Contemporary Persian Literature

Abstract With the end of the age of poetic justice in literary works, we witness the death of
simple good-natured or villainous characters in these works. Following such an
evolution, two-dimensional characters with mental and psychological complexities
enter the scene of modern novels. Public and private aspects of these characters are
different and sometimes contradictory. These contradictions can be the origin of many
of the incoherent events of novels, not only making them difficult to understand, but
also preventing the readers from discerning the true identity of the character. Novelists
have abundantly used the two-dimensional feature of characters due to its match with
modern novels. The author of The Body of Farhad also applies this characterization
method in his novel to represent the positive and negative sides of characters. In this
paper, we will review this characterization method in The Body of Farhad.

Abstract SohrabSepehri, Iranian Muslim nature-lovingpoet and artist, learned about ideas and
beliefs held in Far East in his travels to East Asian countries, an encounter which
gave his poems a hue of mysticism and ethics of Eastern religions. Hinduism,
Buddhism, Taoism and Zenismwere the major religions beliefs in Far East countries
(including China, India and Japan) which influenced Sepehri, particularly in the area
of ethics—an ethics which embraced the individual, the society and the biosphere.
This paper first looks at value-centered views in the field of environmental ethics
and then compares ideas related to ethics of earth in Sepehri’s poems with ideas from
Eastern religions. The study reveals that biosphere is a shared value focus both in
Sepehri’s poems and in Eastern religious views.

Abstract The nature of understanding, judging various interpretations of phenomena, and the
extent of validity of these interpretations has turned to a core issue in contemporary
philosophy. The study of modern hermeneutic approaches and ideas shows an
unprecedented variety in issues related to the interpretation of the text. The present
study is an attempt to have a brief look at the new hermeneutic approaches, to review
true and false in modern interpretive ideas of the contemporary poetry, and to suggest
some criteria for evaluating interpretations. Without setting such criteria, the factors
affecting priority of one interpretation over another cannot be exactly determined.

Abstract Story is one of the oldest forms of art with an ancient history and many specific
definitions and meanings. One of the most important topics in fiction is war. Many
writers have created their works with regard to war and its particular issues. Hussein
Fattahi is one of the contemporary Iranian novelists who has some war-related works.
Accordingly, in this paper, an attempt has been made to identify the elements of the
novel Love in the War Years and to analyze its different dimensions in a structural and
scientific manner. Having really understood the issue of the war, the writer reflects the
vicissitudes of those days. Fattahi owes his reputation to his war novels.

Abstract If poetry serves the public good and leads the human society towards sublime
morality and faith in God, it will certainly be approved by Islam, and will be
supported by The Quran, the Prophet (PBUH), and Ahl al-Bayt (AS). Since early
Islamic era and with adherence to the tradition of the Holy Prophet (SAW), poetry
has been used as an efficient, and even spiritual, weapon to defend the religion and
its foundations and to confront the enemy invasion. In this regard, Bahar and Ahmad
Safi are prominent examples whose poems have clear manifestations of religious
beliefs and theological teachings. The present paper is an attempt to study the
emergence and rise of religious thoughts in the poems of these two contemporary
poets using the method of content analysis.

Abstract This paper aims to study the reasons for the first-person narrator’s unreliability in
Sarah Salar’s novella I’m Probably Lost based on the theory of Shlomith Rimmon-
Kenan. According to her theory, a narrator’s limited knowledge, his/ her selfinvolvement
in the narrative, and also his/her paradoxical value-scheme are some of
the textual evidences that can be taken as the reasons for his/her unreliability in a
particular narrative. Thus, the present study firstly attempts to show that the narrator’s
narration in I’m Probably Lost is so incongruent with the events of the fictional world
that one can hardly believe her words as standing for the fictional facts. Further,
because of her personal fears and weak memory (psychological states) the narrator has
got limited knowledge to report the fictional events accurately. The paper also argues
that the narrator fails to report the fictional facts impartially because of her selfinvolvement
along with her paradoxical value-schemes. Therefore, by restricting the
narration to her own perspective or by inverting many of these facts, the narrator
reports the fictional events as she wishes not as they actually might have happened.
Furthermore, in its opening, the paper provides a short theoretical background to the
discussion concerned with the (un)reliability of a narrator in narratology.

Abstract Michael Riffaterre identifies two methods of reading in the semiotics of poetry,
namely heuristic reading and retroactive reading. The first stage involves a search for
meaning and the second stage concerns implications of language. In this reading, after
an analysis of the ungrammatical elements, covert and internal relationship of the
elements of the text is explained in the form of accumulation and descriptive system.
Then the reader starts receiving hypograms and this ultimately leads to the discovery
of structural matrix of the poem. After analyzing ungrammatical elements,
accumulations, and descriptive systems in the poems ‘Winter’ by Akhavan and A
Message on the Way by Sepehri, the following structural matrix can be obtained:
Winter: The fear and despair of people, the hope of the poet in the help of others,
repression, and the despair of the poet. A Message on the Way: Peace and friendship,
overcoming shortcomings by the poet, evils and shortcomings in the society, and
establishment of perfection and beauty in the society.