Interdisciplinary Studies of Literature, Arts and Humanities

Abstract It has been a long time since the field of Comparative Literature research has crossed the traditional boundaries of literary influences and entered into the new field of Cultural Studies. Culture is an amalgem  of diverse discourses that are connected to each other with an invisible string despite their apparent diversity and contradictions.  Literature is one of these discourses. Language, religion, rituals, myths, daily life, ideology, politics, history, national and religious ceremonies, ethics, social beliefs and norms, leisure time, entertainment, social media, gender, identity and ethnicity are all parts of the complex phenomenon called culture.This is the spirit of NewComparative Literature, which, although literature is still its main pillar, has realized that literature cannot be properly and fully understood outside of its cultural context and relations with other humanities and arts. The paradigm shift of comparative literature in the 20th century begins here. About half a century ago, the seed of a new paradigm came to life in the womb of comparative literature. Although it was immature and crude at the beginning, despite all the difficulties and misunderstandings, superficiality and disorganization, which is one of the pitfalls any new knowledge, after a few decades it was established and found its way.

Abstract Both English and Persian satires have proved their enormous potentials in reflecting historical events and voicing social criticism. Despite differences in their origins, the nature and the ends of the satires have been the same, aiming at reformation of human societies. Drawing on analytical-qualitative methods and adopting Russian and American approaches to comparative literature and interdisciplinary studies, the present research attempts to examine the similarities and differences of satires in the two languages.  At times, literatures have had impact on each other in different parts of the world; however, the similarities have quite often been due to the common human spirit informing different literary works. Satire is the main focus of the present study in two golden eras of satirical writing both in Iran and England. The findings of the research reveal that Neo-classical satire in England during the 17^th and 18^th centuries is the continuation of the Classical age especially the Roman satire, resurging as a result of the popularity of journalism and prose writing during the Age of Enlightenment. On the other hand, satire grew in popularity during the Constitutionalist era in Iran due to social awakening and popularity of the press. It seems that English satire enjoys greater content and structure integrity as compared to its Persian counterpart. Perhaps because of the socio-political changes leading to great literary and cultural rebirth after the Renaissance in European nations, satire achieved greater distinction and independence. In the closing section of this research, two examples of English and Persian prose satire will be examined: A Modest Proposal by Jonathan Swift (1667-1745) and “Dorūs Al-Ashyā” [Lessons to be Learned from Things] by Ali-Akbar Dehkhodā (1879-1956).  

Abstract In the interdisciplinary researches of recent decades, much attention has been paid to the relationship between philosophy and literary theories. However, the characteristic of this type of research has been mostly a kind of "general" and "imprecise" encounter with "philosophy" and "literary theory". The current research, by adopting an interdisciplinary approach, shows that "European" literary theories can be divided into two types of theories that are in interaction and dialectic relationship with "analytical" and "Continental" philosophies. Theories such as reader response, phenomenology, psychoanalysis, etc., are oriented towards "Continental philosophy" (European) due to their interpretive and subjective approach, while theories such as formalism, structuralism and its subcategories, such as narratology and structural anthropology, have affinities with analytical philosophy. This article will show that analytical philosophy, through features such as concreteness, objectivism, experimentalism, precision, repeatability and fixed results, and its distance from subjectivism and relativism, has commonalities with "Russian Formalism" and "Structuralism" and the key terms of the theories of formalism (the dominant element) and structuralism (common patterns) are integrally related to Thomas Cohen's scientific-analytical approach and his key terms, paradigm and normative science.

Abstract This study critically examines Todd Phillips’ Joker (2019) through the theoretical framework of Louis Althusser, identifying a lacuna in Iranian academic discourse—the exploration of political narratives in Hollywood’s comic book adaptations. While Joker achieved commercial success akin to its superhero film counterparts, its nuanced political commentary sets it apart. This paper interrogates the film’s depiction of Althusser’s ideological and repressive state apparatuses within the capitalist milieu of the fictional Gotham City. Through a meticulous analysis of pivotal scenes, the paper elucidates the strategies employed by Gotham’s ruling entities to perpetuate hegemony, drawing parallels with the political landscape of contemporary America. The research employs a qualitative content analysis methodology, enabling a nuanced interpretation of the film’s subtextual elements that resonate with the socio-political climate of the United States, particularly during the Trump era. Conclusively, Joker emerges not merely as a cinematic experience but as a reflective social commentary, mirroring the class struggle and the political machinations prevalent in American society.

Abstract This article analyzes The Last Step by Ali Mosaffa, an Iranian cinematic piece that creatively appropriates and parodies elements from James Joyce's "The Dead" and Leo Tolstoy's "The Death of Ivan Ilych". Employing a qualitative-explanatory approach, the study explores the film's intertextual relationships with the source texts, juxtaposing it with parodies of the works by Joyce and Tolstoy. The analysis not only dissects the film's playful reinterpretation of themes and motifs from these literary works but also situates this subtextual parody within the rich tapestry of Iranian culture, incorporating traditional music and architecture. Nostalgia emerges as a central theme, bridging the subtexts of the film's written, cinematic, musical, and architectural elements. The study reveals how the film, as a work in progress, establishes intricate intertextual relationships with the original stories, offering a fresh and engaging perspective on the source material. Through a nuanced exploration of parodying intertextuality, the article sheds light on the film's postmodern narrative style and its unique contribution to the cinematic landscape.

Abstract The attitude towards "the other" forms the foundation of cross- cultural communication on diverse issues. The Iranian other becomes one of those "others" in the novel El Maestro, a dialogue-oriented novel in which different cultures come into contact with one another. Mikhail Bakhtin's theory of the self and the other is a proper space for the colorful presence of the” other” in the process of shaping one’s identity and self. Imageology is one of the most extensive areas in the field of comparative literature in which the "other" plays a special role, and there is also a close connection between the imageology and Bakhtin’s theory of the self and the other. Saad al-Qorash is a prominent Egyptian writer whose novel El Maestro is a meeting place of different cultures. The Iranian other is one of the examples of the cultural others discussed in the novel, affirming the importance of the other in contrast to the self. In this research, the "self" has a fluid meaning, in such a way that sometimes an Iranian and an Arab confront as the self, and sometimes, as the other of each other, similar to a westerner being placed against another person as the self. Thus, the present research aims to analyze the Iranian other in the novel El Maestro by applying Bakhtin’s theory of self and other via a descriptive-analytical approach. The findings of the research prove that there is an inseparable connection between imageology and Bakhtin's theory. El Maestro is a proper space for critical, cultural and interdisciplinary studies, especially  a study on Iranian culture in which opposing and supporting ideologies are present without the involvement of the author, a situation which is a prominent foundations of Bakhtin's theory. Therefore, this research offers a new comparative reading of El Maestro based on Bakhtin's theory of the self and the other.

Abstract The Comparative Children’s and Young Adult Literature, a new area of comparative knowledge, is built in the intertextual relationship between Children’s and Young Adult Literature with comparative literature. The relationship of the Poetics and the comparison with the knowledge, puts both of them in the category of Cognitive methods. The explanation of the Territory of Research in this field has been examined in the other article of researchers, but knowing the methods of Problem-Analysis and Problem-Creating is also considered one of the necessary steps in this process of epistemology that has been ignored. Therefore, in this article, the structural logic of the relationship between the components, indicators and elements of the texts in a Coherent formulation is examined. In addition, answering to the question of how and what issues can be considered in the field of Comparative Children’s and Young Adult Literature is the concern of this article. The purpose of the article is to explain the method of identifying and creating a research problem in the field of Comparative Children’s and Young Adult Literature with the help of the Intertextual model of Genette's Transtextuality theory and to propose a structural and Poetics model with intertextual components.

Abstract One of the fields of comparative literature is interdisciplinary studies. Interdisciplinary studies make connections between disciplines. The link between literary criticism and literature and translation is one of the interdisciplinary fields. This article deals with the Orientalist analysis of Burton's translation of One Thousand and One Nights. The main problem of the research is what was the reason for Burton's attention to One Thousand and One Nights and devoted attention to One Thousand and One Nights and why he chose to translate it? The aim of the article is to show that Burton's translation of Arabian Nights aligns with the tenets of Orientalism, suggesting that in translating One Thousand and One Nights, he viewed the West as superior and perceived the East, as portrayed in the stories, as lesser. The research method employed in this article is descriptive, analytical, and based on library resources, while the theoretical framework draws on Edward Said's Orientalist theories. The findings of this study indicate that in translating One Thousand and One Nights, Burton projected a sense of Western superiority and Eastern inferiority, using translation as a means to explore the East rather than appreciating its literary merit, a standpoint rooted in imperialism. This research showed that the translation of the Thousand and One Nights reflects Burton's orientalist attitudes and imperialist prejudices, and shows that he considered the translation as a tool for the superiority of European ideas against eastern culture and presents the East as an essentialist geography of lust to the world.  

Abstract In romantic poems, one witnesses many events that unfold around love. Different poets and writers express their views on love in the form of a series of fictional events. To analyze these events, Robert Sternberg has proposed one of the most reliable theoretical frameworks on love stories. He has drawn five main axes for love stories, and for each of them, he has listed twenty-six sub-branches. The present study is an analysis of the poems of Weiss and Ramin and Khosrow and Shirin through the lens offered Robert Sternberg's theory of love as a story. Since the parts in Sternberg's love stories are numerous, the space of this research allows only for what the writers consider to be more important and outstanding love stories. The results show that Weiss and Ramin and Khosrow and Shirin prove to contain many components of Sternberg's theory. Among these components are, psychological reasons for characters' actions revolving around love as well as their interactions and approach to romantic and physical relationships which reveal the hidden psychological dimensions of the characters to a great extent. The study reveals that elements of Sternberg's theory are more prominent in Khosrow and Shirin compared to Weiss and Ramin.

Abstract Using the interdisciplinary approach of geocriticism and especially its triple elements from Westphal's view, i.e. Multifocalization, Polysensoriality, and stratigraphic vision, two different types of literature, namely novel (Shiraz, a novel by Hamburger) and memoir (Farewell Shiraz by Kadivar) are investigated and analyzed. The investigation of the multifocalization shows that the recognition of Shiraz, is better done in the light of two local and foreign views, and a unipolar view of the place interferes with its complete knowledge. also, the analysis of the Polysensoriality shows that despite the soundscapes and the representation of the place using the sense of smell, the visual representation dominates in both works, however, the most complete type of representation is possible by using different senses. The third is stratigraphy, which pays attention to the time in recognizing and correctly representing the place, by showing the different time stratum in Shiraz that are well represented in both works, shows the adherence of cultural, historical and environmental factors in shaping the unique character of Shiraz and gives it a postmodern view. As well, the findings of the research show the high accuracy of representation, i.e. the presence of real references in novel Shiraz despite its fictional nature.

Abstract Poetry therapy is a method by harmonic reading poems, individually or in group manner, which aims to focus on metaphorical images in poetry and to get a deep meaning in the text of the poem. This pleasant method has capabilities that can be a good alternative in cases where rigid psychotherapies do not be effective. For this reason, an attempt was made to study in this field in order to study its position in Farsi and English language articles. The English keywords poetry therapy, writing therapy, poem therapy and its Persian equivalent were searched and after initial screening. The findings showed that poetry therapy has been used for psychological, medical and neuroscience area. The research method in research cases were quantitative (experimental and semi-experimental studies), qualitative (case studies) and mixed (analysis of participants' poems and group exercises), individually and in groups, but in most cases in groups. In order for the sessions to have validity and reliability, some structured patterns were set for the sessions that were introduced in this study. In addition to, the situation of poetry therapy in Iran was studied. Finally, the capabilities of poetry therapy in Iran were discussed.

Abstract The Technology, environmental disaster, erosion, pollution, drought, fossil fuels, depletion of natural resources and other environmental problems are the factors that place the environment in jeopardy all over the world today. Malevil by Robert Merle, French writer of the 20th century, post-apocalyptic novel, represents the curtain call of the ecological crises. The interdisciplinary branch of comparative literature deals with the study of literature and other disciplines. Ecocriticism as interdisciplinary study draws the confluence of literature and environment. The current interdisciplinary research applies a descriptive-analytical study to critique the natural environment and artificial environment (human) relying on Malevil with emphasis on Ecocriticism. Research findings indicate that the survival of human beings is dependent on the natural environment and human constructive actions. The characters with the effort and hope manage to change the gray Nature result of the ambiguous explosion into a green Nature. The results of the research depict the literary work inspired from imagination represents the suffering and environmental crisis, therefore, it plays an important role to contribute to the survival of the environment and environmental culture. Because, the mutual influence and interaction between Ecosystem and literature becomes obvious more than ever. So, it invites the readers with fruitful challenge to protect ecosystem.

Abstract This study aims to conduct a comparative analysis of translated English haikus and Iranian haikus, exploring whether Persian haikus (composed in Persian) exhibit literary characteristics influenced by translated haikus or possess distinct traits. To this end, an integrated model of haiku evaluation was developed. Subsequently, 150 English haikus and their corresponding Persian translations were evaluated according to this model, elucidating the features of the translated haikus. The evaluation entailed not only formal aspects such as syllable count and line structure but also semantic nuances. Furthermore, 100 Iranian haikus were assessed using the same integrated model, enabling a comparison between translated and Iranian haikus to identify their commonalities and differences. The findings reveal two discernible categories of Iranian haikus: one influenced by translated haikus, characterized by classical elements rooted in Japanese culture, and another type of haiku with an inherent Iranian identity, inspired by Iranian culture and distinct in its expression.

Abstract There is a strong connection between narration and philosophy both in its general sense, which means people's attitudes and worldviews and its specialized meaning, which refers to the systematic philosophy of professional philosophers. In the first sense of this connection, authors use the tool of narration to put forward their own thoughts, beliefs, feelings and judgments, and in the second sense, different narrative formats are used as tools to express philosophical concepts, similar to Camus's Myth of Sisyphus. The novel Sherrir by Seyyed Ali Hijazi Yazdi is an Iranian example of the second type of relationship between philosophy and narrative, in which the author has used the novel to express the concept of existential nihilism. Existential nihilism is one of the branches of nihilistic thought, which is based on absolute skepticism and rejection of accepted beliefs on issues such as the meaning of life, death, loneliness, love, etc. Based on this premise, the present paper aims to examine the ways in which this concept is described in the novel through an analytical-descriptive lens and drawing on the theoretical framework regarding the concept of nihilism. The results show that in this novel, the author has paid attention to topics such as futility, death, emptiness, disbelief in God, loneliness, boredom, and finally the tendency towards an illusory existence, all of which are narrativized aspects of the philosophical concept of existential nihilism.

Abstract Iranian literature is considered a great source for adapting and creating dramatic works, one of which is the poem of Heydar Babaye Salam Shahriar. Recently, this poem has influenced the performing arts, and Haidar Babaye Salam's opera has been adapted from this poem. Among the theoreticians regarding adaptation, Linda Hatchen can be mentioned, who considers adaptation to be the re-creation of literary works based on a visual work or vice versa, where creativity is involved. One of the creative methods in creating artistic and literary works is imagery, which is referred to as literary (mental) images and artistic (visual) images. With a descriptive-analytical approach, this research first tries to explain the imagery of Haiderbaba's poem and then the authors adapted from this poem, which were used to create dramatic images, were discussed. Considering the aspects and dimensions of the influence of Heydar Baba's opera from this poem, the conclusion has been reached that the author and director of Heydar Babaye Salam's opera, relying on Shahriar's poem, in addition to trying to recreate and introduce this literary masterpiece in the form of performances at the national and international level has also tried to revive the theatrical form of opera after the Islamic revolution by emphasizing the aspect of ethnic culture.

Abstract David Jones, the British modern poet-painter, has exploited the elements of nature, particularly the motif of the tree, in both his verbal and visual language. Therefore, the current research, with a purposeful selection of Jones's paintings and poems "In Parenthesis" and "Anathemata", specifically focuses on the tree imagery present in both mediums. This research conducts a comparative and interdisciplinary study of these images based on Panofsky's theory of iconology.

The results of the research show that Jones, as an "anti-modern" modernist, views the modern era as a detrimental factor leading to social and cultural decline, and he criticizes it. Through a poignant connection between the sufferings of Christ and those of contemporary humanity, Jones prompts reflection on modern cultural decadence and the potential for spiritual rejuvenation. He has approached the icon of the tree in paintings and poetry using various techniques of modern painting and poetry. In these images, the tree, with its existential quality, appears with all its rich mythological, historical, and religious past, acquiring symbolic value. In its most prominent symbolic form, the tree transforms into the cross, and the cross transforms into the suffering body of Christ. This wounded body of the tree forms the foundation of Jones's iconic semiotics.

Abstract The present study concerns the analysis of the reality and functionality of an identity that is based on diasporic space. The analysis tends to elaborate on the location of hybrid identity in a diasporic space, with a reliance on a comparative reading of Homi Bhabha’s concept of hybridity and Jean Baudrillard’s concept of simulacrum in the particular case of Mehrnoush Mazarei’s short story, "Sangam". From a formal perspective, "Sangam" is a compilation of chronology and autobiography; the content denotes the narration of a one-year span of the life of the narrator, a migrant Iranian woman, her memories of acquaintance and friendship with an Indian woman in a minor diasporic society of United States. Employing what results from the dialogue between Bhabha’s hybridity and Jean Baudrillard’s simulacrum, and with an applied reference to the form of the narrative and also the narrator’s characterization, the analysis undertaken here illumines how the identity of the narrator, even if harvested and developed as hybrid, is a simulation; a simulation that she herself builds via gazing at the other, cultural fascination and mimicry; activities which in certain ways enables her to absorb the Indian woman’s identity. Furthermore, in the course of these actions and as their consequences, there emerge different layers of repetition and imitation which reduplicate and reinforce the differing nature and the layers of simulation, in a way that all the possible signification of hybridity can disintegrate.