Journal of Literary Criticism and Rhetoric

Abstract Mikhail Bakhtin is one of the most influential theorists of literary criticism in the twentieth century whose ideas, particularly in the field of novel criticism, have been widely embraced by scholars in literary studies worldwide. In Iran, however, the Bakhtinian approach is less known compared with other critical approaches such as mythological-archetypal criticism or psychoanalytical criticism. Bakhtin initially started his literary scholarship in association with the Russian Formalists, but gradually distanced himself from their viewpoints and established his own independent approach in criticism. The Russian Formalists believed the function of language in literary texts to be “defamiliarisation”. As such, they argued that figures of speech are tools that poets and writers use in order to make the literary use of language different from its non-literary usage. Bakhtin disagreed with the Formalists and argued that language also has social and discursive aspects that need to be taken into account so that the critic would be in a position to offer insights into the deeper, hidden layers of social behaviour. Therefore, unlike the Formalists who focused their attention on the rhetorical and formal aspects of literary works, Bakhtin tried to analyse literature as discourse. Highlighting the social aspects of the novel, he emphasizes that the critic’s central concern should be to investigate how language is used in the novel. In his view, language in the novel, in distinction to poetry, is marked by concreteness. Therefore, novelistic prose is always orientated towards concrete details, as it also is in journalistic as well as legal and political texts. This concrete orientation necessitates that linguistic usage in the novel be consistent with actual language use by social groups. Concentrating on the novel as an essentially polyphonic genre marked by heteroglossia, he put forward a theory about the carnivalesque in the novel.This essay aims to expound the Bakhtinian approach in literary criticism by focusing on the tripartite concepts of “polyphony”, “heteroglossia” and “carnival”. To do so, we first discuss Bakhtin’s ideas on the essential contrast between the language of poetry and the language of the novel and then move on to consider his viewpoints on the multiplicity of voices in the novel, linguistic reflection of social stratification in this genre, and its carnivalesque qualities. In order to clarify the theoretical aspects of the Bakhtinian approach, we complement our exposition of Bakhtin’s theory with critical readings of three sample texts of Persian literature, which include selected extracts from Ferowsi’s Shahnameh, a poem by Mehdi Akhvan Salles entitled “Sonnet No. 3”, and the novel Shazdeh Ehtejab by Hooshang Golshiri. In the conclusion to this essay, we offer our assessment of the potentialities as well as the limitations of Bakhtin’s theory in literary criticism in addition to drawing a perspective of the expansion and updating of this critical approach

Abstract Mastered both Persian and Arabic languages, Nour al-Din Abdul Rahman ibn Ahmad Jami, nicknamed as Khatam al-Shoara, is a powerful Iranian poet of the 9th century AH. It is enough about Jami's mastery of Arabic language that the Fava’ed al-Ziya'iyya in Sharh Al-Kafia, left of him, are known as Sharh-e Jami in Syntax. In addition to valuable works in verse and prose in Persian and Arabic languages and numerous Persian poems, he has been able to write the themes of Arabic literature well in Persian language and also left behind Molamma’ poems, which is one of the valuable fields tested by Persian-language poets. Playing a role in the development and evolution of Molamma’ in his era, Jami’s poems of Molamma’ are the continuation of the poetry of bilingual poets. There always has been a question about the Persian-language poets' Molamma’ that in terms of structure and content, what role did they play in the evolution of Molamma’ industry and what innovations did they add to it. With this same question on the mind, the investigation of Jami's Molamma’ consisting the analysis of its structure and themes for achieving the degree of variety and innovation of Jami in Molamma’ was chosen as the subject of this article. According to this research, through making innovations in terms of the structure, Jami has experimented with different types of Molamma’s and created various themes of poetry, description, and praise as the subject of these Molamma’ types, which can be considered as a technique in poetry writing.

Abstract Myth is a very effective and complex concept in people's lives, which always shows itself in a different way. In the distant past, they were a real and inseparable part of human life, and now they are part of the unconscious memory of humans. Gods and active inhabitants are a part of mythology that have more of a religious function and according to this role, they have undergone more changes over time. Therefore, the question arises whether there are any traces of these myths left today or not? Considering that poetry is one of those arts that provide the ground for the emergence of mythology, we have analyzed the poems of five poets of this period to answer this question. Studies show that in the vast land of Iran, although with the change of religions over the years, these myths have sometimes been adapted and changed; But they have never disappeared and in the fluid space of the poets' minds, they have sometimes appeared. Purpose: We want to examine the signs of the mythology of gods and active inhabitants in contemporary poetry, which are apparently more shrouded in silence. Research method: descriptive-analytical library. Findings and results: Ahuramazda, Amshaspandan, Azar or Atash, Mitra and Nahid are sometimes shown in contemporary poetry while maintaining their self-interest. Also, the active residents sometimes in its ancient form (Soroush) and sometimes influenced by the religion of Islam (Angels) have had various expressions in contemporary poetry.

Abstract Literary sociology is an interdisciplinary field that seeks to scientifically examine the relationship between literary structure and society. Goldman, one of the theorists in this branch, aims to create a meaningful connection between a literary work and significant aspects of social life in his method (genetic structuralism). In this approach, the relationship between a literary work and society is examined to reveal the political, historical, and social dimensions of society and their alignment with the artistic work for the reader. According to this theory, the form and content of a literary work are shaped under the influence of social structures. This study takes a sociological approach to analyze the story "Siyasonbo" to investigate the historical, social, and cultural dimensions of this work based on Goldman's genetic structuralism. This analysis is conducted in two stages: reception and interpretation. In the reception stage, the structure of the work is examined, and in the interpretation stage, the political, economic, social, and cultural structures of the work are investigated in connection with society. The basis of this research is based on reading, textual analysis, and the library research method. The findings of the study show a close relationship between the historical events of the author's time and the structure of the work. Political incidents in the south have influenced the formation of the author's mental structures and the creation of the work. The problematic character of the novel is, in fact, a small sample of the outside society belonging to the middle class. The structure of Siyasonbo, according to Goldman's model, aligns with the political and social structures of society, and poverty, injustice, and anti-colonialism are manifestations of the author's worldview. Safdari has successfully established a two-way connection between the social world of Siyasonbo and the realities of society; the story has realistic backgrounds in which the political, cultural, and social situations are reflected.

Abstract Hāfez does not have a favorable opinion of Sufis. Whenever he mentions a mystic, an old man, a Sufi, and their alternative meanings, such as Ahl -e- Khalvat, Khalvt Gozideh, Kootah Astinan, Pashmineh Poosh, Ahl-e-Khaneghah, and monastery, it is accompanied by humor and elaboration. Understanding and explaining the meaning of these satires and elaborations requires attention to the form and structure of Hāfez's sonnet. The inaccuracy in Hāfez's method has led scholars to evaluate this satire and elaboration in a positive light and to think that Hāfez has a different view of Sufis and mystics because they have neglected the humorous use of mystical expressions. From the beginning of the ninth century, Hāfez has been called the exaggerated title Lesan –Ol- Ghaib (Unseen language), and this title has been used for Hāfez as a kind of dignity. Despite the prevalence of this title, the issue of adaptation in Hāfez's lyric poems is also a point that scholars have listed in detail. The combination of Hāfez's adaptation and divination is seemingly difficult and unacceptable, which is why some scholars have sought to present an acceptable concept of the title of Hāfez's Lesan – Ol-Ghaib. Mentioning words related to sufism or quoting sufi miracles in Hāfez's Divan has led some scholars to consider Hāfez's view of sufi personality, work, and deeds positive; Hāfez should be considered a mystic and a sufi. For this reason, in this article, in order to explain the position of mystics and Hāfez's view of them, we have chosen an important and common dignity in mystical texts that has been used in Hāfez's divan: to bring fish out of the sea in order to remove the slander of a sufi. The result of the research shows that if Hāfez has been called Lesan – Ol-Ghaib, it is not because of his divination and prophecy, but this title indicates his deep and extensive study in such a way that he has been able to combine speech in a new way. Based on the words of the sufis, Hāfez has been able to reject and deny their inaccuracies or to offer a special reading of the miracles of the sufis in accordance with his thought. Saying such things, of course, causes the sufis and ascetic to be hostile to him but Hāfez in front of them refers to their own interpretations and he uses the miracles that the sufis claim to dispel slander to better show the sin of the hypocritical Sufis.

Abstract The verse "Ey Gol To doush Daghe Sabouhi Keshidei/Ma An Shaghayeghim Ke Ba Dagh Zadeim" is one of Hafez's controversial verses, which has many ambiguities about its meaning. Such as what is the meaning of Daghe Sabouhi? Or what specific meaning can Dagh Keshidan have? Or the question of what does "saboohi" in meaning morning wine have to do with "Doush" in the meaning last night? But the problem here is that all commentators have suggested a similar meaning for the verse despite these questions. The existence of these questions made us try to suggest a documented meaning for verse by using analytical-descriptive method and by examining the general concept of Sonnet in this article. To achieve this goal, Halliday & Hasan's lexical coherence theory was used. A theory that seeks to find cohesion factors in the text by relying on the relationships between words at the level of sentences. In this regard, the entire poem was first divided into four parts, and then based on the type and frequency of words, the meanings related (Seme) to each part were extracted. In the next step, the verse was reread based on the semantic relationships of the words and considering the Seme of the entire Sonnet. The result of the work was the suggestion of this meaning for the verse: O (red) flower, you have engraved the mark of drunkenness on your face since last night; while we are (like) anemones who were born with the sign of drunkenness and euphoria.