Al-e-Ahmad’s Khasi dar Miqat is an account of his 23-day Islamic pilgrimage. This travelogue contains daily observations and descriptions of places, alleys, and bazaars. In addition to his critical views, his spiritual turmoil stimulated by his presence in different places, which he mentions in his writings, is of importance. Focusing on Kenneth White’s “Geopoetics” and underlining the importance of location in Al-e-Ahmad’s travelogue, this study aims to answer the following questions: How does the author make a spiritual/emotional connection with the place and what is its role in the poetics of the travelogue? What are the implications of the geopoetical elements in this travelogue?

This qualitative content analysis research employs a descriptive-analytic method to investigate the important elements in Kenneth White’s theory such as emotional-spatial entanglement, poeticity, critical thinking, and descriptions in the selected work.

Initiated by Kenneth White, Geopoetics is a new method which investigates place and its relation with mankind.  During his travels, White was amazed by places and the emotions they aroused in people. He published an account of his travels, titled “Le Plateau de l’Albatros: Introduction à la géopoétique,” which examines the energy of place and its effect on people’s emotions. In his geopoetic manifesto, he explicitly states his dream of geo-centered literature. “Geopoetique” is the geographical/spatial intuition which reflects the human-earth connection in literary works (Italiano, 2008:4). The locus of geopoetics, White argues, is culture and because of cultural elements we can be “poet-like inhabitants of the earth” (Hashas, 2017:15). Some of the key elements of geopoetics are poetic descriptions with spatial emotion, awareness of the socio-cultural structures of the place, and the human-environment interaction (Magrane, 2021:11). Considering the fact that people mature through traveling and the real journey is the journey within, it can be argued that geopoetics is in line with spiritual and philosophical schools such as Buddhism and Mysticism ( J. Assadollahi, et al, 1399 [2020]:172-174).

4.1 Philosophical Aspects and Emotional Connection with Place
Finding his brother and curiosity are Al-e-Ahmad’s motivations in his journey. The spiritual ambiance of the pilgrimage affects and overwhelms him; this underscores the deep relation between man and the earth. He seeks his lost identity in special places which initiate his spiritual and intellectual changes.  This journey, for the author, is marked by self-discovery.
4.2 Critical Aspect
A critical approach toward the environment is a key element in Geopoetics. From the start, nothing is hidden from Al-e-Ahmad’s sharp eyes. His account includes the commotion in the city of tents, the exsanguination of sheep, the crisis in Saudi Arabia, the horrendous situation of the streets and alleys of Mecca and Medina, disgusting toilets, etc.
4.3 Poetic Aspect
From A geopoetical standpoint, presence in a special place triggers certain memories. This moment marks the fusion of literature and geography. The emotions resurface and the poeticity of the earth emerges. Al-e-Ahmad poetically describes the spiritual ambiance of the pilgrims. He likens the tents to ships, the ropes to paddles, and the sands to the sea.

This article foregrounds the interconnectedness of place and geopoetical elements such as culture, place, poeticity, philosophy, spirituality, and emotional entanglement, all of which are important features of a geopoetical reading of travelogues. Unlike other realist authors who objectively provide detailed descriptions of locations, Al-e-Ahmad also adds a spiritual and philosophical quality to his accounts, as if his emotions were entangled with the ambiance, to critically describe places and juxtapose them with a better world.

In her Savushun (1969), Simin Daneshvar gives an account of the life and family of an educated Khan in a war that broke out in the early 1940s between the nomads and the central government. She weaves her narrative with the presence of English people and their interference with the relationship between the nomads and the government which problematises the acceptance of the manifestations of modernity. Yousef, who desires the settlement of the nomads and reprimands the renegade Khans, is against foreign intervention. Eventually, he is murdered for not selling his grain to the English. After his death, his wife, Zari, who has internalised Yousef’s problem with the English, becomes a petitioner and a rebel. Her protest is against the English interference and the passivity of the government. In this regard, the significance of national ideals in Savushun contributes to the definition and status of the feminine subject. It is worth mentioning that the novel is the first work of fiction written by an Iranian writer. The problematisation of the female character is usually intertwined with nationalism, settlement, and colonialism. The dichotomy of modernity and nationalism and conflicting views on foreign interference, according to the present article, are among the major concerns in the problematisation of women.

Written by Simin Daneshvar in 1969, Savushun is the first novel in women’s fiction in Iran. It gives an account of the life and family of an educated Khan in a war that broke out in the early 1940s between the nomads and the central government. Yousef, the educated Khan who kindly tends to his subjects, is the protagonist of the novel. His refusal to sell his grain to the English leads to his murder which initiates the transformation of the female character, Zari, who seeks justice for her husband’s death.

The article at hand is a descriptive-analytical study that employs library sources to analyse the female protagonist in light of György Lukács’ problematic character theory.

The novel, for Lukács, is the outcome of the separation of the object from the mind, which shapes the narrative structure in accordance with the internalised experience of time. The epic represents the mind-object unification, but the novel, which is rooted in the epic, marks their differences and unveils the solidarity of the mind (Pouyandeh, 1390 [2011]: 192). In his later works, Lukács investigates the novel in light of the economic transition of the West from feudalism to the bourgeoisie. A realist novelist, for Lukács, is aware of the contradictions caused by the change in the economic structure and has the ability to represent them in his/her novel. Honoré de Balzac's La Comédie Humaine, Lukács argues, is a perfect example of a realist work. For Balzac, the greatest intellectual achievements of the bourgeoisie revolution, which are the imposition of the thoughts of the bourgeois society on humanities and the arts, are abstract ideals in contrast with the real capitalist economy (1380 [2001]: 64). The problematic protagonist seeks the qualitative and ethical values in the world which reflects the dominant exchange value. Similarly, Goldman investigates the protagonist through different stages of capitalism. In this regard, the problematic protagonist belongs to the first stage of capitalism, which glorifies liberal and individualistic values. The conflicts between qualitative and moral values and commodity values in the capitalist world affect the personality of the problematic hero. Canonical novels echo the social, political, and economic structures of their time, and their concrete and existential qualities represent the conflict between different societal forms in light of the change in the economic structure (Pouyandeh, 1381 [2002]: 127). Along the same lines, the political and economic transition of Iran’s constitutional revolution marks the emergence of the novel (Iranian, 1358 [1979]: 77). The formation of the nation-state by Reza Shah marks the transition from the prototypes of the novel to its final form (Sepehran, 1399 [2020]: 19). The new identity and re-defined roles of women gave them the chance to express themselves through novels.

This study investigates the interconnectedness of modernity, sexuality, and the life of the protagonist in Savushun. Modernity aims to change the status of women as reflected in Reza Shah’s emphasis on nationalist tendencies (Papeli Yazdi, 1397 [2018]: 117). In this regard, every citizen had to obey the state, which in turn affected the nomads. The resettlement of the nomads was among Reza Shah’s main objectives, which after the September of 1941, led to an uprising against the state. The English provoked the nomads and, at the same time, cooperated with the state, showing an ambivalent attitude toward modernity (Abrahamian, 1383 [2004]: 176). Defending the resettlement of nomads, the protagonist, Yousef, condemns the interference of the English and eventually gets killed by them. Although Zari studied in an English institution and learned tailoring from Zinger, she begins to resent the English. According to Yousef, as an aftermath of the English interference with modernization, they own the best schools, hospitals, and tailoring houses and markets (Daneshvar, 1399 [2021]: 127). Zari and Yousef encounter useless middlemen who make a living by serving the English. Yousef’s death transforms Zari’s understanding of the socio-political structure and encourages her to shift internal monologue with dialogue. Through her speech at Yousef’s funeral, Zari turns the funeral into a political demonstration which in turn leads to her problematisation.

Savushun exposes the socio-political structure that came to prominence after the September of 1941 and reflects the complexities of nationalism and modernity in light of foreign interference. On the other hand, the same complexity forms the identity of the protagonists. English interference problematises Yousef’s identity, which in turn problematises Zari’s identity, as far as activism and nationalism are concerned.

For many years, philosophers have studied methods of epistemology through different approaches. The challenges in this area mainly focus on the question of the nature of the subject and object as well as their relation. These issues have led to two general but diverse movements: Idealism and Realism. Deconstruction, like its predecessor, Structuralism, is essentially epistemological. Structuralists conceptualised ‘structure’ in such a ways as to go beyond the subject and object duality. Deconstruction, positively and negatively, established deep bonds with structuralism. This study interprets this relation and argues that structure in structuralism is transformed into textuality in deconstruction. The difference is that the text is not as rigid as a "structure" and continues to exist as a flux. The constant evolution of the text as a whole eliminates the subject and object duality.  In this way, the concept of text acts as a bridge between linguistics and ontology. When Derrida discusses the text, he means any kind of being. This kind of being includes both concepts and objects. Derrida’s interpretation of language can be linked to the epistemological and ontological functions of language.

For many years, philosophers have studied methods of epistemology through different approaches. The challenges in this area mainly focus on the question of the nature of the subject and object as well as their relation. These issues have led to two general but diverse movements: Idealism and Realism. Deconstruction, like its predecessor, Structuralism, is essentially epistemological. Structuralists conceptualised ‘structure’ in such a ways as to go beyond the subject and object duality. Deconstruction, positively and negatively, established deep bonds with structuralism. This study interprets this relation and argues that structure in structuralism is transformed into textuality in deconstruction. The difference is that the text is not as rigid as a "structure" and continues to exist as a flux. The constant evolution of the text as a whole eliminates the subject and object duality. 

Derrida is a key figure in Poststructuralism – a movement proposed by philosophers such as Foucault, Lacan, Deleuze, Derrida, and others in the second half of the twentieth century. An essential component of poststructuralism is its critical approach to diverse fields and concepts such as ontology, aesthetics, linguistics, ethics, politics, and especially epistemology. Philosophers’ epistemology views fall within an expansive spectrum of divergent and convergent ideas. The question here is what is the role of poststructuralism, in general, and Derrida, in particular, in epistemology? Some poststructuralists regard Derrida as anti-epistemological; this seems to be a hastily conclusion in describing the relation between poststructuralism and epistemology. Poststructuralism studies epistemology at a deeper level and poses a number of fundamental questions.

The present article is a phenomenological-deconstructive study. It is phenomenological because of its debates on the essence of the phenomena. It refers to the origins of concepts and describes natural phenomena. This is a retrospective process which describes the formation of the phenomena rather than discussing their nature. On the other hand, deconstruction does not follow a predetermined structure. It expands itself and the text in accordance with the host text. It moves beyond Husserlian phenomenology to restate the untold narratives of the text.

Poststructuralism, before anything else, is an answer to its preceding epistemological approaches. Through a complicated dialogical relation, it borrows from its preceding approaches and simultaneously negates them. We can categorise all of the epistemological approaches before Derrida into two general categories of idealism and realism. Not only did idealist and realist approaches fail to solve the problems in epistemology, but they also added new ones, among which is their inability to explain the relation as well as the differences between the subject and object. This article claims that Derrida’s concept of the text and his notion of deconstruction answer to a number of complicated epistemological questions. The present research argues that the origin of the text is epistemological in essence. Deconstruction drives the text into a flexible context and undermines structures. The text is an all-encompassing integrated identity. Of note here is the fact that even this totality has its own limitations. Towering on the binaries, the text questions the structuralist signification and interpretation of language. It reveals itself as a being at lingo-cognitive horizons. The deconstructive approach to the text shakes the foundations of structuralist linguistics, ontologies, and epistemologies as it tries to interpret texts in endless processes. The text, therefore, is a context which perpetually deconstructs and constructs itself. Deconstruction challenges the fundamental premises of epistemology while acknowledging the complexity of the process of interpretation. It seeks to modify the traditional epistemological relations among the subject, object, and language and de-centralise texts in an attempt to make way for new and infinite semantic possibilities.

The present research has tried to interpret deconstruction as a means through which epistemology can redefine itself and look at the subject and the object in new ways. The primary aim of this article is to give an inclusive re-reading of the concept of the text and explore notions that are not explicitly treated in Derrida’s works. This can lead to a new understanding of epistemology in linguistics and semiotics. Also, this article discussed the issue of an epistemological reading of structuralism and the philosophical reasons behind its emergence. Generally, structuralism is a familiar term in epistemology and linguistic theories. Discussing the development of structuralism to deconstruction and poststructuralism and an epistemological reading of the development of structure to text have been among the main objectives of this article. These subtle but significant discussions can pave the way for a deeper understanding of literature and philosophy. Literature, in general, and literary theory, in particular, must always re-interpret themselves in fresh philosophical and epistemological paradigms to avoid reduction to simply verbal and rhetorical issues.