Grotesque in Attar's stories of madmen

Document Type : مروری

Abstract

Grotesque is a technique or style in art and literature, and various and complex concepts and domains have been defined for it. Some have referred to it as "mixed humor" and have listed characteristics such as dissonance, horror, exaggeration and excessiveness, abnormality and sarcasm for it, and some have described it as an optional way of expression for people who have never been subject to social and literary rules and codes. By examining all the features that have been defined for this art, it can be seen that the stories of madmen in Attar's masnavis can be analyzed and described with these features, and these stories can be introduced as good examples of the grotesque art in Persian literature; Due to the two-way themes and in some cases multi-way themes with an appearance of humor and satire and laughter and an inner side full of deep meanings and a structure that more or less corresponds to the enigmatic, folk, and humorous forms of grotesque. This article interprets these stories based on the criteria and principles of grotesque art by the method of content analysis, and seeks to prove the claim that Attar of Nishapour used this way to express ideas and instill his sublime concepts and teachings in ages much earlier than the modern writers of the 20th century; Although it was not called grotesque in those days, Attar has acted very creatively and skillfully in using it.

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