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Huge burden of research in comparative literature in Iran relates to influence studies between Persian literature and other literatures based on the French school, though many of them are not scientific and purposeful due to the theoretical and methodological problems of French school and the methods of Iranians comparatists. This paper has three-part structure: in the first part, we discuss the theory and methodology of influence studies according to the French school. Next, it includes the criticism on the methodology of French school. In the third level, we investigate and analyze some of the theoretical and methodological problems in influence studies in Iran, and we conclude that the lack of appropriate background, imported theory and its mismatch with the literary and scientific needs of the community, incomplete understanding of the theory and the methodology of French school, and unfamiliarity with new approaches in this field are some of the main reasons of problems in influence studies in Iran.  

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With no doubt, the newly founded discipline of Comparative Literature has a very close relationship with translation and translations studies. If we accept the fact that Comparative Literature, at least in one of its school, deals with influence studies, then, we are in the realm of translation studies. Translation can serve as a force for literary renewal and innovation. This is one of the ways in which translation studies research has served comparative literature well. Now it is acknowledged that translation has played a vital role in literary history and that great periods of literary innovation are preceded by periods of intense translation activity. The significance of FitzGerald’s Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam lies in how the poem was read when it appeared and in the precise historical moment when it was published. The impact of FitzGerald’s Rubaiyat was such that on the one hand it could serve as models for a new generation of poets struggling to make the skepticism and pessimism a proper subject for poetry, while on the other hand it established a benchmark for future translators because they set the parameters in the minds of English-language readers of what Persian poetry could do. The present study tries to show that FitzGerald’s Rubaiyat had a role in forming pre-modern English poetry, notably Housman’s poetry, in terms of form and content.  

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One of the texts that has played an important role in the conception of Maroufi’s Symphony of the Dead (1989) is Ardabil dar Gozargah-e Tarikh[1] by Baba Safari (1920-2003). The two texts are so much interwoven that at times it becomes impossible to distinguish Safari’s voice from Maroufi’s. Although Marouf’s novel is not a historical one, it depicts the events occurring in Ardabil between 1934 and 1976.  At first look, Ardabil seems to be whatconnects the two works. But beyond this, Maroufi not only reconstructs some of the historical events narrated in this book, but also creates some of his fictional characters borrowing from the descriptions of the historical figures that Safari has brought into life in his book. This article studies the influence of Safari’s historical work on Maroufi’s novel.  
[1]. Ardabil in the Passageway of History