Research Specifications

Masnavi-Ma’navi, one of the treasures of both Sufism and Dari Persian literature in the 13th century and written by the celebrated Persian poet Jalal ad-Din Mohammad Rumi (also known as Mowlavi and Mowlana), is a series of six books of Persian poetry including a collection of moral and spiritual anecdotes and tales whose spiritual lessons of life will not sink into oblivion. This work has been continually reviewed and analyzed from new perspectives. Undoubtedly, one of the reasons behind the immortality and longevity of this work in narrative literature lies in Mowlavi‟s use of soft and sweet speech, which makes it pleasant even to contemporary readers. Since Masnavi-Ma’navi, also known as Masnavi, is full of anecdotes and stories, one of the areas considered to explore this work is narratology, which is the study of the narrative structure. Well-known modern narratologists such as Genette, Prince, and Chatman have analyzed the structure and function of narrative, focusing on different dimensions such as point of view, temporality of narrative, focalization, narrator, and suspense. Narratology is one of the theories that reveal to the audience and readers deep and hidden aspects of ancient and contemporary texts. The purpose of the present paper is twofold: firstly, after a brief discussion of narratology, it attempts to restore the position of Aristotle as the founder of narratology; secondly, it intends to elaborate on and identify the Aristotelian theories on the plot of tragedy, particularly the concepts of anagnorisis and peripeteia, which are the main focus of this paper. The present study endeavors to fill in the gap in the previous studies about the narratological study of Masnavi, disregarding Aristotle as a classical narratologist. In Masnavi, Mowlana has made use of storytelling to achieve didactic and mystical purposes and Aristotle, in his Poetics, has discussed the key elements of an effective plot designed to convey moral and didactic lessons to the r