مجله متن شناسی ادب فارسی
سال چهارم شماره 2 (پیاپی 14، تابستان 1391)

The current research will discuss narrative features in Marzban’nameh tales based on the theory of Tzvetan Todorov. On the basis of this، we study indicative، imperative، and imaginative moods with their subdivisions like: obligatory، optative، conditional، and anticipative moods. Identifying the type of relations between characters، finding the final structure of tales on the basis of frequency of narrative aspects and recognizing the basic factors in the formation and logical progress of tales in Marzban’nameh، are the goals of this research. The results show that relationship between characters of Marzban’nameh tales is reasonable and their behavior is positive. Thus، they do not utilize cheating and do not resort to deception and we cannot find any negative point in their behavior. The obligatory and conditional moods are less and anticipative moods have a greater frequency in tales. Opposition of optative and anticipative moods is fundamental in the formation and development of many tales.

Approaching old texts’ lexical reservoirs and recognizing them not only leads to more enrichment and productivity of Persian language vocabularies but also can be an effective pace toward investigating historical trend of Persian language in the domain of words and terminologies. Holy Quran’s interpretation، known as Cambridge commentary، is doubtlessly among the most valuable works for investigating the status of prose texts in historical linguistics and terminological researches of old texts. One of the notable tools of this interpretation، and maybe its distinctive feature compared to other old commentaries of the Quran، is the elegant attractive homogeneity between its lexical and linguistic structure and Khorasani’s style، especially in its proper and organized usage of words. Taking a special look at the lofty Cambridge commentary of the Quran as a precious sample of Persian language lexicons، this article explores the linguistic value of old texts. Hence، setting a lexical comparison of Cambridge commentary with Khorasani poems’ style as a pivotal element، 36 rare words are chosen from this book and compared with 40 Persian old texts belonging to 4th-6th Hegira centuries. Among them، 18 sources are in verse form، 10 are Quranic، 6 are Persian and Arabic dictionaries to Persian and 6 sources are other old prose works. Statistical data of this research are analyzed and evaluated in conclusion section.

The study of Persian epic-heroic prose works، created under the influence of Shahnameh and following narrative tradition، is one of the fields which is not considered in present research trend. Amir Arsalan is the last outstanding and influential instance of declined current of Persian narrative stories which was being narrated by Naghib-al-Mamalek Shirazi in the form of Naghali in Qajar period and has been inscribed by Touran Dokht، the daughter of Nasir-al-Din Shah. The influence of this story among various socio-cultural classes of Iran shows the importance and status of this work but the real value of this story can be understood only through investigation of its structural motives. Knowing the necessity of a research on motives of Persian narratives and the lack of research on Amir Arsalan، the authors of this article study the fictional motives of this story in four sections: marvelous motives، epic-picaresque motives، romantic motives and religious motives. The main feature of motives in this work is the presence of two factors، that is، repetition and stimulation. Another characteristic of this study is the influence of Shahnameh on Amir Arsalan which has took place through Naghali and the allusions to Shahnameh which are present in Amir Arsalan is an evidence for this matter.

Searching in literary works، we recognize the influence of religion on people’s thoughts. Religious beliefs are a mirror of the society ideals which guide them towards high goals، victory over cruelty and the way to truth. When Persian poetry flourished، poets had become familiar with the stories of the Prophets through the Koran and other religious books. At that time، the Islamic culture and stories of the Prophets gradually penetrated to the minds of many people and formed part of their mentality. Many hints are observed in Persian odes that، directly or indirectly، remind us of various national myths and religious stories. Poets used different stories in their works to enrich their poems. This matter keeps alive the history، customs، religion، rituals etc. In studying the odes، it was seen that in some centuries the influence of these stories increased and we describe in detail the evolution of stories and reasons of such influence. In this article، we study some Persian myths and Prophets’ tales and state the reasons of their prevalence and mixture with Persian myths.

The seven-adventures of Rostam، in particular، and other Iranian seven-adventures such as Esfandyar seven-adventures or Gorshasp pseudo-seven-adventures are a kind of eternity search، a kind of battle with selfhood that aims to facilitate the problems، the difficulties of evolution way and human ascent. By discussing and analyzing Iranian seven-adventures، this research aims to study the fourth adventure of all the seven-adventures، which is، at the surface، the battle between man (hero، champion) and woman but، in essence، it is the battle between fire and water. Fire is the son of Ahura Mazda and water is its enemy. Water، which was at one time the symbol of holiness and purity of Ahura، became a satanic element during Sassanid era and following the dominance of Zorvani thoughts on religious system of that time. By analyzing Rostam، Esfandyar، Gorshasp، Heracles fourth adventure and looking at Zal and Roodabe stories، Khajavi Kermani’s Sam-Nameh، Nezemi’s Khosro and Shirin and Mahmoud Dolatabadi’s Kalidar، we try to prove this hypothesis.

Plot is the main element of a story based on a temporal chain and causality. Although Siavash story is an epic story، there are some structural elements on the basis of which we should call the first episode of this story –from Siavash birth till his emigration– a ‘Dramatic story’ and its second episode –from his emigration till being killed– a ‘Tragic story’. Analysing the plot of this story، we can summarize it in three sequences. Every sequence consists of three to five functions and every function is mentioned as a sentence. We can name these three motifemes as ‘Death & Resurrection sequence’، ‘Dying in Youth sequence’ and ‘Jealousy & Vilification sequence’. These three motifemes in Siavash story can be seen serially in three stories، namely ‘Siavash & Sudabe story’، ‘Siavash & Kavus story’ and ‘Siavash & Afrasiab story’. In considering every one of these three motifemes we can reckon every sequence as a structural pattern on the basis of which several stories in world literature can be analysed and some of these motifemes can appear as mythemes.

Sa''di used first person narrator in almost one quarter (48 tales) of Golestan tales، though the current tradition of narrative in his period was based on third person narrator (omniscient). The main question in this study is that how first person narrative is used in Golestan. This study shows that، in Golestan، first person narrator is represented by various figures such as protagonist or witness. Most of these tales are autobiographical. This study also shows that there are not special functions of first person narrative in this literary work and there is no difference between structure and functions of third and first person narratives.

Due to its allegorical structure، Noor (light) verse is one of the most mysterious verses of the Quran. Because of this، many mystics have tried to decode its complex structure and deep notions. In this regard، the works of Sheikh Aziz-al-Din Mohammad Nasafi –the great mystic of seventh century- are among the most outstanding texts which can help us in interpreting this verse and offering a philosophical and mystical decoding of it. As a mystic، he not only inherits the past flourishing thought، but also investigates the concepts of this verse with an innovative and profound attitude. In this way، he ties the past intellectual tradition with extensive changes of seventh century. As a result، a novel attitude towards the allegories and intricate structure of Noor verse is formed. To do this، Nasafi used the method of Mashaee philosophers for reasoning as well as the precious heritage of illuminationist philosophers for interpreting. He also used mystical revelations for the interpretation of this verse. Analyzing his interpretations of this verse، this article also tries to elucidate similarities and differences between his innovations and earlier famous mystics and thinkers.