Currently, we can hardly find any criticism that has not paid any attention to structural functionalism. Contemporary literary criticism leads to structuralism inspired by de Saussure's linguistic theory. Structural analysis, especially, of narrative works is one of the most extraordinary achievements of contemporary literary criticism. In the stories, fairy tales and epic realm, Vladimir Propp's method is the best for structural stratification and analysis. His method is based on tales stratification and symbolic analysis of each stratum. Vladimir Propp used structural linguistic analysis for narrative analyzing. Propp, having studied one hundred narratives with similar composition,  uncovered the structure of "main narrative" and by analyzing one hundred stories of Russian stories concluded that there were thirty one genres. He believed the method could be applied to other folk tales and even novels. Propp's method has been used by other scholars and sometimes was criticized too. Although  Propp's system has its own defects, it has provided a proper starting point for other theorists and has influenced subsequent theorists. This article follows Propp's model and method and intends to stratify and analyze "Bizhan and Manizhe” Story, one of Ferdowsi's Shahnameh stories, The aim of this article is to probe Propp's model in this story. 

In this article, fantastic genre as a literary genre which nowadays has significantly become common in contemporary literature of Russia, will be studied. "My Father is an Antibiotic" is an outstanding example of this genre, which has been written on the basis of critical conditions and abnormal events of the present world and their influence on humans' life. Afterwards, through introduction of Sergei Vasilivich Lokiyanenko as one of the pioneer fantast writers in modern literature of Russia, we will  examine his works and his motivations for choosing this specific genre. Sergei Lokiyanenko is a writer with a marvelous skill at portraying life in past, present and future, with the help of imagination and science. He wrote "My Father is an Antibiotic" in 1992. In Lokiyanenko's view, it is hard for contemporary man to get accustomed to modern lifestyle, numerous numbers of newspapers, increase of contacts, and new methods of communications. He believes that unprepared for facing such an attack, man's spirit sometimes prefers to sacrifice real world and sink in a world made by his own mind. In this novel, the writer tries to show that children are the main victims of abnormalities and pugnacities of adults in the present world. Through analysis of "My Father is an Antibiotic", as a fantastic work of Russian contemporary literature, we have also tried to somehow pave the way for the Iranian readers to get familiar with contemporary literature of Russia, particularly fantastic genre.

Some literary critics have often engaged in debates on the degree of overall cohesion and coherence across the couplets of the Hafez ghazals: some maintain that the Hafez’s ghazals lack coherence; some others believe that there is cohesion and coherence in the nature of the couplets. This paper presents an analysis of the overall coherence in a ghazal of Hafez- that has a weak cohesion apparently- by using a linguistics framework laid out by Halliday and Hasan (1976 & 1984). Based on this theory, although cohesion is an important property of a text, just finding the cohesive elements does not show that the text is coherent. Rather, after finding these elements, it is necessary to show coherence in a text based on Cohesive Harmony. After doing this analysis, we have found that this ghazal has a very high cohesion and coherence. So, by utilizing this theory - that is a scientific method-  we can probe the degree of  cohesion and coherence in any ghazal of Hafez or other literary texts quantitatively. 

Structuralism  mostly  investigates narrative  elements in  stories. A structural  narratologist  basically intends to  compile  a  coherent  structure  among  other  different  aspects of a story. The  present  study   investigates  the  structure  of  AmirArsalan  story, the last  important  fragment  of  Persian  folksy  long  story  generation, according  to  some  structuralist  theories. According to  Grard Genette,  we  can  analyze  AmirArsalan  story  at  two  levels  of  recite  and  narration. At  “recite” level,  it  has  been  discussed  based  on  narrative  perspective. At  “narration”  level,  the  narrative  structure  has  been  investigated and  then  the  similarities  and  differences  have  been  mentioned  compared to  other  folksy  long  stories.  In  the  second  part  of  narration  level,  its syntactic  structure  has  been  pointed  out  and  we have tried to  summarize  the story  characters,  their  acts,  and  manners  in  the  most  compact  way.

The presence of Arabs in Iran and continuation of this presence for almost 3 centuries in this country has had fundamental effects on Iranian language and literature. Most of researchers have analyzed this fact form the negative view point. In this study we try, by making use of sufficient reasons and from a positive point of view, to show that despite lack of Iranian literature in this era (early Hijri centuries), it can't be construed that we had absolute silence of Iranian literature, yet Iranian language and literature in a dynamic and complex way passed a progressive period in a way that it paved the way for growth of Iranian poetry and literature in the following centuries. Although Iran lost its Pahlavi writing system in this era but with passing of time and along with capabilities of Iranians, Farsi language was born and with widespread use of  Arabic writing system  as an effective and simple  instrument (in comparison with other writing systems)  which thanks to  acceptance of Islam  and wide spread use nationwide , Farsi language  became Iranian national language with the support of independent  rulers. In fact in this era the relation of Iran and Arabs by passing many ups and downs in a bilateral benefit, in one hand caused the unity of language among Iranians and their use of a modern language and its spread and in the other hand, with presence of Iranian elites in expansion of Arabian poetry, valuable services has been paid to Arabic language and Arabic language has passed a progressive era.

This article makes a general research in the specific features of Shia’s kalam (speculative theology) in irfan’s (Islamic mysticism) views of Ali ibn Inayatullah Bastami, known by the nick-name Bayazid Thani (the Second), especially in his book Rawzat al-arifin. The author has been an arif (mystic) and muhaddith (erudite in Prophet’s traditions) who has lived in X-XI century from Hijra. His purpose for writing this tractate has been to clarify some aspects of monotheism, faith, irfan and the principles of the mystical Way. The article is an effort to give an answer to the following questions: first, how the author as a  sufi, in the perspective of Oneness of Existence, and a Shia’s muhaddith can explore the topics of Twelve Shia’s theology within the paradigm of irfan and deepen in this domain; second, is it convenient and acceptable to the mystical wisdom or not, as a principle, that a sufi can use kalam’s proofs and demonstrations, knowing the negative mystical attitude toward rational discussions and issues of kalam.

After considering the most important features of Shia’s kalam in the book Rawzat al-arifin and comparing them with the kalam’s themes, examined by the greatest Shia’s mutakallimun before the time of our author, we could make the conclusion that he has been Shia’s mutakallim and arif in the same time, dwelling on irfan to make an explanation of kalam’ s subtleties. And it could be said also that as his irfan is demonstrative (kalami), his kalam is mystical (irfani).

In some instances of comparative literature research, it is not precisely possible to accredit a literary work to a specific nation or ethnic group. The reason, it seems, lies in the lack of a precise definitions of national literature which in turn is due to the imprecision of the standards set for national literature. Whereas one camp, mainly the disciples of the French school of comparative literature, view language the sole, or at least the strongest criterion for setting the domain of international and national literature, the other camp, mainly the proponents of the American school of comparative literature, casting doubts upon the validity and the efficacy of the linguistic criterion, go for a political identity criterion. Of course, along these two criteria, sometimes other criteria such as historical continuity, shared cultural identity, religious and theological borders, political ideologies and even geographical (co-territorial) borders are also posed.   

To investigate this problem more profoundly, the present authors, criticizing the above-mentioned standards and criteria and displaying their inadequacy and imprecision, have made an attempt to propose cultural components and the cultural discourse dominating the work as a promising standard. 

Shahnameh  is the whole mirror of ancient beliefs and Iranian's identity in far past years to the end of Sassanid's times. Most of Iranian ancient beliefs are manifested in each three parts of this epical work especially in mythic and epic periods. Herbages are the phenomena that is the subject of contemplation in mythical and also Totemic and anima beliefs which are some of the first forms of religion. The reflection of these beliefs which are sometimes similar to the other folk's myth, can be found in Shahnameh. Worshiping of herbages and the plant ancestry of mankind, which have often been seen among different tribes, are the core beliefs manifested in Shahnameh. Also, some of the characters in Shahnameh are goddess of herbage that their birth and death are the same as that of their mythical sample. In fact, these characters are the transformed models of mythical goddess of herbages.             

Scary Tehran by Moshfegh Kashani is considered as a pioneering social novel in Iran.In this article, we have tried to examine this novel from the social science perspective in order to explain its semiotics and answer the question of what signs this novel implies and whether the symptoms are ideological. To this end, following some preliminary introduction of the science of semiotics, we have analyzed the manifestation of signs in this literary work. Our findings indicate that the author has efficiently benefited from using signs in order to portray social problems such as social class differences, bipolar social system, and injustice. Further, the author  highlights the ideological concept of the symptoms and signs and how they represent the contrasts between the rich and the poor of late Qajar Tehran.

According to Ferdinand de Sossur- the well-known linguist- the philosophical-intelectual tradition of the west from Plato and Aristotle’s age, and even before them, up to the 20th century has been influenced by a polarity approach that preferred speech to writing. Accordingly, the complete transfer of meaning was considered to be possible through speech, Meanwhile, writing was considered as a branch and a substitute for speech. A brief look at Islamic Iranian history and culture may indicate that despite the differences in the basics and methods, we find a clear preference for speech in the discourse of thoughts of the classcal languge and literature. More specifically, Nasser khosroo established and organized the important theoreical principles so that the dominant mechanism of speech prevailed in the fields of Islamic rhetorics in  general and Persian rhetorics in particular for many centuries. This article will elaborate on this issue.     

It generally seems impossible to neglect the role of myths and mythical concepts due to the fact that poets are unconsciously inspred by their ethical and contents. However, in contemporary poetry, especially in those of the poets with special philosophical, social, intellectual and cultural attitudes, the poets have widely tried to adapt mythical elements to modern situations and to create new myths from contemporary concepts or realities. Akhavan sales  is one of the poets who has used a wide range of elements of ancient Iranian myths in his poems and under contemporary historical-social situation, has created myths based on the social concepts and realities.                

This paper attempts to investigate the underlying reasons as well as the quality of the creation of myth of defeat in Gheseh Shahre Sangesstan and the quality of the reproduction of some old elements utilized by the poet to depict 'defeat'. 

Critics’ includingVimsat, Brooks, Pen Waren and Renewelek, in their evaluation of poems have focused on differentiating features of classical poetry and modern poetry.Compared with the North branch of literary criticism, the South branch of New criticism has explored the formalistic and structural features of poems. Brooks in his book entitled modern and classical poetry maintains that the formalistic nature of poem stems from an array of intricacies of the corresponding society. Further, he adds that critics should delve into literary works in order to capture the details. Brooks in juxtaposition with narrative system of classical poem tries to establish four categories of formalistic system including categorical, rhetorical, abstract, and associational in the modern poetry. Brooks assumes that non- narrative systems are more complex than narrative ones and sometimes they can be integrated. This results in more density and difficulty in poems. This article probes the possibility of criticizing the contemporary poetry of Persian literature accoding to non- narrative forms.

In verse 172, Aaraf Sura, God covenants with its thrall (servants); but this verse expressed a general concept and did not discuss the details. This resulted in suggesting different views and comments by mystics, scholars, theologians, commentators and jurists. They explicitly pointed to some of the cases of this eternal covenant, such as testament of Adam, confession of people to God and saying "yes" by Adam to God; but commentators and mystics had different and contradictory perceptions. This study analyzed the process of concept formation and different thoughts of "eternity" from the first commentator to the books of Persian literature mystics, and offers a comprehensive and detailed discussion of the issue

The French speakers’ acquaintance with Iranian culture and literature took place later than that of speakers of Latin and Greek. The history of French language should be distinguished from the history of French literature. The French language developed gradually from the 5^th century and after the independence from the Roman Empire. That is why the history of French literature was first realized as epic literature in the 12^th century corresponding with Crusades. French Christian priests who had an essential role in creating the French language and literature were familiar with Zoroaster via translated Greek or Latin history books. However, more generally, via Bible and Torah, they regarded ancient Iran as the savior of Jews and Jesus Christ. During the Crusades, Iran was constantly regarded as an Arab country. Parallel with movement of Christian priests in the Mongolian period and the Christians’ influence in the royal palace, Iran’s name became well-known. However, we should regard the influential translations as a production of Christians’ long residence and learning of Persian language during and after the Safavieh period. One may consider two significant periods in the reputation of the name of Iran: The18^th Century whose literary works embrace a collection of manuscripts influenced by translations, interpretations, and reproductions. These works were criticized from Renaissance to the end of the 17^th century, mostly by monarch messengers, especially Christian missioners, in the form of analytical dictionaries, oriental novels, dramatic subjects, fables and myths. These sources dramatically influenced the woks of such elites as Montesquieu, Voltaire, and the authors of the Diderot encyclopedia who marked the thought crisis period of the Great French Revolution. Although the translations were considered as Platonic, paratextual, and racial due to lack of Persian literacy, they had a drastic effect on the intellectuality of the French society and resulted in the foundation of a significant field named Orientalism in the 19^th century. In this era, translation of Persian works was done by trained diplomatic agents in a more organized way. Its influence was realized not only in politics but also in the Romanticism school; specifically, in the works of Victor Hugo and other literary schools such as Symbolism and Surrealism. In ideology and anthropology, Gobineau, who was under the influence of Aryan race, provoked a number of argumentations which, in turn, led to racism in the 20^th century. 

Longing is one of mystical states that appeares in the absence of the beloved and must vanish at meeting the beloved. In mystical texts, longing at the joining moment is elaborated on. Some mystics believe that after joining and at the presence of the beloved, longing increases and converts to a state of desire. The continuity of longing or converting caused by the presence of the beloved, in turn, lead to an unending journey to God. The beloved has a myriad of manifestations and the lover in each stage reaches one of  the beauties of the beloved. So, the lover has reached one manifestation of the beloved’s beauty and is still striving for understanding and uncovering the other aspects. The beloved’s unconditional enthusiasm and presence is stimulated by the lover’s continuous need to love the beloved. Once the journey to God is over, another journey in God starts. This journey never ends because of the the beloved’s unlimited beauty and glory; hence, the lover remains longing and loving the beloved forever.  

This study attempts to indicate that ‘exclusivity’ is not organized adequately in semantic books. In these books, there is not a clear- cut boundary between different kinds of literary exclusivity; moreover its categorizations are based on the reader^,s’ mastery over the speakers or the addressees’ intentions. After analyzing and categorizing the three groups cited in semantic books, the author concludes that the real non- claiming exclusive sentences should be analyzed in the realm of language studies, and unreal daiming sentences in the realm of literature. Furthermore, a change in the tone of reading or the stress in pronunciation determines the adjective and noun or the noun and adjective. In order to clarify exclusivity of ‘singularity, metamorphosis and identification’, accurate identification of the addressee is highly necessary. Finally, the position of exclusive sentences and implications is not clarified. It is suggested that when teaching or analyzing ‘exclusivity’, the five fields of discourse analysis, literature, knowing the addressee, sentence recognition and implicatures must be taken into account.

Shazdeh Ihtejab by Houshang Golshiri is one of the most valuable examples of Iran’s fictional literature in terms of its use of narrative techniques and devices. Golshiri in Shazdeh Ihtejab has benefitted from various narrative elements; however, it can be argued that the complexity of the narrative techniques of the work is to a great extent due to his use of two elements of “the voice of narrator” and “focalization.” Selecting the limited third person narrator which is restricted to the minds of two main characters of the work (Shazdeh Ihtejab and Fakhri) and offering the thoughts and sayings of these two characters in direct and indirect discourse has caused the voice of the narrator or narrators to be mixed with the perspective of the focalizer or focalizers and has rendered understanding the relation between narrator and focalizer and the difference between the two difficult. Based on this, in the present article, the two elements of “voice of the narrator” and “focalization” in the narrative text of Shazdeh Ihtejab are discussed in order to present the artistic use of the two elements in the narrative text of Shazdeh Ihtejab.

Communication is one of the main functions of language. Linguistic communication usually combines with other modes of interaction such as nonverbal communication. People’s nonverbal behaviors display their styles and personality characteristics. Therefore, the fictionists and historians tend to reflect the quality and quantity of the character’s nonverbal relationship in their narration. The present study examines the adventure of Hanging of the Hasanak Minister in Tarikh-e Beyhaqi in order to show how Beyhaqi succeeds to imagine, objectify and portray the events of Qaznavi's periods and how it could improve the dramatic capacity of historical text with accuracy in nonverbal communication using a descriptive-analytical method and an interdisciplinary approach. This study displays that Beyhaqi often uses nonverbal communication in order to complete the verbal communication; but in many cases, they are replaced by verbal behavior or control the verbal behaviors.

In ancient Iran, mubeds were always among the most prominent authorities of the country and were highly influential in kings’ courts. This role is well depicted in Iran’s most famous national epic, and it is of such an importance that by examining their roles and positions in Shahnameh, one can find how religion and government were closely related in ancient Iran. In Shahnameh, the mubads’ responsibilities were not just limited to conducting religious ceremonies and rites. They enjoyed power and authority in country’s administration and were the most educated people of their age. They were responsible for the education and also narrated ancient stories. Observing the economic affairs and bearing the flag in battles were other responsibilities of the mubeds which are also well depicted in Shahnameh. It should be noted that “mubed” in Shahnameh is used as a generic term and it is not always used to mean a “clergy”. Rather, its meanings had expanded and the term was attributed to wise and erudite people. In this paper, the authors attempt to explain the functions and hierarchies of mubeds according to Ferdowsi’s Shahnameh.

This article, first takes a formalist approach and attempts to achieve two goals: defining the term defamiliarization, its essence and function. Then, it illustrates one of the prosodic features of Naser khosrow’s poetry which could be considered as an appropriate example of rhythmic defamiliarization. For this purpose, seven meters from his Divān, of which rare meters are usually called unpleasant/ unfamiliar, will be discussed; and, according to their different structures, they will be categorized into  two groups: one incorporating six meters, and the other containing only one. The meters of the first group which are mainly analyzed in this study have different length from their current forms. When a poet such as Naser Khosrow employs these infrequent meters in his poetry, it sounds odd to most of Persian readers who are accustomed to the ordinary rhythms. This can be called rhythmic/ prosodic defamiliarization.