Contemporary Persian Literature

Abstract Roland Barthes, a French literary theorist and philosopher, argued in his famous essay “The Death of the Author” (1967) that a literary text, when detached from the life and personality of its author, is liberated from interpretive authority and gains the potential to carry multiple layers of meaning. This perspective emphasizes signs and intratextual relationships, positioning the reader as the primary agent in the process of textual interpretation. Within this framework, Barthes introduces the concept of the “Scriptor” instead of the “author”; a scriptor who merely arranges the text without the right to impose or explain personal intentions. The present study aims to analyze the works of Mohammad Reza Kateb from the perspective of the Death of the Author theory and to examine the extent to which postmodernist techniques influence his texts. The central hypothesis posits that the features of Kateb’s works—including the active role of the reader, character autonomy, multidimensional identity, narrative flow, temporal disruption, death-reflection, and uncertainty in causality—represent a prominent instance of the practical application of this theory in Iranian fiction. This research employs an analytical-descriptive methodology, conducted through a comprehensive study of Kateb’s works and the extraction of examples relevant to the Death of the Author theory. The findings indicate that Kateb, with prior awareness of postmodernist principles and the Death of the Author, actively engages the reader in the interpretive process and expands the semantic boundaries of the narrative. The study concludes that Mohammad Reza Kateb is one of the most salient examples of the reflection of the Death of the Author theory in contemporary Iranian fiction.

Abstract Oblomovism was first discussed in nineteenth-century critiques of Ivan Goncharov’s novel Oblomov, describing chronic inactivity, fear of change, and social inertia as indicators of the Russian aristocracy’s crisis and the decline of traditional values. Over time, the concept expanded beyond literary criticism into psychology, sociology, and cultural studies, becoming a framework to examine patterns of passivity and avoidance of agency at both individual and collective levels. This perspective provides a lens for rereading Hooshang Golshiri’s Shazdeh Ehtesab (1969) in light of the lived experience of a declining aristocracy in Iran. The historical parallels between nineteenth-century Russia and Iran in the 1960s–1970s—a period of cultural transition and legitimacy crisis of the aristocracy and intellectuals—suggest that Oblomovism offers an effective analytical framework for the novel. The main research question examines the extent to which the characteristics of Oblomovism—such as temporal stagnation, dependency on the status quo, retreat into sleep and fantasy, and systematic avoidance of action—can be identified in the protagonist Khosrow and the narrative layers, reflecting the logic of a declining aristocratic life. The study employs a qualitative-comparative approach based on close textual reading. Findings indicate that Khosrow’s structural passivity, voluntary paralysis, nostalgic attachment to the past, and disconnection from reality and agency significantly overlap with Oblomovist patterns. However, in the Iranian context, this model is intertwined with historical guilt, the genealogy of violence, and critique of patriarchal power. Thus, Oblomovism is presented not as an imported framework but as an analytical tool that offers fresh insight into narrative structures and character development in Shazdeh Ehtesab.

Abstract One of the topics discussed in social semiotics is lifestyle. Eric Landowski's, a French semiotician, proposes four types of lifestyles: snob, chameleon, dandy, and bear, according to the type of interaction of non- or defeated group people with the dominant or central reference group. He also adds three more styles: the bee, cat, and dog lifestyles. Each of these characters exhibits a specific behavior in relation to the normative reference group, and the dominant reference group deals with them with different strategies of identity acceptance, identity separation, identity rejection, and identity simulation. Ehsan Abdipour, a contemporary writer and director, creates new patterns by challenging Landowski's lifestyle models. The main character of the stories The Resāley-e Mūmūsyāh and Gūrāz displays a range of different life styles and combinations of styles in his interactions with others. The main question of the research is what effect the type of strategy of the reference society in relation to the presence of the other has on the way subjects encounter the other and their choice of intermediate lifestyle. In the aforementioned stories, the protagonist moves from a bear adapted to the universe to a genius human being in order to fulfill his mission in this world. In this movement, other lifestyles and also combined styles are manifested, according to the type of approach of the reference society. This research, using an analytical-descriptive method and based on library research, aims to show the different styles of Landowski's theory in interaction with the universe and the reference society. In fact, the aim of the research is to show the journey of the characters in these two stories in different lifestyles.

Abstract The poem "Ismail" by Reza Baraheni is one of her social poems, written for her friend, Ismail Shahroudi, who can be said to represent all oppressed Iranian youth. The aforementioned poem is an intertextual poem that shows signs of benefiting from different texts. In this article, based on intertextual mechanisms, the authors attempt to examine the types of intertextual relationships in the poem under discussion using an analytical-descriptive method from the perspective of Gerard Genette's intertextuality, and analyze how they are present and how each of them is selected for evidence, considering their characteristics. Based on the results obtained, it was determined that in general, the poet has used three factors: quotation, reference, and allusion to advance the poem in question, but reference is the dominant form of intertextuality in this text. Quranic elements are used to introduce characters who represent Islamic discourse in the aforementioned poem, and it is clear that this requires the use of Quranic themes in describing these characters. In order to advance the conceptual and structural goals of her narrative, Barahani has artistically used Quranic elements such as events, people, words, and themes in a new reading of the Quranic poem "Ismail" in such a way that understanding the intertextuality of the aforementioned poem and the Quran can create a basis for a deeper understanding and perception of this poem and the poet's semantic orientations.

Abstract One of the important movements in contemporary poetry is the symbolic poetry. Most of critics and theoreticians believe that an element in the tendency of the contemporary symbolic poetry is the change in political and social atmosphere of the society and the intense dictatorship and political suffocation. According to this idea, beside the element of familiarity of the poets with the school of symbolism, the change in their view to the world of being, society and the world around and also, the element of artistic ambiguity and the depth of the poetry can be added. In fact, one of the aims of symbol in poems of poets such as Nima, Akhavan, Shamlou is the creation of an ambiguous context, a deep poem, inspiring the reader and his participation in the process of meaning making, movement of poetry from single-meaning to poly meaningfulness and making the reader to read the poem and think about its meaning. Thus, some common symbols such as birds, forest, poplar trees, lamps, window, etc which are the important elements in symbolic poetry of above mentioned poets are studied and interpreted.

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Abstract Extensive uses made of simile and metaphor are among striking features of the Afghan poetry in immigration. In the present study, metaphor has changed into its main form which is simile. Thus, the study has been organized in two main parts (tenor: the thing which is likened and vehicle: that unto which a thing is likened) and they have been prioritized according to their frequency. Vehicles are divided into four major categories: description of the beloved as well as love, nature, description of the poem, and other concepts. According to the tenors used by them, Afghan poets are internalist. They live in a sorrowful and dark world which has its roots in war, undesired moral codes, sin, suffering, and poverty. At the same time, however, their poems are full of wishes and hopes. Vehicles are, in turn, divided into nature, personification, mood, opposition, feast, war, poetry, religion, and other concepts. In this concern, poets have borrowed elements of nature (which are the most frequent ones) from the literary tradition.

Abstract Of modern poetry’s image has various differences till how. We can devided it in two parts. 1) shamlouis images, 2) after70th decade’s images. in a wolly look, we can say that cross center in modern poetry is much more important that classic poem and it is because of personality, free image, renew, and variation of make image elements.
Shamlouis pictures, are more sensible, and they make with natural elements by knowledge.
But images after 70th decade, are more sensitive, mental, wich are make by unnatural elements and spacing with them are more in other types of image.

Abstract It is mostly considered that sound of the foot of water poem of Sepehri is solely a descriptive – poetical poem. But according to the findings of this essay, It is proved that in the hidden layers of this poem, a philosophical Function is hidden , and there is a type of existence recognition function between the elements and the events of the nature of the poem. Because Sepehri is one of the poets who used both the heuristic teachings and descriptive – artistic capabilities. Of course, there are the same capabilities that help him to recognize the meaningful concepts of the elements with an intelligent understanding , and then he expresses the dialectical relations of phenomena and their celestial type of discipline in a poetical form un explicitly. A deep notion to the corners and expressional and thoughtful centers of the poem shows that he provided the hidden angles of this poem in an exalted level with an extreminological approach. According to the findings, it can certainly be said that in this poem, the poet is not solely thinking of the description and explanation of the pleasure of in a poetical form and view, but he wants to express recognitional manner. There for, this article has provided and proved the above – mentioned view in a library way study with an analytic – philosophical method.

Abstract Due to the close interaction of language and cultural traditions, since 19^th century teaching culture is seen as a part of teaching a language. Still, the lack of researches in regard to the impact of teaching the Iranian culture on teaching Persian to speakers of other languages (TPSOL) is obvious; according to which the present research has been organized and illustrates its beneficial points. For the purpose of the research, questionnaires were prepared and distributed among 50 native speakers of Persian in different ages and levels of education. The purpose has been to analyze the frequency of the matters that can be seen as cultural attractions for speakers of other languages, and proposes their inclusion in curriculums and teaching materials. The data analysis is provided on 3 main divisions of the impact of: cultural attractions of Iran, teaching environment and cultural attractions on teaching Persian, holding classes and cultural courses in different environments. The results of the frequency analysis are shown in 6 charts and tabled throughout the paper, which reveals that creating cultural background has a great impact on learning Persian and can cause positive or negative attitudes towards the language.

Abstract The early twentieth century was a special era for Arabs. Because Arab countries still did not get rid of the Ottoman tyranny and at the same time, they were caught in a foreign colonization and became foreigner’s protégé. Among these countries, Iraq was of particular importance, so it was noticed by Britain colonial government. After that, some revolutions and movements were formed in the country and the protests escalated. Iran, however, had different situation. Although Iran was not a colony, colonizers had extra authority on it, because of its especial strategic situation and underground reserves and also neighboring former Soviet. The colonization of these lands made Muslims to protest against their cruelness. Different groups of people, ranging from politicians to intellectuals, reacted against them. At this time, some noble poets, especially Bahar and Safi Najafi, fight with colonization, using pens and poets as their weapons. In this paper, we used context analysis approach to investigate their methods in fighting colonization.