Nostalgia in the poetry of Shahriar, Akhwan Tahali and Forough Farrokhzad

Dissertation for Master's Degree in Persian Language and Literature

Abstract

Nostalgia is a term that entered the literature from psychology and it is defined as longing for the past. Mehdi Akhwan Tahali, Mohammad Hossein Shahryar and Forough Farrokhzad are poets whose poems are full of nostalgic concepts, but at the same time there are differences between them and each of these poets has paid more attention to one aspect of nostalgia. Contemporary literature, due to the currents and conditions governing it, has laid the foundation for different concepts of nostalgia and these three poets are also special people of this era who were affected by the existing conditions and this This has created various manifestations of nostalgia in their poems. The Third Brotherhood sees the honor and glory of Iran in the distant past, and for this reason, it has always longed for the powerful people of the past. Farrokhzad is also a poet whose social conditions have led him to despair and pessimism, and we can see this in many of his poems, and Shahryar, who suffers a love failure, is filled with the sadness of abandonment and distance from his beloved.

This research aims to investigate the different concepts of nostalgia. In the contemporary Persian poetry and the poems of these three contemporary poets, he will explain the reasons for their turning to nostalgia, and while comparing them with each other, he will examine the degree of influence of each of the western poets and writers. Introduction

Nostalgia (longing for the past) and remembering the happy times of the past and complaining about the present and the present are some of the topics that are always discussed for everyone. But this discussion has a special place in literature and especially poetry. And the expression of this issue is more and deeper in poets than others. In this research, an attempt is made to address the place of the subject of nostalgia in contemporary literature and in the works of the poets in question. Nostalgia is one of the most important and significant topics in Persian literature that has not been addressed much. They have defined things, people and situations of the past, and another meaning of it is strong longing for the hometown.

In this research, we will first give a comprehensive definition of nostalgia and its history in the West, and then we will compare the evidence obtained by studying all the works of the authors in question, in order to determine the effect of distance from the homeland, longing for the past, longing for nothing, and so on. Let's find out in the souls of people and also point to other manifestations of nostalgia that are not present among the works of Westerners. For this purpose, after the history of nostalgia in the West, we have discussed nostalgia in traditional Persian literature so that the background of this issue in our literature can be fully investigated. And then we have discussed the concept of nostalgia in the works of these 3 contemporary poets with a comprehensive definition of contemporary literature. So, as explained, the chapters of this topic are as follows: In the first chapter, titled Generalities, the mentioned topics are discussed. In the second chapter, Mehdi Akhwan Thalit and his poetry and the manifestations of nostalgia in his works are discussed. In the third chapter, the life and poetry of Forough Farrokhzad is discussed. Nostalgia has been examined in his poetry.

In the fifth chapter titled as conclusion, after comparing the poets with each other, the extent of their influence from the western literature has been discussed and a general result of the discussed issues has been given.  

History of Nostalgia

For the first time, a Swiss doctor named "Johannes Hofer" coined and used this term in an article he published to describe the mental states of two patients. This article was written exactly on June 22, 1688. One of Dr. Hofer's patients was a student from Bern who came to Basel, and the other patient was a maid. Both of these people made a full recovery after returning to their families. Of course, in today's psychiatry, the correct term to refer to the problem of these patients is "adjustment disorder".

At the same time, cases of diseases and disorders were observed among Swiss soldiers who served abroad. At first, it was thought that the mental and physical states of these soldiers might be due to physiological issues or due to traveling to areas with lower altitude.

Although nostalgia was initially a medical term, it soon attracted the attention of philosophers..

Although nostalgia was initially a medical term, it soon attracted the attention of philosophers. Haller wrote an article about it in the encyclopedia Diberot. Rousseau described how a melody could epidemically evoke a strong desire to return to nostalgia among Swiss soldiers. Kant believed that nostalgia is not a disease caused by exile, but it is caused by poverty, and wealth and social success can eliminate it. A century after the publication of Hofer's article, between 1789 and 1815, the situation became such that the number of emigrants and soldiers far from the homeland increased drastically, and the number of patients who were diagnosed with "nostalgia disease" at that time multiplied. But at this time, doctors, especially army doctors, had gained more clinical experience. They had learned by experience how to diagnose this disorder and treat it with psychotherapy, thereby creating a pleasant reminder of the past memories in their patients. "Baron Percy", one of these doctors, writes: The treatment of this disease should be spiritual and not medicinal. Experience has shown that prescribing drugs does nothing but worsen symptoms.

Over the past 50 years, the term nostalgia disappeared from medical texts and was no longer used to describe patients' disorders. But at the same time, he gradually entered the world of literature. Nostalgia in literature was not a disease, but referred to the romantic feelings and sadness of being born late. algos means pain and suffering. This word has been used in dictionaries as the meaning of longing for the past, sadness of homelessness and pain of distance. Nostalgia, which entered literature from psychology, is referred to in literary reviews as a way of writing based on which a poet or writer, in his poem or writing, draws and writes down the past that he has in mind, or the land that he has memories of in his heart.

In new literary reviews, nostalgia is divided into 2 types, personal and social. On the basis of personal nostalgia, the poet or writer refers to a period of his personal life, while according to social nostalgia, the special social situation that the creator of the work refers to; It is important. Each of the types of nostalgia are divided into two categories: immediate and continuous.

Individual immediate nostalgia means the tendency of the creator of the work to draw a moment or moments from the past in his own work. Nostalgia is a continuous individual in the carrier of all the work of a poet or writer. A poet or a writer who is affected by this type of nostalgia deals with his past throughout his work.

It should be noted that nostalgia is fundamentally different from memoir writing. Nostalgia in literature is a behavior that usually manifests itself unconsciously in a poet or writer, and thus becomes important in cognitive style.

From the point of view of psychopathology, "nostalgia is a dream that originates from a powerful past." A past that no longer exists and cannot be reconstructed. When people face obstacles at some point in their lives, or when their health is compromised or they reach old age, their first reaction is to escape. But many times, if they don't find a way to escape in objective reality, they long for the past in which they had a glorious life." (Shamlo, 1375: 11)

Nostalgia took on different meanings in the literary language of the Romantic era and in the works of Victor Hugo, Baudelaire and Sartre. And in Hugo's works it means the burning pain of being away from the homeland, in Baudelaire's works it means longing for foreign lands and longing for lost things, and finally in Sartre's works it means longing or yearning for nothingness.

The definition of romanticism relies more on the types of escape of romantics. Escape to dreams, escape to the past, to distant lands, to imagination. The romantic generation is the generation of lost dreams and their school is the school of disappointment.

One of the principles of the romantic school is the principle of "escape and travel". "Annoyance from the existing environment and time and escape to other spaces or times, an invitation to a historical or geographical journey, a real journey or on the wings of imagination, are the characteristics of romantic works.