Analysis of Concept of Space in Three Stories of Shāhnāme According to the Levy-Bruhl’s Theory of Mythical Thinking

Fateh Dowlatabadi, Arman; Abbasi, Habibollah; Neghabi, Effat

doi:10.22059/jpl.2022.342175.2053

Analysis of Concept of Space in Three Stories of Shāhnāme According to the Levy-Bruhl’s Theory of Mythical Thinking

Document Type : Research Paper

Authors

Arman Fateh Dowlatabadi ¹

Habibollah Abbasi ²

effat neghabi ³

¹ PhD student of Persian Language and Literature, Faculty of Literature and Humanities, kharazmi University, Tehran, Iran.

² Professor of Persian language and literature, Faculty of Literature and Humanities, kharazmi University, Tehran, Iran.

³ Associate Professor of Persian language and literature, Faculty of Literature and Humanities, kharazmi University, Tehran, Iran.

https://doi.org/10.22059/jpl.2022.342175.2053

Abstract

Ambiguity of space in Shāhnāme is an interesting subject which attracts reader’s attention in the mythical and heroic parts of this epic. Irān is one of those ambiguous places which plays important roles in different stories. In three stories of Iraj’s enthronement, imprisonment of Kekāavoos and The Great War of Keykhosrow and Afrasiab, Iran plays an important role in the narrative of the story. Also, ambiguity of Irān as a place and its mythical characteristics is eminent in these stories. In these stories, Iran is not just a political unit but according to mythical thought of the creators of these stories is something beyond the logical entities and cannot be limited to what we understand of space. In this study, with the use of desk study and content analysis and emphasis on Lévy-Bruhl’s theory of mythical thought we have tried to reach an anthropological reading of these three stories. We have found out that ambiguity of space is rooted in the mythical thinking of the creators of these stories. In these stories, Irān and Iranians are not independent entities but participate in meaning and cause mystic emotions. In other words, Iran and Iranians can be used interchangeably as the context of stories suggest, meaning Iran is Iranians and Iranians are Iran. In Addition, mythical thought considers any threats to the members of a group as a threat to the group as a whole because it perceives the member and the group as one. A member of a group is not just a person but contains the mystical powers of the whole group. So what happens to one member of the group, happens to the group as a whole. If a member is injured, the whole group is considered to be injured. Furthermore, According to this kind of thinking, this perception of group and its members is not paradoxical. So, wars between Iranians and Turanis are something beyond political wars and are an effort to protect Irān and Iranians. In these stories, taking revenge is not simply a political act but is an ethical responsibility of all members of the group in order to protect and preserve the group as a whole. So in these stories that we have analyzed, revenge plays an important role in the narrative of the stories since taking revenge is accepted as an ethical act to save the group in the mythical thinking. Alongside other reasons, our findings show that the ambiguity of space in Shāhnāme can be the product of mythical thinking.

Keywords

Shāhnāme

Ferdowsi

Ambiguity of Space

Mythical Thinking

Lévy-Bruhl

Subjects

Persian Language and Literature

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