Minābi Dialect Texts ̸ Sheykh Shangar and the Spirit Game

Siberian Historical Research, 2022

The speech behavior of soothsayers (kuhhān), who lived in pre-Islamic Arabia, was characterized by the use of rhymed and rhythmic prose, the formulaic structure of utterances and their enigmatic nature. Furthermore, their speech was ecstatically performed and featured a specific language that was different from the generally accepted mode of everyday communication. As a consequence, their utterances were perceived by their audiences as emanating from supernatural beings. The article draws a parallel between the speech peculiarities of the kuhhān and texts that serve for 'communication' with spirits in shamanic/shamanistic cultures. From a functional point of view, in both cases the texts exhibit a number of distinctive properties that mark sacred pronouncements dictated by otherworldly forces. There are also similarities in the contexts and circumstances of text production of soothsayers and shamans. The conclusions of the article can serve as another argument in favor of a typological affinity between these two groups of religious specialists. This affinity has previously been examined mainly through the prism of their social functions and non-verbal behavior. This article, on the other hand, emphasizes the linguistic characteristics of this affinity.

Middle Eastern Studies, 2017

2014

This research presents an analytical study of the rewritten folktales of Iran in 20 century, and investigates the ideological omissions and revisions of oral tales as textual productions in modern Iran. Focusing on the problematic role of folktales as tales about the unreal and the fantastic serving a political purpose, this study traces the creative exercises of Iranian storytellers who apply ideological codes and meanings to popular folk language. The works of Mirzadeh Eshqi (1893-1924), Sadegh Hedayat (1903-1951), Samad Behrangi (1939-1968) and Bijan Mofid (1935-1984) are examples of a larger collection of creative writing in Iran that through the agency of folklore shape the political imagination of Iranian readers. While Eshqi’s revolutionary ideas are artistically imbedded in oral culture of the Constitution era, Hedayat’s fiction follows with an intricate fusion of folklore and tradition. Later in the 20 Century, Behrangi introduces politically charged children’s tales to an ...

Folklore Bulletin Autumn 2005 Vol 21, Number 2

The British Journal of Middle Eastern Studies, 2019

For almost a century, a Persian ethnic joke cycle has circulated among Iranians about the men and women of the northern Iranian city of Rasht, labelling them as cuckolds and promiscuous women. A foray into the historical background and possible (gendered) functions of these jokes is long overdue. I argue that the central motif of Rashti jokes is gheyrat-a gendered social construct based on a man's sense of honour, possessiveness and protectiveness towards certain female kin-which remains pivotal to our understanding of the texts and the historical context of the jokes. Critically reviewing extant theories on the historical origins of Rashti jokes, I argue they have roots in two modern phenomena: (a) debates among turn-of-the-twentiethcentury Iranian thinkers over women's (un)veiling; and (b) Reza Shah's methodical promotion of an Aryanist, pan-Persian ideology. Focusing on the gender-disciplinary functions of the jokes, I then show how some contemporary Rashti jokes are deployed to project and inscribe gender-hierarchical notions that clearly surpass the jokes' immediate, ethnic targets by commenting on broad socio-political topics. Such instances suggest that as a culture-wide joke cycle, Rashti jokes may also reinforce a form of Iranian masculinity obsessed with gheyratmotivated control and aggression.

A fool's story in a South Bashkardi sub-dialect text., 2024

This contribution provides linguistic insights into a South Bashkardi oral text belonging to the international folktale type ATU 1696, and concerning the actions of a stupid man and the wiles of his wife. A tentative phonological transcription, an English translation and a glossary are provided, together with some elements of grammar (sample from the editor)

Orality and Textuality in the Iranian World, ed. Julia Rubanovich, 2015

Part 3 Iranian Epic Tradition 6 ʻThe Ground Well Trodden But the Shah Not Found. . .ʼ Orality and Textuality in the ʻBook of Kingsʼ and the Zoroastrian Mythoepic Tradition 169 Yuhan Sohrab-Dinshaw Vevaina 7 ʻThe Book of the Black Demon,ʼ or Shabrang-nāma, and the Black Demon in Oral Tradition 191 Gabrielle R. van den Berg 8 Why So Many Stories? Untangling the Versions of Iskandar's Birth and Upbringing 202 Julia Rubanovich 9 Some Comments on the Probable Sources of Ibn Ḥusām's Khāvarānnāma and the Oral Transmission of Epic Materials 241 Raya Shani 10 Professional Storytelling (naqqālī) in Qājār Iran 271 Ulrich Marzolph Part 4 Oral and Literary Traditions as Channels of Cultural Transformation 11 The Literary Use of Proverbs and Myths in Nāṣir-i Khusrau's Dīvān 289 Mohsen Zakeri 12 Classical Poetry as Cultural Capital in the Proverbs of Jews from Iran Transformations of Intertextuality 307 Galit Hasan-Rokem

"SJANI" (Thoughts) Georgian Scientific Journal of Literary Theory and Comparative Literature, 2017

This research was done as a part of the project Orient and Occident in Georgian Folktales: Oral and Literary Traditions [FR 217488], supported by Shota Rustaveli National Science Foundation Georgia. During the Eighteenth Century, a romantic philosophical phenomenon about the “orient” kindled major interest in literary works such as The Thousand Nights and a Night, which Jean Antoin Galland translated into French in 1704 and the following years. The enthusiasm with which Galland’s translation has received among the general European public signaled the adoption of this Eastern narrative anthology in the West. Western translators and editors of “The Thousand and One Night” added new texts to their European editions, for example, “Aladdin and the Wonder Lamp”, “Ali-Baba and the forty thieves”, “The Story of Prince Ahmed and the Fairy Paribanou”, “The Voyages of Sindbad” etc. They are not original stories of “The Thousand and One Night” but they are included in further collected fairy-tale-books by European editors. What is Arabian folktale? Are “Arabian nights” and “Arabian folktales” synonyms? What form of interaction is between Arabian folktales and Arabian literature? According to Hasan El-Shamy, The narrating of folktales survived almost exclusively outside the main stream of the literature. In Arab-Islamic cultures, three categories of narrative traditions may be designated: 1) formal religious– historical stories; 2) semi-literary narratives of folk extraction re-worked by literate editors and redactors, and 3) folk-oral tales, which remained unrecorded. The contents of each of these repertoiresconstitute a cognitive sub-system; the narrator of each is typically cast in a specialized role--which specifies a set of behavioral expectations-– with a corresponding status. The fairytales belong to the women repertoire. However a dynamic relationship of exchange exists among these repertoires; some folk legends have been “institutionalized” into formal religious literature; while a few literary stories may have been adopted by oral taletellers. In this respect, each narrative category constitutes a repertoire of latent traditions for the others, awaiting adoption. Yet, each remains distinct, independent and autonomous in its own right. Muslim theologians specified that narrating must be confined to “truthful” accounts of events and that a qissah (story) must be used for didactic-religious or ethical purposes. Typically, adult male narrators prefer to tell the religious, philosophical, or otherwise serious qissah, and refrain from narrating the haddûtah (fantasy tales, novelle, and formula tales). Muslim bibliographers call khurâfât predominantly entertaining narrative works such as the Persian hazâr ‘afsâneh (a thousand myths), and the Arabic Alf laylah wa laylah (A Thousand Nights and a Night). These and similar anthologies contained narratives typically labeled khurâfât, a term which denotes the fantastic and unbelievable, and, in this respect, is akin to the Greek term mythos after Christianity had been embraced. Curiously enough, some tales which are highly recurrent in various parts of the Arab world are absent from the native editions of “The Thousand and One Night”. These include wonder tales as ATU 327B The Children and the Ogre ATU 403 The Black and the White Bride. Ugly bride substituted for beautiful bride ATU 408 The Three Oranges. The quest for the Orange Princess. The false bride ATU 432 The Prince as Bird ATU 450 Little Brother and Little Sister. They flee from home; brother transformed into deer, sister nearly murdered by jealous rivals ATU 480 The Spinning Women by the Spring. The Kind and Unkind Girls. Ogress rewards the kind stepsister and punishes the unkind 511A The Little Red Ox. Cow helps orphans (brother and sister). More similarities between “The Thousand and One Night” and folktales we see in the subcategory of realistic tales. According to the “Index of AT Tale-Types in Major European Translations of the Arabian Nights” by Ulrich Marzolph, the most coincidences of Arabian Nights with folktale-types are in the area of realistic tales (novelle) and anecdotes. The visible example of a literary plot in oral traditions is a story about the noblest act, included in “The Thousand and One Night”. This story forms part of the narrative cycle enframed by “The Forty Viziers”. It is told by the ruler’s wife to urge him to take action. The sultan of Egypt, feels that his end is drawing near. The sultan tells his sons that he has deposited a box with jewels that they should divide among themselves. When hehas died, the youngest son steals the box. His brothers soon find it, but it is empty. They consult the qadi, and he tells them a story. A young woman who is deeply in love with her cousin is married to someone else. On the wedding night, the young woman confesses her love to her husband and is generously allowed to visit her beloved. On the way she is spared by a thief who follows the example of her husbands’s generosity; the lover is also impressed and sends her back to her husband. After finishing the story, the qadi asks them which of the three men was the most generous. While the two eldest sons choose the lover, the youngest son chooses the thief and thereby discloses his guilt. This tale with both its characteristic frame story and the enframed narrative corresponds to the international tale-type ATU 976: Which was the noblest act? On their wedding night, a man allows his bride to visit her former lover, in order to keep a promise she had made previously or, according to some oral variants, to cancel the engagement. On her way she meets a robber. When she tells him her story, he leaves her unmolested. When her lover hears about her bridegroom’s and robber’s magnanimity, he takes her back to her bridegroom without touching her. In some variants the tale occurs in conjunction with a frame tale that deals with the discovery of a thief. Three (four) sons inherit jewelry from their father. The money is stolen by one of the brothers. The robbed owners call a wise man (judge, king, Solomon), who is to discover the thief. The wise man (or his daughter) then starts to tell the story. The thief betrays himself unconsciously when he answers the question, “Who acted in the noblest way?” He argues that the robber in the story was the most noble one or he answers other questions in a revealing manner. According to the folklorists’ researches and “Arabian Nights Encyclopaedia”, this tale-type originates from India. Its oldest version, dating from the third century C.E., is included in the Buddhist “Tripitaka”. Other early versions are contained in the Indian collection “Vetalapancavimsatika” (The Ocean of Streams of Stories), as well as in the various redactions of the “Tuti-name”. In European tradition, the tale was popularized by Boccaccio’s “Decamerone”. Its version in Chauser’s Franklin’s Tale probably derives from French models. The tale about a contest in generosity is included in French editions of Oriental tales “Le cabinet des fées, ou collection choisie des contes des fées, et autres contes merveilleux” (1786). The tale is called as Histoire du Sultan Aqschid. The same story is included in the English book “Tales of the East, comprising the most popular romances of Oriental origin and the best imitations by European authors” by Henry Weber (1812). In this edition is prefixed an introductory dissertation, containing an account of each work and of its author or translator. “The History of Sultan Aqschid” is a part of cycle of “Turkish tales”. In further French editions, the tale about a contest in generosity is a part of the narrative cycle “Charming Tales of Careless Youth”. In the Joseph Charles Mardrus’s version of the late nineteenth century, there is a tale of Habib and Habiba, two cousins in Bagdad. The two grow up together and are in love, but then Habiba is married to another man. When she cries on her wedding night, her Husband allows her to take her cousin as her lover. Subsequently she is reunited with Habib. This Tale does not feature in the standard Arabic manuscripts of the Arabian Nights. According to Chauvin, Mardrus has appropriated the tale from an unknown source. The tale’s basic structure corresponds to the enframed narrative in the international tale-type ATU 976: Which Was the Noblest Act? In German versions of Oriental tales, this tale-type is included in the narrative cycle of “the Forty Viziers”, which denotes a frame story that corresponds to the story of “Craft and Malice of Woman”, although it contains different tales. The Story of the “Forty Viziers” is found only in the Stuttgart/Pforzheim edition of Gustav Weil’s German translation,included as part of the “Thousand and One Night”. In a footnote, the translator declares that in the Arabic text this story cannot be found in this place, but that he included it for the sake of “completeness” on the basis of other sources. Next to literary versions, the tale-type ATU 976 is spread in folklore of Europe, Asia and South America too. There exist Scottish, Irish, Slovenian, Russian, Turkish, Jewish, Armenian, Kazakh, Turkmen, Tadzhik, Iranian, Indian, Chinese, Mexican, Chilean, Argentine versions. This folktale-type is spread in Georgian folklore too. The plot of the contest in generosity became very attractive theme in literary novels and cinematography of the twelfth century. A short story by Tawfiq al-Hakim, Egyptian Writer, and a film by Sanjay Leela Bhansali, the Indian film director, are based on the taletype ATU 976. Oral traditions and literary traditions belong to parallel categories of traditions. Each of the two types of narrative traditions belongs to a separate cognitive system. Oriental-Occidental plot parallels show an intensive internalization of folktale types. They also give information about the relationship between literary and oral traditions.

Review of Hasan El-Shamy. Types of the folktale in the Arab world: a demographically oriented tale-type index. Journal of Folklore Research Reviews., 2004

Remarkably, El-Shamy has completed this ambitious work by himself, without the aid of a group of researchers. Jenny El-Shamy, the author's daughter, produced the final jacket covers for these two books. These books are crucial resources for folklore scholars, folk narrative researchers, literary folktale scholars, and students of Asian, African, and Middle Eastern narrative traditions. Today, it is possible to obtain a grasp of folk narratives of the Arab world through these complementary reference tools. It is also timely to show the richness of narrative traditions in the Islamic world when Islamophobic reactions in the West have been on the rise. El-Shamy brings to the world of international folklore and folktale scholarship these books shedding light on cultural, social, and religious elements in the rich and lively tale tradition of the Middle East.