SUMMARY OF ARTICLES
Editorial
Expanse of Contemporary Persian Literature
The view has wrongly developed that the expanse of contemporary Persian
literature is confined to the novel, the short story and poetry. Contemporary
Persian literature has a much wider expanse encompassing many other literary
genres. These, as compared with the classical genres, may be divided into five
groups as follows: those that are written in the continuation of classical
literature; those that are traditional in nature but which have a modern flavor;
those that have parallels in classical literature but which fall into no established
genre; those that are not literary in the strict sense of the word but whose subject
matter is literature and those that have no parallels in classical literature but
whose genres have developed in the 20th century. The writer argues that there is
no gap between Persian classical and modern literature; and that in spite of
obvious differences between the two in terms of content and form, the spirit of
Persian culture has remained intact; if the modern Persian literature, the writer
maintains, has failed to produce great works such as Ferdowsâ¦'s The Shahnameh,
R ¦u mâ¦'s The Mas
£ navi¦ and Nez
¤ ¦ a mâ¦'s K
£ amseh, that is because the golden age of
literature is no longer revived with the rise of literary champions; rather, it is the
sum of individual works that find an amazing value. In line with other cultural
phenomena, literature has shown a strong tendency toward democratization. If
we look at literature from this perspective, we will observe a great number of
worthwhile literary products. What is specially worthwhile is the developments
made in contemporary Persian, developments the like of which cannot be
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¦ me-ye Farhangesta
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observed in any period in the history of Persian. In particular,
these developments have expanded the potential of Persian for writing literary
and expository texts. However, there are still shortcomings and gaps in such
areas of Persian scholarship as the history of Persian literature, Persian
Grammar and literary criticism. The contemporary literary period, the writer
concludes, is distinct from its predecessors in various respects. In this period,
literary texts have undergone fundamental changes, promising an even more
fruitful future.
Essays
The Oldest Persian Texts in Non-Arabic Scripts
H. R@e@z@a@i B@a@g@h@b@i@d@i
Long before the extensive use of Arabic script for writing Persian,
Persian-speaking religious minorities (Jews, Christians and Manichaeans) used
their own religious scripts for this purpose. In other words, the oldest extant
Persian texts that belong to the period before 447 AH/1055 AD, were written in
three different non-Arabic scripts: Hebrew, Syriac and Manichaean. These texts
belong to a period in the history of the Persian language that is usually
referred to as ``the dark period''. In this paper the author examines the
phonological, morphological, syntactic and lexical characteristics of Old Persian
documents. The purpose is to shed some light on lesser known aspects of ``this
dark period''.
Conversion in Persian
A. T@a@b@a@t@a@b@a@i
Conversion is a derivational process through which a word normally used in one
word-class takes on another word-class without any change in its form. For
example, the word foroosh, which is the root of the word forookhtan (to sell), can
be used as a noun. In this paper, the writer first proposes criteria for discerning
the original word-class, and then discusses various types of conversion, e.g.
adjective to noun, noun to verb and adjective.
4
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Summary of Articles
§ ¦ ame‘ al-Tava
A Study of the Critical Editions of Ras§ ¦ âd al-Dâ¦n Faz
- lolla
¦ h’s J
¦ ri¦ £ k in
France and Iran
T. S@a@d@j@e@d@i
In the early 19th century, the French Academy of Inscriptions and Literary
Sciences turned their attention to R as
§ ¦ âd al-Dâ¦n Faz
- lolla
¦ h's § J¦ ame‘ al-Tava
¦ ri¦ £ k ,
and the great French scholar of Iranian studies, Etienne-Marc QuatremÉre
was assigned to translate it into French. He presented the first volume in 1836.
In the same century, the R ussian I.N. BÅrÅzine and the French Edgar Blochet
made attempts to translate and publish the book. The greatest amount of
research on the book was conducted by the Czechoslovakian scholar
Karl-Emil-Oskar Jahn in the 20th century. In this century, Iranians also published
parts of the book. Mohammad Roshan, having published the section on Mongols
independently, presented a complete version of the book based on the most
reliable manuscripts available in Iran and abroad, adding detailed lexical and
textual explanations to it. The present article is an examination of the first
volume of this book.
Wordsworth and Sepehri, Two Pantheistic Poets
A. K@h@a@z@a@e@e F@a@r
Sohrab Sepehri and William Wordsworth belong to two different cultures and
poetic traditions. In spite of obvious differences, however, the two poets deal
with a common theme. The purpose of this paper is to examine this common
theme from a comparative point of view. The two poems selected for this
comparison are Wordsworth's Tintern Abbey and Sepehri's Water’s Footsteps.
The writer first presents a synopsis of each poem. This is followed by a brief
discussion of the language and structure of the two poems. Next the writer
presents a thematic comparison of the two poems, claiming that both poems are
in fact strongly inspired by pantheistic doctrines. The writer also presents in the
appendix a translation of the full text of Tintern Abbey, so that the reader may
have a better understanding of the poem.
A Glimpse into the Ideas of Jakobson as a Linguist
A.@M. H@a@g@h@s@h@e@n@a@s
To familiarize oneself thoroughly with Jakobson, it is essential that one read his
articles; he has not discussed his ideas in book form, nor has anyone else done so.
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A scholar with diverse interests, Jakobson has been influential in launching
scientific movements and circles. Thus knowing him seems to require great
efforts. A study of his ideas shows that in all his scientific endeavors, he presents
the perspective of a linguist interested in literature. This fact that he is first and
foremost a linguist in whatever idea he expresses may help the scholar get a
better view of his ideas.
Common Pronoun, Personal Pronoun or Emphatic Pronoun
T. V@a@h@i@d@i@y@a@n K@a@m@y@a@r
The question of ``common pronoun'' has been widely neglected in the studies of
Persian grammar. Structurally, it takes three different forms: 1) £ k od ¦ amadam;
£ k od ¦ amadi¦ , ... 2) £ k odam ¦ amadam, £ k odet ¦ amadi¦ , ... 3) £ k od-e man ¦ amadam; ¦ k od-e
to ¦ amadi¦ , ... In certain cases, the writer argues, these three forms are free
variants, but in some other cases they are used in complementary distribution.
On the other hand, in some cases, the shared pronoun is used as an emphatic
pronoun and in some others, as personal pronoun.
Changes of Vowel Quantity in Persian Poetry
M.@ J. A@z@i@m@i
Even though in the prosody of Persian poetry, syllable quantity and,
consequently, vowel quantity are relevant, in special circumstances, the necessity
to observe the metrical pattern results in a change of vowel quantity. In this
paper, the writer, discussing the theoretical issue of the change of vowel quantity
in Persian poetry, examines this issue in the sonnets of H
¤ ¦ a f⦤ z, K
£ ¦ a§ j¦u and Salma
¦ n
Sa
¦ voj§¦ â, using statistical samples of sonnets of the same rhymes and rhythms. The
study provides answers to the following questions: 1) Is the number of changes of
vowel quantity dependent on the metrical pattern? 2) What is the maximum
number of vowel quantity change in a line? 3) Is there a difference between
H
¤ ¦ a f⦤ z' sonnets and those of K
£ ¦ a§ j¦u and Salma
¦ n Sa
¦ voj§¦ â in terms of the number of
changes of vowel quantity? 4) Is the number of special changes of vowel quantity
different in the sonnets of H
¤ ¦ a f⦤ z, K
£ ¦ a§ j¦u and Salma
¦ n Sa
¦ voj§¦ â. It is to be noted that
the statistical data used in this study was obtained using the intelligent software
of Persian poetry ``Simia'', designed by the writer and that the hypotheses of the
study were tested using statistical tests.
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On the Proverb ‘‘Si¦ @l¦ @i-ye naqd beh az ¤ halva
¦ -ye nesi¦ ye’’
H. S@a@l@i@m@i
The word si¦ li¦ (used today in the sense of ``slap'') makes no sense in the proverb
``Si¦ li¦ -ye naqd beh az ¤ halva
¦ -ye nesi¦ ye'' (literally: an instant si¦ li¦ better than deferred
¤ halva
¦ ) (idiomatically: a good grievance better than a bad compensation; or, a
sparrow in hand is worth a pheasant that flieth by), unless it has a different
meaning. In this paper, the writer argues that the word si¦ li¦ is a kind of food,
similar to ¤ halva
¦ , which has not been recorded in dictionaries.
Iranian Studies
Persian Studies in Czech
M. M@e@s@h@k@a@t@o D@i@n@i
Studies of Old Persian, Middle Iranian languages and Modern Persian language
and literature in Czech began in the last two decades of the nineteenth century.
Since then, the Czech scholars have carried out detailed studies, producing
valuable sources for further study and research on modern Persian language and
literature. This paper presents an account of the contributions made by Czech
scholars to Persian studies.
Selections from the Past
Basile Nikitine Revisited
This section consists of two parts. The first part is a translation by Ahmad Samiee
(Gilani) of one of Nikitine's articles entitled ``Historical Novel in Modern Persian
Literature''. In the second part, T. Sadjedi presents a short biography of Basile
Nikitine, the R ussian scholar of Persian language and literature who was secretary
and interpreter of R ussian Consulate in R asht in 1911 and the R ussian consul at
Orumiyeh during the years 1915-1918. The information about Nikitine's life has
been taken for the most part from Nikitine's autobiography The Iran I have
known, which was published in 1941 in Paris.