Studying the Narrative Structure of Khorshid-Va-Mahpareh According to Propp Method

 
      Khorshid va Mahpareh, by Mirza Mohammad Saeid Tabib Ghomi, one of the poets of 11^th century, as a Persian romantic collection in which some pieces are folklore type, deserves a consideration by many folklore, analytical theories such as Propp's theory of narrative structure. The importance of the present study is that it helps us to get familiar with the structure of an unknown or a hardly-known writing, as part of our lyrical literature. Propp's theory hunts for the main components of the folktales which resulted in deciphering 31 basic functions in Russian folktales. In reviewing the present tale, using the descriptive-analytical method and Propp's theory, it has been concluded that the story has most of Propp's functions with the same definition and sequence, except for two functions which are not usually observable in the most Persian lyrical collections.
 
  Key Words: Khorshid va Mahpareh, structure, narrative, Propp, function. 
 
    
1.1.Introduction
 
In terms of affluence and variety, poetry has had a high value among the Iranian nations since long ago, and most of the Persian literary works in the past were in verses. Out of these works, romantic collections are some of the few genres that have had their specific audiences since the beginning of the flourish of Persian literature until the recent centuries; nevertheless, this literary genre has received lesser critical analysis and different dimensions of these works are still unknown for researchers. Since the second half of the 19^th century, major changes have appeared in the ideas and literature of the world and appearance of new ideas in the field of literary criticism, fiction criticism, literary genres and changes of the literary schools have given literature and literary works specific importance and special position in the modern surveys all over the world. With the development of communication in the present situation, Persian literature, too, has undergone the new changes and has experienced theories, so much so that after Constitutionalism, we have witnessed big changes within the general change of the poetic style from traditional to new such as changes in the themes, contents, constant development of fiction literature (prose), etc. in poetry. In the literary studies as well, by focusing on the modern critical theories, we witness valuable studies. The Masnavi (couplet-poem), Khurshid va Mahpareh, is one of the works of Mirza Muhammad Said Tabib Qumi who is one of the poets of the 17^th century AD. With 13 examples, this poet and his poems have been studied. In addition to this work, this poet has a Divan of almost 6000 lines in the Iraqi style. The target questions are:
 
-          Is the poetry collection, Khurshid va Mahpareh, researchable according to Propp’s theory or not?
 
-          What is the comparability level of Propp’s theory in the analysis of this poetry collection?
 
-          How many of Propp’s functions are countable in Khurshid va Mahpareh?
 
-          Has the frequency and the functions of Propp’s theory been considered in the poetry collection of Khurshid va Mahpareh?
 
1.1.Statement of the problem and research questions
 
The romantic poetry collection, Khurshid va Mahpareh, is an unknown work which has not been studied so far, and it is not clear that whether this romantic fiction collection is placed within the Persian folk tales or not. Therefore, this survey tries to find clear answers in this regard by expressing four questions and answers.
 
1.2.Research methodology
 
Research methodology in this survey is library studies carried out through the analytical description of the text, in this way that initially, the main framework and the definitions of Propp’s full model are described by the use of library sources. Then, on the basis of these definitions, structural elements or theoretical functions in Khurshid va Mahpareh will be extracted; and in the case of presence of these functions, by referring to the main text of the story and along with the poetic evidence, they will be explained and analyzed for the audiences. The research findings will be presented at the end.
 
1.3.Discussion
 
Vladimir Propp, the father of structuralism, is one of the Russian pioneers, geniuses, and scientists who started a new path by his studies on folk tales. So far, many thinkers have developed wonderful discussions not only in literature, but also in other arts such as cinema and promoted human ideas by approving, criticizing, and continuing his surveys on structuralism and on the study of narratives. Considering the fact that Propp’s field of studies was folklore, and folk tales are a main part of folklore, by focusing on the study of folk tales (fairy tales), he was looking for a way to structurally analyze these tales. Of course, prior to Propp, “researchers such as Speransky, Bolte, Polifka and Vont had also carried out surveys for identifying and dividing these types of tales” (Propp, 2013: 23), but because they mainly had taken subject matters or themes as the criteria for identifying and categorizing tales, most of these surveys have been unable to define a fixed main or fundamental criterion on the basis of which all tales could be identified, analyzed and categorized. Categorization of tales under precise and clear titles with objective criteria which could be applicable to all tales has been one of Propp’s main concerns in his surveys of folk tales. The most fundamental point in analyzing folk tales is finding a unit or element upon which tales could be identified and analyzed; in addition to that, agreement upon this unit or element is one of the most important issues of researchers in this field. “Discovery and definition of the smallest structural unit and then identifying how to combine these units is one of the problems in the traditional models of structural analyses” (Badrei, 2013: 7).
 
1.4.Conclusion
 
Advent of modern schools of criticism which, on the one hand, are the results of new ideas and perspectives to the world, and on the other hand, are the results of interaction and acquiring of different types of human knowledge, has been the basement for brand new and different discoveries, interpretations, and analyses of literary works. Formalism, structuralism, and narratology are the results of combination, cooperation, improvement and evolution of collective ideas of thinkers whose main axis of ideas in study of literary works or the narrative texts was on the necessity of more importance and consideration of form, structure and the frame of the literary work in relation to the meaning and content of the work. As it is shown in this survey, Propp’s model in the structural analysis of the narrative is an appropriate theory for study and analysis of Persian love poems (lyrical poetry). In the analysis of the poetry collection, Khurshid va Mahpareh, it was proved according to this theory that most functions of Propp’s theory are present in the structure of the narrative, and therefore, those definitions are evaluable and provable; of course, sequence of the functions in its story is not necessarily exactly the same as the sequence of functions in the study of Propp. This collection includes all structural elements that Propp mentions except for two functions of “exposure and transfiguration”, and only one function i.e. “branding (marking) of the hero” was out of Propp’s mentioned sequence. Therefore, Propp’s theory could be best used in structural analysis of this tale. In terms of characters, too, all seven characters of Propp’s theory could be adjusted in this story with Propp’s theory. Ein Bala, Arghavan and Marzabn are the villains; Vizier with two functions of sender and donor; Saad, Bahram Shah, Mehr, Raad and Meftah are the helpers; Mahpareh is the princess; Khurshid is the hero, and Marzban is the fake hero.