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Shokouh Fourjanizadeh, Mahboubeh Khorasani, Morteza Rashidi,
Volume 12, Issue 46 (10-2019)
Abstract

Structuralism is one of the most important areas of the modern literary theory, which has contributed to the creation of new subjects, the evaluation of similarities and differences, and the possibility of the analysis of the Persian literary texts based on standard universal models. Recently, Western literary theories have been increasingly used in the analysis of many literary research studies in Iran, aiming to shed some light into the hidden aspect of literary works and provide new insights. And few studies have ever not used structural and morphological approaches in their literary analysis. Based on a review of the Persian literary morphological studies conducted in different decades, the present study aimed to analyze the growth of them qualitatively and quantitatively and also to analyze their literary genres. Further, it investigated the degree to which Propp’s morphology theory has been used in a standard scientific way in these texts. Finally it was concluded that the inappropriate and mechanistic applications of Propp’s morphology theory in the Persian literary texts have led to inappropriate theory selection, simplification story elements, disregarding the goal and context of the theory, repetition of the method, poor introduction, and unrelated conclusion.

Elham Arabshahi Kashi, Reza Shajari,
Volume 16, Issue 64 (12-2023)
Abstract

 
Criticism of methodology and analysis of literary works is one of the important topics in the field of scientific and research works, which can shed light on the intertextual influence of literary texts, especially in fiction. In the present study, the authors, using the method of content analysis and comparative comparison, found one of the ways of espionage in the war in seven famous literary and historical stories "King of Jahud and Nasranian" in Masnavi and Hayat Al-Hayvan Demiari, "Boom and Ghorab" in Kelileh. and Demeneh, "Firouzshah and Hitalian" in Tabari's history, "Shaghad and Rostam" in Ferdowsi's Shahnameh, "Zaba and Qasir Ebn-e Saad" in Balami's history, "Bibi Seti and Abu Muslim" in Abu Muslimnameh. The results showed that the method of espionage in the story of King of Jahud and the Christians in Masnavi and Hayat al-Haiwan is stronger than other stories in terms of structure and content. The method of penetrating is based on a kind of cognitive warfare, which without any military conflict, and only with mastering the power of knowledge and identifying the religious beliefs of the enemy, created differences among the fearful and destroyed them. This principle has not been observed in other stories.
Extended Abstract
Introduction
One of the tools of war is deception, and one of the ways to deceive and overcome the enemy is to "infiltrate" the enemy's army with various methods and tactics, which is interpreted as espionage, and in fact, espionage in today's military literature is the collection of discourse, which is breaking into the enemy's camp to covertly collect military secrets, sabotage, or influence commanders and soldiers to defeat the military war. The method of hard penetration and espionage is one of the old tactics in war, when a person volunteered to defend the ideals of their country, nation, group or tribe by risking their life, this is somewhat reminiscent of the same jurisprudential ruling of "Tatarros" is also in Islam.
Therefore, in the present study, an attempt has been made to criticize the methodology of war tactics and the method of "infiltration" in the enemy's army and overcoming them in seven famous literary and historical stories of King Jahoud and his Vazir-e Makkar Boles in Hayat al-Haivan Demiari, King Jahoud and Nasranian in Masnavi, Boom and Ghorab in Kelila and Demeneh, Shaghad and Rostam in Ferdowsi's Shahnameh, Firozshah's battle with Hayatla in Tabari's history, Bibi Seti in Abu Muslimnameh and the battle of Zaba and Jezima in Balami's history. The study is an attempt to answer these questions: To what extent the methodological criticism and the comparative comparison of ancient literary and historical texts have been influenced by each other? Can the analysis of the content of ancient historical and literary texts help to reflect the unity of these texts?
So far, many studies have been done on some of the historical and literary stories presented in this research separately; But in none of them, there is mention of methodological criticism and comparative comparison of the methods and tactics of infiltrating the enemy's army. Therefore, the authors have tried to, through methodological criticism, comparative comparison and analysis of the content of seven famous historical stories, look into the matter. In terms of the method of influence and war strategy, the authors looked at the intertextual influence of these texts and their similarities and differences and the extent of their influence on each other. In the current paper, seven famous literary and historical stories "King Jahoud and the Nasranians" in Masnavi and Hayat al-Haiwan Demiari, "Boom and Ghorab" in Kelileh and Demeneh, "Firouzshah and Hitaliyan" in Tabari's Tarikh, "Shaghad and Rostam" in Ferdowsi's Shahnameh , "Zaba and Qasir Ebn-e Saad" in Balami's history, "Bibi Seti and Abu Muslim" in Abu Muslim's book are critically reviewed and the differences and similarities of these texts are evaluated. The results showed that the espionage method in the story of King Jahoud and the Christians in Masnavi and Hayat al-Haiwan is stronger than other stories in terms of structure and content.

2. Results
Criticism of the methodology and comparative comparison of war tactics and the method of hard penetration in the enemy army in seven famous historical and literary stories showed that based on the components of comparative literature, it can be said that there were sometimes interactions and exchanges between the two nations; As in Masnavi, Kelila and Demna, we can clearly understand this cultural exchange between the two nations of Iran and India in Masnavi, Kelila and Damna. However, according to the theory of intertextuality, one cannot be considered the original version and the other a copy, rather, basically, such a plot has existed in thousands of other stories before these two stories in different nations. In other words, in the story of King Jahud, Bibi Seti in dealing with Abu Muslim's enemies, Firoz Shah's battle with Hayatele, Buf and Zagh, Shaghad and Rostam, Zaba and Qusayr Ebn-e Saad, Siavash and Sudabah, Yusuf and Zulikha, Shahzad and Kanizak. One of the characters in the story has tried to deceive the enemy's army with trickery, such as tearing his clothes, scratching his face, injuring himself (self-mutilation), humiliating and insulting him in public. The use of this trick in wars is one of the common ways; But in the three recent love stories, the difference can be seen that at the end of the story, the deceiver is disgraced and punished for his actions, such as Sudabah who was killed by Rostam or the scandal of Zulikha with the interpretation of Yusuf's dreams in prison. And also the disgrace and scandal of the maid can be mentioned with the testimony of the prince. Therefore, in the present study, the review and comparative comparison of seven famous literary and historical stories showed that the method of hard influence in the story of King Jahud in Hayat al-Hiyavan Damiri and Masnavi is stronger than the other mentioned stories in terms of structure and content. The method of penetrating is based on a kind of cognitive warfare, which without any military conflict, and only with mastering the power of knowledge and identifying the religious beliefs of the enemy, created differences among the fearful and destroyed them. This principle has not been observed in other stories.  As in the stories of Bom, Gharab, Firouzshah, Hayatle, Zaba, and Qusayr, hard influence and espionage are introduced through the lever of praising the military power of the enemy group and being rejected and accused among the insider forces. In the story of Bibi Seti in Abu Muslim Nameh, he used oppression and oppression by his own forces as a means of his hard influence on the enemy group, and in the story of Shaghad and Rostam, humiliation and insults and destruction of his personality by his own forces were his means of influence.What is certain is that the analysis of the qualitative content of the above-mentioned stories showed that the method of hard penetration in the story of Hayat al-Hiyavan and Masnavi was stronger and more effective than other stories.

Roghaye Bahadori, Fatemeh Sadeghi Naghdali Olya,
Volume 17, Issue 65 (4-2024)
Abstract

Due to the temporal gap between the author's childhood and that of the child reader, children's literature defies age limits and thus exemplifies crossover literature. Post-structural criticism and deconstruction are amongst critical approaches that can spotlight such contradictory gaps in a text. Mohammad-Reza Shams is a distinguished and influential icon in contemporary Iranian children's literature. In this research, a selection of his works has been examined by using Derrida's deconstructive approach. This research has applied a descriptive and interpretive method with purposeful sampling. Deconstructive features such as binary oppositions, indecidability, aporia, intertextuality, deauthorization, and iterability have been traced in Shams' works. Intertextuality seems to be the dominant deconstructive feature in his fictional world. The findings of this research indicate that Shams' works expose readers to multiple meaning and confront them with the unending chain of signifiers. Intertextual fluidity and multiple layers of meaning in Shams' fiction reveal that the implied reader of his works far from being a passive consumer of the text, is actively involved in the process of meaning construction.
Extended Abstract
Introduction
What makes "children literature" different from "adult literature" is the role and position of the audience in children's literature. The creators of literature that is characterized by the childishness of the audience are adults who maintain their authoritative relationship in the work unintentionally. This point will inevitably lead to two-sidedness of children's literature. One of the methods that can provide a proper analysis of children's literature texts and respond to the dual confrontations of children's literature and at the same time show its depth is Derrida's deconstruction.
Using the method of deconstruction in the analysis of literary texts does not mean the destruction of meaning, but the concept of describing the instability and pluralism on which the foundations of the texts are formed. In this research, we intended to examine the selected works of Mohammad Reza Shams, with a poststructuralist reading and Derrida's deconstruction approach. He is one of the prominent authors in the field of children's and adolescent literature. Mohammad-Reza Shams has tried to write differently in his creative works by avoiding stereotypes.
Data and Method
In this research, we examine Derrida's poststructuralist and deconstructionist concepts, including binary oppositions, indecidability, aporia, intertextuality, deauthorization, and iterability and recognize these features and concepts in the selected works of Mohammadreza Shams' works. Mohammadreza Shams has implemented some of Derrida's theories in his creative works.
For this purpose, after the explanation of post-structuralism and Derrida's deconstruction, we have studied the poststructuralist reading of four works written by Mohammad Reza Shams for the teenage age group, from the two perspectives of indication and narrative, in order to show how they deconstruct themselves. These works, which are well attuned to the criticism of Derrida's deconstruction, include: Divāneh and Chāh; Sobhāne-ye Khiāl; Man, Man-e Kale Gonde; Man Zan-Bābā o Damāq-e Bābā.
Results and Discussion
The post-structuralist reading of texts can be done from the two perspectives of indication and narration. In the deconstruction of signification, the endless reference of signifier brings about the plurality of meaning and the birth of meaning; therefore, it includes the components of binary oppositions, indecidability, aporia, all of which indicate the absence of ultimate meaning. The deconstruction of binary oppositions questions the concepts derived from metaphysical thinking and creates a new interpretation. In the studied works of Shams, the author has tried to present a different and new interpretation by collapsing the opposites of sane/insane, man/his shadow, death/life, text/margin and man/woman.
indecidability opens the way for any decision and gives it the possibility to be different. In the works of Shams, there are many characters who are stuck in their affairs and do not have the ability to make decisions, and this inability sometimes involves the narrator as well. Aporia are the blind spots that prevent definitive meaning, and the text remains uninterpretable, like secrets that remain unsealed and questions that are never answered. In the works of Shams, there are many behaviors that have no reason and relationships whose nature is ambiguous. There are many questions that remain unanswered.
In the deconstruction of the narrative, the narrative is just one of the infinity of narratives that are being built and destroyed one after another. Shams usually does not use linear narration and cause and effect logic in his works, and the circular structure is usual in his works. In his works, we are usually faced with several narratives, and sometimes a part of the narrative can be removed without adversely affected the entire narrative; the seeming insignificance of the story itself and the importance of its plot and how to narrate it by choosing a non-linear, complex and irregular method are some of the features that perceived in some of Shams' narratives. The components that are investigated in this context are intertextuality, de-authorization and iterability.
In general, intertextuality means that no speech or writing creates meaning by itself, but its meaning is created by referring to other speeches and writings. The intertextuality in Shams' works are generally references to proverbs, folk tales, stories of prophets, characters from the Shāhnāmeh and other literary works, sometimes they refer to other works of the author himself.
In de-authorization, attention is directed from the author to the text. Therefore, it is no longer possible to claim that the text has a center or a point that can be considered the origin; the text is a combination of pre-existing fragments of text. The existence of this point of view in post-structuralism degrades the position of the author. Sometimes, by leaving the work of art incomplete or expressing the inability to create, the artist himself attested the invalidity of the author's role; In this situation, the text ends in a way that gives the reader the opportunity of different readings, or in the text, different endings are put in front of the reader to choose from. We see both modes in the works of Shams. In all these stories, we are facing an open ending. Sometimes this open ending is clearly stated in the text.
Iterability is the repetitions that are both similar to the repeated sign and different from it and make the reader continue reading; each repetition produces a difference. It can be said that Shams intends to establish a link between the scattered pieces of the narrative by bringing the repeated scenes, dialogues or events in his long stories. In addition to recurring factors in a story, some scenes or themes are repeated in several works of Shams, which is a sign of infinity. The existence of this feature keeps the narratives from being straightforward and definiteness.
Conclusion
The temporal gap between the author and the audience leads to two-sidedness of children's literature and adds to its complexity; however, this duality itself can cause binary oppositions and multiple meanings. One of the approaches of literary criticism that can show this duality is post-structuralism and Derrida's deconstructive approach. In this way of reading, new meanings and interpretations of the text show themselves and it leads to pluralization and generation of meaning. Mohammad-Reza Shams, one of the prominent writers in the field of children and adolescence literature, has tried to write differently in his authored and creative works by avoiding stereotypes.
In addition to the fact that the presence of components of deconstruction in the works causes multiplicity, discontinuity, and birth of meaning, the structure of the stories is also generally in a form that allows the reader the possibility of different readings. Sometimes the author gives several endings for the stories and gives the reader the right to choose. In the most cases, by leaving the narrative unfinished, he gives the reader the chance to determine the end of the narrative at his own will.
The plurality of meanings in Shams' works provides the possibility of several different interpretations for the reader. In fact, the works of Mohammad-Reza Shams directs the reader towards the plurality of meanings and the continuous generation of meanings by taking advantage of these indicative and narrative features. The intertextual fluidity and multiple layers of meaning in these works indicate that the hidden audience of the text is not a static consumer, but plays an effective and dynamic role in constructing the meaning of the text.
 


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