Persian Language and Literature

Publication Information

The Role of Diacritical Point in Reading a Word and Its effect on Defining the Meaning of the Poems of Hafiz

Salim Neysari

Some of the scribes of manuscripts of the poems of Hafiz, including the scribes of the ninth century AH, due to their haste or because they thought little of the importance of diacritical points in the words, did not care for the right position of point in writing or even sometimes omitted it.For the editor of the poetry of Hafiz, especially in his reference toand use of the manuscripts, the problem is that when a word whose first letter, for example, has no pointhe can neither put the word among those manuscripts that take the word as a positive verb nor among those where the word is written as a negative verb.The three examples given in this article show that the editors of the poetry of Hafiz could not come to an agreement regarding the writing of the word in question on the basis of a certain meaningor interpretation of some of the verses of Hafiz. Indeed interest in one reading or following one editionhave made this agreement impossible.

Reflection of the Elements of Realism in Showhar-e- Ahoo Khanom

Gholam Reza Salemian

Shohar-e AhooKhanoum, written by Ali Mohammad Afghani, is an excellent andexciting novel which potentiallyreflects the social problems. Due to its capacity in representing the specific social problems, this novel has gained a special status in Iran's contemporary narrative literature. The essentialelements of Realism in this novel show that its writer has been greatly influenced by the principles of Realism, and his basic techniques in the development and organization of the story are primarily Realistic. Afghani tries to adapt the events, characters and other aspects of his novel to the main principles of Realism representing the social realities on the basis of his own observations and experiences. By creating lifelike characters and focusing on social events, the writer puts a clear mirror in front of the reader in which he can observe the problems of the society. This article is mainly an attempt to discuss the Realistic aspects of this novel in order to unravel the hidden aspects of events.

Focal Spectrums in the Tragedy of Rostam and Esfandiyar

Qolam Ali Fallah

The narrative focus has a significant role in the analysis of those techniques that the storyteller uses in creating his own stories. The point of view, with respect to its semantic extension in modern narratives, is a special aspect by which the narrator shapes the temporal, cognitive – emotional and ideological components of his story and the narratee is sometimes led to read the text when the narrator changes and creates various points of view and presents different views. Therefore, the story finds a dynamic process by an interaction among the narrator, the character and the reader. In the story of Rostam and Esfandiyar, the narrator portrays the setting, incidents, characters and their actions, thoughts and inner feelings in an aesthetic and beautiful way and this is done by using different and changeable narrative focuses. In addition, the narrator provides presentation, evaluation and judgment of the story by his absence or presence in some parts of the story and also by combination of two ways of narration and drama. Furthermore, sometimes the narratee is led to a more effective and sincere inspiration of the story by narrating the story from the characters’ point of view. In addition, the narrator expresses his own doctrines and special ideology by using non-narrator focus or the characters’ words; as a result he prepares the situation for the presentation and conjunction of different views or opinions, and in this aspect it equals many modern narratives. The analysis ofa few parts of this story can show Firdausi’s exceptional genius in his creation of this universal masterpiece.

In-group and Out-group Criticism (Bahar and Eghbal- Bahar and Rafat)

Habib Allah Abbasi

In this research two kinds of critical approaches are introduced and then some examples of these two approaches are selected and discussed. The aim of this article is to consider the critical fields in Constitution period in Iran, which is counted as the turning point in passing from tradition to modernity. The first approach, in-group criticism, is criticism among the members of one group; the second approach, out-group criticism, is done among the members of two different groups. The example selected for the first approach refers to the “Association of the Faculty” and its two members Mohammad TaghiBahar and Abbas EghbalAshtiani, who stand for Neoclassicism. The second example refers to the “Association of the Faculty” and Bahar in particular and Tajaddod-e Tabriz Journal and TaghiRafat at its heads. The latter group represents revolutionary Romanticism. The method of this research is based ontextual analysis.The analysis of the content of these two approaches shows that the in-group approach in Constitution period was more moderate compared tothe out-group approach and sometimes personal prejudices had a role in the process of criticism. There has been difference in taste in the first approach, and in the second approach the difference is in thought and ideas. If approaches like these could have changedinto movements, they could have been useful in criticism of literature and also in widening the field of criticism. These two approaches, however, had been stopped gradually. Moreover, out-group criticism is considered as the opposition of Neoclassicism and Romanticism in Iran.

Daqayiq al-Shi’r and Its Composer Based on a New-found Manuscript

Arham Moradi

Daqayiq al-Shi’r is a Persian rhetorical book which was composed in the eighth century A.H. This book was published by Mohammad KazemEmamsome years ago. However, investigating its different manuscripts, a new version of the work was found which includes some different and new parts in comparison with the published version. Given the genealogical discrepancies of the manuscripts of the work and some other old resources, this article attempts to present some new information about the composer, his patrons and the place of composition of the work

Slaves in Persian Poetry Investigation of Allegorical Tales about Slaves from Sanai to Qasim Anwar

Shohrat Marefat

The slaves had an undeniable role among the different social classes regardless of sex, race and color. In this respect the significant presence of Zangi slaves is remarkable. At first, they were only slaves and they had a very hard living and social life. Gradually, they achieved an intellectual and social status with their presence in other communities.They confirmedtheirpresence in the mind and language of the Farsi speakers and entered Persian poetry and poetic allegories. The proof of this claim is the various allegorical tales and proverbs that are based onthe life of slave characters. In this article the importance of the presence of slaves and the structure of lexical-grammaticalaspects of the term slave are discussed and then their race andorigin, sociallife and their entry into the politicalarena are considered. The socio-political presence of the slaves led to their presenceinthefieldofpoetry. The pleasantandunpleasanteffects of the presence of the slaves in Persian poetry have been analyzed and then the numerous evidencesinpoetry have been noted. In the main part of this article, allegorical anecdotes aboutslaveshave been investigated to show various effects of their physical and mentalcharacteristics. Some of theseanecdotes have traditional background,but some others have escaped traditionand, therefore, give a differentimage ofthe slaves

A Study of SomePrepositionsin Hebrew-PersianLiterature

Hamed Noruzi

Hebrew-Persian texts are texts which are Persian in language but have written in Hebrew characters. These texts belong to the third century AD and have been written before the Arabic-Persian texts. This is why many of the phonetic, morphological and syntactical features of themiddle period have been kept in Hebrew-Persian texts.One of the major grammatical features that have been preserved in Hebrew-Persian literature isthe specific application ofprepositionssuch asōandpa(d) in middle Persian manner. Someprepositionssuch as ' b'z find new meaning in Hebrew-Persian texts. Someprepositionslike'zmrare foundonly in Hebrew-Persian literature. Since there are no prepositionsinformalmodern Persian, this study can reveal theevolution oftheprepositionsfromthe middleperiodtomodernperiod. In thisarticle, it is shown how the prepositionswhich had remained from themiddlePersianperiodareaffected bythe formalmodern Persianprepositions andgraduallymiddle Persianand Persian prepositions are replaced bymodern Persianprepositions.