Interdisciplinary Studies of Literature, Arts and Humanities

Abstract The present paper investigates the history of the development of the Persian prose in the recent past one hundred years. The main purpose of this research is to provide a brief history of the contemporary Persian prose, based on the definition of periodization and influences of contemporary discourses since the beginning and up to the nineties (solar calendar). In the periodization presented here, the development of the contemporary Persian prose in relation to social structure and its crises has been considered. The paper shows that familiarity with modernity and related discourses have paved the way for major developments in Persian prose and that the connection between these developments and the socio-political structure of the Iranian society has led to the formation of different periods (five suggested periods) in the history of Persian prose. These periods are: The Constitutional Period, the first Pahlavi Period, the second Pahlavi Period, the Islamic Revolution Period and since seventies to the present.

Abstract The present paper draws on mythological criticism to comparatively approach Persian and Indian epics in analyzing Esfandiar's character in Shahnameh as well as Vritra in Indian epic. More specifically, the paper proposes that Esfandiar's battle with Rostam reflects many dragonish elements of Vritra in Indian mythology, a perspective quite different from what is commonly considered about Esfandīār's battle with Rostam. The findings suggest that the account of Esfandīār's battle with Rostam is a transformed version of the account of the battle of Vritra, the drought dragon, with Indira in Indian mythology. Esfandyar's connection with religious foundations, which is due to the artistic manipulations of storytellers or theologians in later periods, causes Esfandīār's character to move away from his dragon pedigree and, instead, get closer to religious and heroic figures. Esfandīār in his invincibility, his death caused with an arrow shot at a vulnerable spot and other characteristics are unmistakeably similar to those of the drought dragon of Indian mythology. That which makes Esfandīār insist on tying Rostam's hands in a demonic dream also reflects an important structural part of Vritra's battle with Indira.

Abstract Shahnameh, as a great work in the field of Eastern epic literature, has a great potential for dramatization. This possibility, of course, requires a knowledge of the original text as well as a knowledge of the Eastern drama. Relying on his knowledge and awareness of Eastern narratives and Eastern drama, Bahram Beyzaie, the prominent playwright, pays special attention to the narratives of Shahnameh and their dramatization. The present paper focuses on four of Beyzaie's plays, all of which have been adapted from Shahnameh. More specifically, this descriptive-analytical study explicates the techniques used by Beyzaie in "Azhedahak", "Shab-e-Hezar-o-Yekom", "Sohrabokoshi" and "Siavashkhani" in his dramatization of the original narratives. The results show that in order to dramatize the stories of Shahnameh, Beyzaie has paid much attention to the tools of Eastern drama such as naqqali and tae'ziyeh. In addition, the playwright has deployed elements and techniques such as characterization, conflict, monologue as well as tools of metadrama such as play within the play and distancing in dramatization of the original narratives.

Abstract In contemporary times, with the priority given to specialization in literary research, interdisciplinary studies have become a new trend with an independent identity and form in current literary criticism. Psychoanalysis is one such specialized field whose relationship with literature is one of the most important of these relationships. Among the new psychoanalytical theories, "Transactional Analysis", first developed by "Eric Berne", is an efficient method to describe human behavior as codified. Ferdowsi's Shahnameh, is one of the most prominent classical narrative works in Persian literature, whose strength in employing narrative elements, dialogue, and characterization makes it a relevant subject for text-oriented analysis. Therefore, the present analytical descriptive research aims to analyze interactions of characters Za’al, Keikavos and Rostam based on the textual data. It is quite clear that if the "Mature" level of the characters' psyche had the guiding skill of the "Parent", the plot structure of Rostam and Sohrab's narrative would not follow the path of tragedy. In addition, the dominance of the "Parent" aspect in Keikavos and Rostam, and the absence of Za’al as an "Adult" is considered the core of the formation of this tragedy.

Abstract Walter de la Mare and Sohrab Sepehri live in turbulent periods of contemporary histories of their countries. In these circumstances, many of their contemporaries draw on political demands and social issues as inspiration to create literary works. These two, however, follow a kind of mild Romanticism and are more concerned with emotional experiences rather than social and political developments. This tendency causes some critics to accuse them of a "lack of social commitment" and "irresponsibility" for fellow human beings, but these poets' humanitarian poems cast doubt on such claims. The main purpose of this paper is to try to probe into the reasons involved in the formation of these poets' Romantic tendencies. To do so, we have deployed Freud's "Psychological Defense Mechanisms". The compatibility of the poems with many components of this theory suggests that such divergence from the dominant intellectual trend, could be a subconscious "psychological defense mechanism" manifested in these poems.

Abstract The present paper is a comparative and interdisciplinary study on the notion of love in the works of Jalāl ad-Dīn Muhammad Rūmī, the famous Persian mystic, and Jacques Lacan, the renowned French psychoanalyst and philosopher. In this research, love is approached from two perspectives, namely, love in the view of Rumi, as one of the highest levels of mysticism which cannot be expressed through language, and love in the eyes of Lacan as an imaginary and illusory relationship, based on narcissistic desires. This comparison makes clear that the difference between the two views goes back to their difference on the definition of love. For Lacan, love is located inside the imaginary order, while for Rumi it belongs, in Lacanian terms, to the real order. This study tries to put forth a Rumi-Lacanian definition of love through translating Rumi’s ideas and expressions to the language of psychoanalysis, and see, in that case, what place love will occupy in Lacan’s thought, compared to his own definition of love.

Abstract This study aims to investigate the ways in which the structures of human imagination have connections with primordial forms and symbols and shows how these early spontaneous images in humans transform such symbols into thoughts and artistic productions. It seems that human imagination is structured by generic forms based on ancient legends and myths. These forms have been systematized in the Nocturnal regime of imagination introduced by Gilbert Durand. Durand considers the structure of human imagination as a dynamic regime in a way that it can reveal primordial images with the help of symbols. This regime can reveal the relationship between human beings and cultures with the help of symbolic imagination. Monavar Ramazani's paintings are forms of imagination rooted in religious narratives, folk tales and oral literatures of her childhood. She has noted that she had first seen some of her paintings in her dreams before she started to paint them. The results of this study show that even though these painting aspire to be cultural images, they reveal a deep and symbolic connection with archetypes

Abstract Theorists of diaspora studies have considered three different states for immigrants who live far from their ancestral homeland: the desire to return to one's original homeland, the attempt to make the new land one's home and considering homeland as a fluid conception. Iranian-Afghan writer Alieh Ataee has also addressed this issue in her latest work, Koorsorkhi: A Story of Soul and War (2021). The present descriptive- analytical paper examines characteristics of the immigrants in this collection, based on the three perspectives mentioned above. The results show that due to the existence of unresolved issues and problems in Afghanistan and the permanent political unrest, a small number of immigrants are willing to return to their homeland. In contrast, there is a greater number of immigrants who are completely disillusioned with their ancestral homeland and want to create a home in the new country. There is also a group who is caught in-between their original homeland and their new home, and this constant confusion has caused serious injury to their psyche. Koorsorkhi points to a new situation to which the paper refers as the "borderline identity", a situation in which the immigrant consciously chooses when to be considered as Afghan or Iranian, depending on the circumstances.

Abstract Idealists believe that understanding the filmic world and the world around it depends on the perception and the ways in which the mind of the audience work. Realists, in contrast, see re-creation and representation as a reflection of an external, undistorted reality. The views of Andre Bazin, the leader of the realist movement, have always been met with skepticism and opposition, and the idealists have taken advantage of this movement to explain different views on cinematic representations. In phenomenological theory in which Husserl plays a pivotal role, understanding representation is an intuitive and direct process. Phenomenologists emphasize subjectivity, the power of imagination in the representational experience, and the role that consciousness and awareness play in the independent existence of objects, whether imaginary or real. Their main emphasis is on analyzing the performance of the imaginative force, the emotional response, and the mental representation of the spectator's presence in the film's cosmos. Vivian Sobchack the phenomenologist of the present age, goes beyond this view and believes that films, like humans, can comprehend mental processes such as perception and have agential activity; therefore, they should be analyzed with these characteristics in mind. The present study adopts a phenomenological approach with the aim of revealing the viewer's perception of the cinematic representational experience. Hence, the research problem is to analyze and understand how the spectator communicates with the phenomenon of film and cinema. The research method is qualitative-interpretive.

Abstract Similar to other written and visual narratives, Cinema reflects social and cultural values, and therefore, it has much to offer to interdisciplinary approaches to language and culture. It is possible to examine connections between the text and the society via discourse analysis and attending to the details of such texts, which could offer valuable findings to researchers. Among relevant methods in discourse analysis, Laclau and Mouffe’s approach (known as Discourse theory) is an efficient method in analyzing texts in which social references are of importance, since on the one hand, Discourse theory is rooted in Marxism, and on the other hand, it views the phenomena from the perspective of the poststructuralism. The purpose of this paper is to offer a model to study discourses on the Past in narrative texts. Today, it seems that the Past has become a problematic motif in narrative texts, and therefore, it is important to study the theme of the Past in contemporary texts. Thus, this paper draws on Discourse theory and semiotics to analyze pastism in two Iranian movies: The Last Step (Pelleye Akhar) (2012) and Le Passé (Gozashte) (2013). The results indicate that the past is represented as different discourses including, elimination, reprisal, return and fixation. Each of these discourses can represent a particular manner to encounter the past on the part of different social classes.

Abstract The present paper examines the concept of freedom and its different categories, and more specifically, the freedom of speech in the poetry of Farrokhi Yazdi from a legal perspective. According to this view, freedom is tied up with the concept of "having a right to" and it is defined as an absence of obstacles and limitations. Freedom, similar to justice and public order, is an abstract concept which has been debated and interpreted differently from the perspective of different sciences. On the one hand, freedom has been established as one of the governing principles of democracy, and on the other hand, it has occupied a high position in literary expressions, especially, in poetry. Naturally, an individual would oppose a view which seeks to crucify one's fundamental rights, and freedom is considered as one of these rights because it turns a human being into a subject. In Iran, the beginning of some aspects of such confrontational views can be found in the Constitutional Era. Thus, the thinkers of this era, also influenced by this view, tried to prove the existence of the concept of freedom as a right. Farrokhi Yazdi was one of such thinkers who was at the heart of this conflict. Even though he did not directly address the concept of freedom and its necessity for democracy in his poems, his goal was to achieve a kind of democracy the materialization of which depended on achieving the types of freedom which, in various documents, are considered among fundamental human freedoms today. Now the question is, what kinds of freedom does Farrokhi Yazdi mean by freedom? To find the answer, we draw on a descriptive and analytical method and tie the research to the law and legal matters.

Abstract Nowadays, new topics have appeared in interdisciplinary approaches to research. Such topics are not limited to theoretical aspects of the research. In humanities, they have been helpful in practical applications of literature. For example, involvement of literature in games and toys has been a breakthrough in the audience's reception of literature. Semiologists such as Roland Barthes have studied games and toys as texts along with many other sign systems. Having roots in the culture and literature (including myths and legends) of every land, these texts have the potential for re-production and reception in another artistic form, and thereby, provide the condition for practical application of literature. In this paper, after discussing the textuality of games and toys, we have addressed questions regarding elements of intertextuality in them derived from myths and legends and the implications of this interdisciplinary approach and its practical application on literature.
 This qualitative, descriptive- analytical paper, which considers games and toys as signs and texts, offers the readers a different way of reading of myths and legends. The discovery of the intertextual relationships between games, toys and myths and legends of any land is considered a strategy for creating games with a literary context and might also create a specific genre.

Abstract Hamid Dabashi's The Shahnameh: The Persian Epic as World Literature (2019) is comprised of a foreword, an introduction, five chapters, a conclusion and an appendix. The chapters are entitled as follows: The Persian Epic, Ferdowsi, the Poet, The Book of the Kings, Epics and Empires, and Empires Fall and Nations Rise. The book is a study in the field of "World Literature". It is strongly contextualized in post-colonial debates. The author has two major goals in mind: a) to introduce The Shahnameh, to the Western readers, notably students (those who know English) and b) to challenge the concept of “World Literature” in the Western academia. To Dabashi, in our re-conceptualizing the Shahnameh as world literature, first and foremost, the Eurocentric world needs to be reassessed. The “World” in “World Literature,” as we use the term today, is an imaginary (“Western”) world— an imperial, colonial world. The Present book is the product of the author’s many years of teaching at Colombia University. The first chapter is about the genealogy of the Shahnameh, the introduction of the genre of epic writing and its pre-Islamic origin. In chapter two, the biography of Ferdowsi and the historical context of the Shahnameh are described. Chapter three deals with three main components of the Shahnameh (the mythical, heroic, and historical) and its famous and powerful stories. Next chapter traces the history of the Shahnameh in different periods. Finally, the last chapter discusses the later history of the Shahnameh and its political uses and abuses.

Abstract Comparative Children’s Literature written by Emer O’Sullivan, was her post-doctoral thesis in German under the title Komparatistik Kinderliterarische for receiving a professorship in the German higher education system. The Comparative Children’s Literature was the finalist of 2001 biennial award of the World Association for Research in Children's Literature. This book was translated from German to English by the author. Maryam Jalali and Mahbubeh Farhangi translated it from English to Persian and was first published in 2019 by the Institute for the intellectual Development of Children and Young Adults. As her research shows (2002; 2005; 2011), O’Sullivan has continued her efforts in the field of children's literature and comparative studies. Comparative Children’s Literature includes both theoretical foundations and applied research. In this article, the structure and content of the book have been reviewed.