An Aristotelian Narratological Reading of Rumi’s Masnavi-Ma’navi

Abstract

Narratology is one of the theories that study the narrative and narrative structure to reveal some deeper and hidden aspects of ancient and contemporary texts. Research into the narratological study of ancient Persian stories, particularly tales of Rumi’s Masnavi-Ma’navi, is limited primarily to theories of Twentieth Century narratologists such as Genette, Kenan, and Chatman with regard to different dimensions such as temporality of narrative, excluding Aristotle’s theories on plot. While plot constitutes one of the important narratological terms in literary criticism, it is necessary to study its role in Rumi’s tales. There are just two studies, by Tavakoli and Bamashki, who had drawn upon Aristotle’s ideas about an effective plot in Masnavi Ma’navi. Nevertheless, their studies cease to realize that the Aristotelian concepts of peripeteia and anagnorisis are properly applicable to Rumi’s classical narrative poetry. Hence, this study presents a narratological study of the interior plot of the selected stories from Masnavi-Ma’navi, namely “The merchant and the parrot,” “The snake and the snake-catcher,” and “Students and their teacher,” in the light of the two Aristotelian concepts.