Comparative analysis of the play Faust by Goethe and the story of Sheikh Sanan narrated by Attar

Dissertation for receiving a Master's degree (M.A)

Tension: Persian language and literature

Dissertation abstract (including summary, objectives, implementation methods and results obtained):

The years 1330-1300 with a sociological approach. The purpose of this research is to know the social issues of Iran through social novels, as well as to know the thoughts, intellectual tendencies of novelists and how to promote novel writing in a new style in Iran. The impact of socio-political conditions on the creation of literary works in the history under review, the publication and expansion of constitutional literature parallel to the occurrence of World War I and world conditions, as well as the spread of culture along with western literature followed by World War II and the growth of modernism and its penetration into third world countries including Iran, led Iranian novelists to create works in the same style and context as Western novelists, which are devoted to the expression of social-cultural, political, and economic issues of Iranian society.

Among the novels of the mentioned period, five novels by five authors, including: 1- Terrible Tehran written by Morteza Defirat Kazemi, 2- Dar tsadat Mehans written by Mohammad Massoud, 3- Haji Agha written by Sadeq Hedayat, 4- Qoltshan Diwan written by Mohammad Ali Jamalzadeh, 5- Asrar Shab written by Abbas Khalili, were selected and studied and analyzed using the method of content analysis. Although the main theoretical framework used for the analysis is the theories of George Luk?cs and Lucien Goldman. But due to the content of the examined texts and the expression of many social issues, the opinions and thoughts of other social thinkers who were related to the text were used. Therefore, the theoretical and hybrid framework was included in the present research.

The mentioned novels are completely Iranian in terms of the social atmosphere and the subject of the story, and they are structured in the social environment of Iran, especially in Tehran. By studying and analyzing the text, the reader realizes that Iran, as a traditional third world country, is moving in the direction of modernism after the constitutional movement, and the development programs are pushing Iran towards Western-style modernization. But in terms of the cultural and traditional nature of the society and the patrimonial structure of the existing governments (sultan governments), a dual face was formed in the socio-political and cultural-social structure of the country, and a type of quasi-modernism and quasi-democracy was established in Iran. Economic problems - cultural poverty and illiteracy, economic poverty, hunger have been addressed by early novelists. In this regard, the hypothesis of the researcher has been proven and the early social novels were full of Iranian social issues.

Abstract:

     The aim of the present research is the comparative analysis of the play Faust by Goethe and the story of Sheikh Sanan narrated by Attar.  In this research, after the outline of the research, the theoretical foundations of the research include; The definition of comparative literature, the history and background of its origin, the schools of comparative literature and the background of comparative literature in Iran have been explained, and the researcher has analyzed the research findings. In this part, after mentioning a detailed introduction about the two works and their authors, the thought, worldview and works of the two authors and the origins and contexts of the creation of the two works have been examined. In the following, the researcher has compared and matched the two works from the structural and content aspects, and has come to the conclusion that despite having different historical and cultural backgrounds, due to the common intellectual, taste and emotional backgrounds of their authors, they are capable of being compared and adapted. In terms of structure and in terms of content and theme, he observed remarkable similarities between them. Since sin, love, woman, and death are transcultural issues and are not issues that are exclusive to a nation, a nation, or a specific culture, the inevitable temptation of this research was to examine such concepts from the perspective of two eastern and western people and find out the similarities and differences between them.

Key words: comparative literature, mystical literature, romantic literature, God, love, sin.

Introduction:

     Comparative literature is a relatively new approach in the world of literature that helps to discover the fields of empathy and like-mindedness of the creators of literary and artistic works of different lands.Whatever the approach of different perspectives of comparative literature, the result is the same and that will be the closeness of different nations and ethnic groups and their literary and cultural understanding. In this thesis, which has been prepared with the aim of comparative analysis of Goethe's Faust [1] and the story of Sheikh Sanan narrated by Attar, this issue; That is, finding out the intellectual, emotional and taste commonalities of the creators of these two works has always been a place of reflection and attention. Also, the adaptation of these two works has been of great importance in the sense that they are both outstanding works in the history of world literature as well as outstanding masterpieces of two nations.

     The story of Sheikh Sanaan is one of the most heartwarming love stories in Persian literature. This story is the longest verse of Attar Nishaburi's logic al-Tair. The importance of this story has always attracted the attention of literary writers. This poem tells the story of a sheikh who falls in love with a fearless lady, and as a result, loses all the prestige and respect he has earned over the years. What distinguishes this system from similar examples is its unique features, in terms of external structure and also in terms of theme and content. Faust's story also has a special prominence among similar examples. The story of Faust is the fate of a man who spent his life on acquiring knowledge and finding a way to the truth; But with the passing of years, he has not reached peace with empty hands and life, he has remained more depressed than ever. Therefore, the examples examined in this thesis, while having some similarities, are capable of adaptation and investigation, they are also of special importance due to having outstanding human concepts. These two works, like many other literary works, were written with a specific purpose. Whatever this purpose may be, be it religious, moral, or cultural and social, they express the most important and sublime experiences of the spiritual and spiritual life of their creators, and also reflect the deepest human concerns, and this issue causes them to break the boundaries of time and space, and by passing through the ups and downs of history and by breaking the boundaries of space and time, they become the common concerns of people for centuries and centuries.

     These issues together caused that among the many literary works of the world, these two works are compared as outstanding examples of works that have similarities due to the intellectual, taste and emotional commonalities of their creators. What is most important in this comparison is understanding the common spirit that casts a shadow on these two literary texts; And that is why, despite the different historical and cultural contexts in which these works were formed, they can still be analyzed and compared. It is this common spirit that causes us to look for deep similarities between Goethe and Attar's works, despite the moral and religious differences as well as the difference in the thought and worldview of Goethe and Attar. Of course, one should not ignore Goethe's familiarity with Eastern literature, especially Persian literature; Because this familiarity, in turn, has not been without influence in the formation of common concepts and themes. Although there is no document that proves Goethe's familiarity with Attar, Goethe was undoubtedly familiar with the mystical spirit of Persian literary works through other poets such as Saadi and Hafez, and this familiarity could have led to the emergence of common themes in his works with Persian literary themes. The present research, which seeks to discover these similarities, relies on the theory of the American school, which seeks to find deeper similarities from historical and cultural contexts in the adaptation of literary works, and tries to express some of the most important and profound commonalities between these two great and valuable works. rtl;">Chapter One:

Research overview

1-1 statement of the problem

    Comparative literature is one of the important branches of literary studies in the present era, during which literary texts belonging to languages different, compared to each other, are analyzed and investigated. The subject of this research, which is in the framework of comparative literature, is the comparative analysis of Sheikh Sanan's story from Attar Neishabouri's Logic al-Tahir book and the famous play Faust [2] by Goethe, a famous German poet.