پژوهشنامه ادبیات داستانی
سال یکم شماره 3 (تابستان 1392)

The emergence of novel in its present form and pattern goes back to the early 19th century in Europe. This newly risen form of literature has a certain structure, for a novelist is often forced to pay close attention to the principles of composition like the issues of emplotment, characterization, situation making, narration and point of view as well as the thematic dimensions. In a domain of fiction writing, characterization is a major dimension which has had a significant role in the development of the novel. In Shekasteha is a novel by Jamal Mirsadeghi who is a contemporary writer. Perhaps as one of the most successful Persian novels, it uses the elements of fiction (writing) in an admirable way. Using a descriptive method of research writing, the present article takes it to analyze characterization in that novel. The outcomes of the research show that to provide sufficient fictional space in his work, the author has taken use almost of all methods of characterization including the composite method.

The political narrative fiction is a branch of the modern fiction which can be analysed from different perspectives. The intention of the present article is to perform a political reading on five stories by women writers belonging to the era after the Islamic revolution in Iran. The political issues reflected in the stories, the role of the male and female characters in political issues, different views about the participation of women in political activities, and the type, the method, and the volume of their participation are among the issues which the article attempts to discuss. In these novels, the main characters are usually among the women, although they often participate in lower social levels. In addition, these female characters are portrayed as idealistic, and there is an attempt in these stories to show that the women have participated in political activities hand in hand with the men, and that their roles in such issues of the modern Iran are as vital as those of men. This article also attempts to show the illustration in these stories of the obstacles in the way of the women’s presence in the political scene, and how they highlight the significance of the their participation in political affairs.

Delgosha Thesis is one of the most well-known works of Obeid Zakani in the field of humor literature which is of the two sections of Arabic and Persian anecdotes. Many literary experts and critics know Obeid as the creator of the humorous anecdote. However, a more careful examination of the Arabic section of this work makes it clear that in the composition of such anecdotes their author has been influenced by a number of Arabic sources. Our investigations show that Obeid is not really the creator of those anecdotes, but that his work is much under the influence of some Arabic sources. However, it should be acknowledged that in his influence by those sources, Obeid is more than a mere copier, because in a big number of anecdotes, he often paraphrases a saying or expression. The end result of such paraphrasing is that although he preserves the semantic dimensions of the expression, but he narrates it in a different wording. In addition, the present research makes it clear that the work of Obeid has influenced Emasi’s Rouzi Al-Khiyar men Rabi-El Abrar so heavily that there are twenty anecdotes by Obeid which are without an Arabic source but which have been found in Emasi’s book.

A “short story” is a rather short tale typically with a limited number of characters where they partake often in a single action and focus on the creation of a certain atmosphere through a unified effect. Yeki Boud Yeki Nabood by Mohammadali Jamalzadeh is the first collection of short stories written in the modern style. A look on the five stories selected here from the collection shows that they are very simple and elementary in structure, so simple that they reveal almost no structural innovation. To offer an analysis of the narrative style of those stories, the present article uses a theory by Jaap Lintvelt who is a French critic. Considering the practical heterogeneity of the narrator and actor in each story, two main narrative forms are defined: narrative with heterogeneous atmosphere and narrative with homogeneous atmosphere. Each of these forms can be divided into minor forms. The heterogeneous narrative has three forms: the text-scriber (where the author or “I” the narrator is the same with “I” the narrated), the actor, and the neutral; while in the homogenous narrative there are only two forms: the text-scriber and the actor. In terms of narration, all the five stories are in the homogenous text-scriber. Looking at the past times of the story, the narrator relates it while he removes his camera along with the other actors. The point of view in the selected stories is introvert which goes with their narrative mode. Their plot structure is solid enough, while “Molla Ghorbanali’s confiding” is the most complete in narration. On the whole, a big part of the success of Yeki Boud Yeki Naboud seems to be a function of its simple language and the treasure of popular culture in which it is rooted. Its narrative techniques are simple, and certain narrative turns are not highlighted in it.

The views of thinkers about the political leaders are discussed perhaps mainly in texts of advice literature and courtier books. In the past stages of the long history of the Iranian kingdoms, the country was often under the reign of a tyrannical king who was having the monopoly of power. So, any attempt for disciplining the king – who stood at the top of the society - would mean disciplining the whole society also. Therefore, the thinkers and writers of advice literature tried to make him familiar with his governing tasks. For doing this, they often attempted to advise him in different ways. One of these ways in the hand of the writers was story-telling of which they took advantage of different forms and methods while they also tried to alleviate the bitter admonition for them. The present paper is an attempt to investigate the advantages and techniques of story-telling in advice literature.

Houshang Golshiri is one of the greatest and most influential Iranian story writers in the contemporary times. And Prince Ehtejab is not only among the most important works of Golshiri, but is also a significant work in the modern fiction which takes use of the techniques of interior monologue and stream of consciousness. For a substantial use of these techniques in the development of his plot, Golshiri has taken wide use of a number of non-verbal elements of communication, and that in a highlighted and determining way. In this way, the purpose of the present research is to study the function of non-verbal behaviors and communications in his novel. Taking use of the advantages of the interdisciplinary method (that is, the techniques of narrative fiction, semiotics, and psychology), the present article tries to analyze a variety of examples in Golshiri’s novel of non-verbal communication along with the reasons behind the use of each of them. It also tries to investigate the extent and quality of Golshiri’s attention to the role of these elements in the progress of his fiction. Non-verbal behaviors are in different relations with the elements of the story. For example, sound relations take role in the created tone of the story, space paraphernalia take role in the manufacture of the situation, and hints and gestures take role in the creation of suspense and characterization. In Prince Ehtejab, the elements of space are more frequent than any other element while facial conducts, bodily gestures, and paralanguages take the next positions. These narrative conducts take particular roles in characterization, in the montage of space, and in the production of the fictional scenes.

Morphology is a new method of literary criticism and analysis that was proposed by Vladimir Propp (the Russian formalist) in 1928 A D. In his book entitled Morphology of the Folktale, Prop examined a hundred of Russian fairy tales to show that despite their apparent formal plurality and variety, all fairy tales take similar functions and follow similar rules of action. Therefore, (he argued that) stories have similar narrative structures. In addition, he claimed that not only folkloric tales, but mythological stories also are capable to follow the rules of the same narrative elements. The present article intends to formulate and analyze the narrative structure of 2 love stories: “Ram and Sita” from the book of Ramayana, and “Zal and Roodabe” from the Shahnameh by Ferdowsi.