Contemporary Persian Literature

Abstract Shoqi and Bahar were two prominent contemporary poets who were really close to one another in terms of thinking and literature in similar conditions such as living in the same period of time, being Muslim, living in the period of political hegemony, conflict with colonialists, liberality, fighting for revolution and going through exile, imprisonment, etc. This similarity is in a way that though the said two poets did not know each other and none of them is mentioned in the other’s works, their common spirit represents them as being acquaintances; two spirits that are grown and reached perfection in Islamic education. The comparative study of the poems of these two poets shows that love for their country is one of the obvious representations of the thoughts of Bahar and Shoqi. The reflection of this love for their homeland in their poetry is so widespread that has been turned into a style-making and determining element in the content and language of their poems. This study attempts to find the common points in the thoughts of these two poets on nationalism and to compare such approach as one of the intellectual findings of the contemporary era.

Abstract Khalilollah Khalili is the most well-known contemporary poet from Afghanistan. His poetry has different themes, but the themes related to awakening and stability has a high status in his works. Themes such as the cause of Palestine, Islamic internationalism, liberality, opposition to colonialism and inviting Muslims to unity and avoid dispersion are in the category of the poetry of awakening. Themes such as reproaching hegemony of the aliens, praising the fighters, describing the war difficulties and catastrophes and expressing the difficulty of immigration and loneliness are in the category of poetry of stability in Khalili’s works. This paper explains the grounds for forming the themes of awakening and stability in Khalilollah Khalili’s works and also analyzes some of these poems.

Abstract Archetypal criticism is among the modern theories of literary criticism and is based on psychological criticism established on the basis of theories of Carl Jung. In this type of criticism, in addition to the study of, and investigation into, the archetypes of a piece of work, the way they are attracted by the poet or writer's psyche is displayed. Archetypes, which are the result of recurring experiences of man during his life and are deposited in his unconscious, have been studied and analyzed from different angles and dimensions. Based on these studies, to reach perfection and individual dream, the journey of the hero is materialized by relying on the presence of archetypes in any individual's life. The aim of this article is to examine the novel Shazdeh Ehtejab ('The Prince Ehtejab') written by Houshang Golshiri from the point of view of archetypal criticism and by relying on the thoughts of Carl Pearson and Hugh Marr and on the basis of the twelve archetypes in Awakening the Heroes Within. The authors attempt to briefly introduce these archetypes and then indicate that the story characters such as the sage can take steps in the process of individualization by representing these archetypes and initiate the hero's journey. The results of this study show that the novel Shazdeh Ehtejab is replete with archetypes, and due to its psychological approach, can be analyzed on the basis of archetypal theories. By representing nine archetypes, Shazdeh Ehtejab adopts the separation process, and the other characters in the story play the role of the caregiver on the initiation path for him.

Abstract In most comparative studies, the imitation and adaptation of Iranian contemporary fiction from western literature have been so emphasized that a large proportion of historical and social developments in this land in the emergence of seeking modernistic enthusiasm and innovations taken place in fiction has been neglected. However, given that the literature at any society and at any historical period has been affected to a certain extent by the existing currents at that period and environment, one can look for the emergence of modernity elements in the Persian fiction within Iran's social and cultural infrastructure. Thus, we believe that Persian contemporary fiction and its modernistic developments have not been formed merely by being influenced by western literature; rather, they have always been ready for self-actualization and innovation. To prove this hypothesis, and as a case study, we selected Bahram Sadeqi's works, which, as he claims, were written before the emergence of "New Novel", and as almost all believe, are considered important sources of modernity in Persian fiction. Thus, the present study has taken into account two major functional goals: first, it seeks to prove the existence of modern and modernistic elements in Sadeqi's works, and second, by applying a within-territorial approach, it seeks a reason that can justify the emergence of these elements in Persian contemporary fiction.

Abstract Hamid Amjad is a contemporary playwright, who has his own style. By writing plays and taking them to the stage since 1986, he has made his presence in this field highly precious and continual. After a short prelude and brief introduction of Hamid Amjad, the paper briefly discusses the concept of structure and structuralism and then analyzes some of the works by Amjad by relying on their narrative structure. Each play was investigated separately and the conclusion was that Amjad's plays follow the Claude Bremond pattern; of the 11 plays that were studied, nine of them ended in failure and two ended in triumph. In the remaining part, situations were named and similarities in structures were revealed. The result was that most plays concerned follow three patterns.

Abstract The literature of war stories is the recreation of relations among people on whose life war has, intentionally or unintentionally, had its impact. Therefore, it is an appropriate source by which one can investigate the social issues related to war. In this paper, the reflection of issues that result from war and affect family relations in the story literature of the three decades after the Islamic Revolution have been studied and analyzed. The research method used was descriptive-analytical and used library resources. In addition, by implementing an analytical approach, it studies and criticizes the image of families involved in war. Family relations and attention to family in the stories of each decade have been reflected in a particular way in accordance with the needs and slogans of that decade. The stories that have been written immediately after the war have mostly used an ideal approach, downplaying the problems and ordeals after the war against the faith and strong will of the soldiers. They have also put on display the strong morality of the veterans and their families in dealing with the difficulties and problems, but gradually in the 90's and 2000's, writers used a more in-depth and human look at the war. They also depicted the pains and hardship suppressed by the survivors of war and their relations with their families with a more realistic approach.

Abstract Plot together with its relation to time, among other elements, plays a basic role in how a novel is narrated; since the way actions between characters and narrator’s point of view- as other important elements of narrative- arepresented in the chain of plot’s sequence of time, show the personal style and fictional techniques. However, it should be considered that the narrative’s essence and its thematic background have a fundamental role in the chronological quality of a novel. Therefore this paper tries to use a descriptive-analytic approach, on the basis of Gerard Genette’s theory of narratology, to contrast the element of time in sequence of plot in two novels: the novel of Welcome to Hades, written by Belgheys Soleymani, presenting a female perspective of the war and its outcomes, and the novel A journey to Oriented 270, written by Ahmad Dehghan, presenting a male outlook of the imposed war. On the basis of this theory in analyzing the chronology in novel, it can be said that Welcome to Hades, from the perspective of chronological quality has more chronological disorders in comparison with A Journey to Oriented 270. The fact that shows that Belgheys Soleimani’s modernist and postmodernist correlating style and use of mythical narration capabilities have affected her novel’s chronological disorder.

Abstract Any drama puts its foundations and existence on elements whose strength and weakness – regardless of the effect in being and lasting – make the work float between a fiction and a drama. These elements include personality, time, place, dialogue, etc.
Seeking transition from the elements of tradition in the past poetry, NimaYooshij introduced drama-fiction elements to poetry to expand the descriptive range of poems and allow more space for the poet to express his thoughts. To continue this way, he wrote "Myth", which was a representation of a modern attitude in the field of literature.
This research first deals with the extraction of theories by Nima on the identity and ways by which drama-fiction elements in poetry – in the prose works of Nima – are present. Then, all the points mentioned are explored and investigated practically in Nima's collection of poems to display the level and manner of applying these elements in Nima's poems.
Based on statistics obtained from Nima's poems, the levels of applying drama elements in Nima's poetry are roughly as follows: plot 68%, personality 46.5%, dialogue 50%, time 57%, and place 57%. On this basis, one can argue that all poems by Nima do not observe his theories.