Dogmatic approaches interpret literary texts in definitive ways. However, literary texts do lose their supposed absolute and final meanings when approached from a poststructuralist perspective. Consequently, it is possible to have multiple readings of a text from different perspectives. Drawing on Derridean deconstruction of binary oppositions, this paper studies a miniature painting by Sultan Mohammad Naqqash based on Hafez’s poetry. Hafez’s divan is always open to various interpretations between spiritual and worldly approaches. Contrary to the classical interpretations in which a definitive meaning is sought after, “Heavenly and Earthly Inebriation” painting by Sultan Mohammad deconstructs this opposition and presents a new reading of the poem. Based on an analytic-historical method, we argue that this painting creates a new hermeneutic world by geometric composition, colors, and characterization. The painting, we conclude, maintains the poetic ambiguity of Hafez’s poetry. Accordingly, we can say that there is no final meaning in this painting because the spectators simultaneously experience both poles of this opposition and, as a result, for them there is no absolute interpretation.  

Keywords: Poststructuralism, Hafez, Sultan Mohammad, Binary Opposition, Jacques Derrida

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