Marina L. Reysner

The article deals with the history of anthological genre in Iran of XIII–XIX c. and shows its evolution from entertaining literature to literary criticism. Development of the genre demonstrates transformation both in the character of narrative and the principles of classification.

The article is devoted to the problem of transformation of the Qur‘anic story of Yusuf and its key motifs in Persian Classic poetry, both lyric and epic. On the basis of the examples from qasidas and ghazals composed by famous Persian poets like Khakani, ‘Attar, Sa‘di, Hafiz and some other the author of the article shows how the process of artistic transformation and canonization of key motifs of the Qur‘anic story took place. The citations of lyric poetry represent wide genre specter and specific individual interpretations of motifs connected with the story of Yusuf. Transformation of plot is shown on the example of Jami’s famous romance Yusuf and Zuleykha. All changes in the plot and in the list of personages are made in accordance with canon of Persian Classic verse romance.

The article is devoted to the analyses of different types of lyric incorporations to narration in Persian classic Romance of XI–XIV centuries, to its genesis and functions both in form and content of narrative texts. Main attention is paid to the early period of development of genre (XI c.) when such poets as Unsuri, Ayyuqi and Gurgani composed first love stories in Persian poetry. The article shows how such coryphaeus of this genre Nizami used the literary experience of his predecessors in his famous romances Khsraw and Shirin and Layli and Majnun. The article contains analyses of three types of lyric incorporations in narrative text named “letters” (nama), “songs” (surud) and “love poems” (shi‘r or qhazal). The author retraced all changes in functioning of the three types of non-subject elements and showed how the border-line between them was gradually obliterated. In the end the author comes to the conclusion that lyric incorporations in Persian classic Romance act as one of the key markers of genre.

The article examines motifs of dreams and sleep in classical Persian qhazal. These motifs usually occur at the beginning or end of a poem and may shape the meaning of the whole text. It traces their transfer from love lyrics and qasida openings into qhazal, and interprets sleeplessness as a derivative counter-motif of sleep.

The article is devoted to the little-studied period of the development of Persian Literature, which, nevertheless, can be characterized as an important stage in the stylistic evolution of the traditional poetry. The works of one of the most popular poets of the period Hatef Isfahani (died in 1784) show the process of formation of the new poetic style, based on the idea of returning to the classical norm. Hatef’s poetry demonstrates both the gap with the closest predecessors and significant differences with the stable repertoire of classical poetic motifs.

The article is devoted to the study of one of the specific aspects of the development of the Persian classical ghazal as a structural and thematic unity with pronounced signs of poetic form. Compositional factors played a key role in the transformation of the ghazal. The techniques of decorating the beginning and ending of a poetic work were regulated by the norms of Arabic poetics borrowed by the Iranians. They were respectively designated by the terms ‘beauty of the beginning’ (husn al-matla‘) and ‘beauty of the ending’ (husn al-makta‘). Their use in Persian poetic practice had notable specificity in comparison with Arabic. The use of repetitive figurative and syntactic clichés to implement these techniques in the ghazal gradually turned into a generally accepted norm. Along with the principle of uniform design of the ending, there is also a basic fund of standard figurative-syntactic models and clichés that served as markers of the beginning of the ghazal. At each stage of its evolution, the ghazal interacted with various components of the genre system, gradually expanding the thematic range and the repertoire of standard beginnings. As a result of these changes, which are often not fixed by theoretical poetic treatises, but fixed in practice, the canonical appearance of the Persian ghazal arises. It was fundamentally different from the original prototype. After going through several stages of transformation, the ghazal turns into a genre form with a set of permanent structural features.