Iranian Folk Narrative

A Survey of Scholarship

Juliet Radhayrapetian

• Publisher: Taylor & Francis
• Year: 2016
• Print ISBN: 9781138699052
• eBook ISBN: 9781315515397
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Social Sciences
• Subtopic: Regional Studies
• Index: Social Sciences

For centuries Iran hosted numerous travellers and visitors of diverse nationalities and backgrounds. Many of these travellers left behind documents in which they recorded their observations during their residence in Iran, and these embody a vast range of firsthand information about the land and its people at different periods of time. This book, first published in 1990, takes as its subjects the nature and history of Iranian folk narrative scholarship. The contributions of travellers are given their due recognition as important source documents.

CHAPTER I
Introduction

While no field of study that can be identified as folkloristics per se existed in Iran until recently, numerous individuals—ranging from travellers to philologists—generated a data base that is of primary importance to contemporary Iranian and other folklore scholars. There is hardly a mention of these early contributors as such in the scant body of Iranian folklore scholarship. In fact, the bibliography for Iranian folkloristics does not exceed a few articles and/or introductions to Iranian folk narrative collections.¹

For centuries Iran hosted numerous travellers and visitors of diverse nationalities and backgrounds. Many of these travellers left behind documents in which they recorded their observations during their residence in Iran. These embody a vast range of firsthand information about the land and its people at different periods of time. Though the data recorded by travellers have been employed widely by researchers in such disciplines as history, archaeology, anthropology, and philology, these source documents have not received their due recognition and utilization in Iranian folkloristics. A few scholars have occasionally used these data as historical reference in their discussions of selected narratives.² There also exist general remarks praising travellers for their detailed description of Persian life and customs.³ Yet no real attempt has been made to study the kinds, and to assess the importance, of the data contributed by travellers and philologists. Philologists who recorded narrative texts in the attempt to document and describe Persian dialects have received more recognition for their contribution to Iranian folklore than have travellers, probably because they presented and identified selected record as narrative texts, a practice that travellers have not generally followed.⁴ However, the contributions of neither philologists nor travellers have been adequately explored as a fundamental part of the data base for folk narrative research which has evolved over the years.

The subjects of this dissertation are the nature and history of Iranian folk narrative scholarship, of which contributions of philologists and travellers are conceived to constitute an important part. It is necessary, therefore, to begin by posing and answering three questions: (1) what is meant by folk narrative; (2) what is Iranian folk narrative; and (3) what kinds of data are relevant to the study of Iranian folk narrative?

For the purpose of this dissertation, the term folk narrative refers to those narratives in prose form which are identified in the Persian language as Hikāyat, Dāstān, Afsānah, Naql, Qissah, Rivāyat, Sarguzasht, Hadith, and Usturah.⁵ With the exception of the last two, these are by no means mutually exclusive terms, nor are they direct equivalents of terms commonly used in Euro-American folkloristics or folk narrative research.⁶ Most of the Persian categorical terms are used by both scholars and members of the general populace, and different terms are used to identify what are called in English fairy tales, legends, myths, romances, and fables. Yet despite the interchangeability and lack of equivalency, there are certain characteristics which folk narratives share. They all are transmitted principally by word of mouth from person to person, and they are known or hypothesized to have enjoyed a long and widespread popularity among the Iranian people. Though familiarity with the Persian language and Iranian traditions is common among people living in countries other than Iran such as Afghanistan, Uzbekistan, and Tajikistan, this dissertation focuses only on data recorded and research conducted in Iran by Iranian and foreign scholars or on data recorded in Iran, but studied outside that country by scholars.

Actual collections and studies of Iranian folk narratives, as well as information about Iranian oral tales and taletelling recorded by travellers and philologists, form the data base of folk narrative scholarship in Iran. This is not meant to suggest that travellers and philologists can or should be regarded as early folklorists, even though some of them did actually conduct research and present material which deals exclusively with Iranian folklore. Rather, it is my intention to emphasize the significance of the data they provide; to characterize their role in the overall development of Iranian folkloristics; and to demonstrate that any historical survey of Iranian folkloristics would be incomplete without a consideration, characterization, and discussion of these documents.

To compile a working bibliography for this dissertation, I consulted various sources, including those by or about travellers, philologists, and both native and foreign scholars who studied phenomena that can be identified as folklore. As a starting point, I consulted such general works as The Encyclopaedia of Islam; L. P. Elwell-Sutton’s A Guide to Iranian Area Study; Iraj Afshar’s Fihrist Nāmah-yi Kitābshināsihā-yi Irān (A Bibliography of Bibliographies on Iranian Studies); and Rāhnamā-yi Tahgigāt-i Irāni (A Guide to Iranian Studies). Next I examined general bibliographies on Iran, such as Sir Arnold Wilson’s A Bibliography of Persia; A. Kazemi’s Fihrist-i Kitābhā-yi ālmani dar bārah-yi Irān (A Bibliography of German Books on Iran); Y. M. Nawabi’s A Bibliography of Iran; A Catalogue of Books and Articles on Iranian Subjects, Mainly in European Languages; L. P. Elwell-Sutton’s Bibliographical Guide to Iran; and Muhsin Saba’s English Bibliography of Iran and Bibliographie Française de l’ Iran. The basic list of material obtained from these and other general bibliographies on Iran was supplemented with items from such sources as Pearson’s Index Islamicus and Iraj Afshar’s Fihrist-i Magālāt-i Fārsi (Index Iranicus). In addition, I perused many Persian and Western periodical indexes to discover the most recent scholarship. Most of the general bibliographies on Iran and periodical indexes provided entries in the three main categories of the working bibliography. To obtain material relating to a specific category, I consulted other specialized bibliographies and sources, such as Fihrist-yi Tusifi-yi Safarnāmah-hā-yi ālmani-yi Mujud dar Kitābkhānah-yi Milli-yi Irān (Annotated Bibliography of German Travel Books in the National Library of Iran) by Sh. Babazadah; Fihrist-i Tusifi-i Safarnāmah-ha-yi Inglisi-yi Mujud dar Kitābkhānah-yi Milli-yi Iran (Annotated Bibliography of English Travel Books in the National Library of Iran); and Fihrist-i Tusifi-i Safarnāmah-hā-i Faransawi-yi Mujud dar Kitabkhanahi-yi Milli-yi Irān (Annotated Bibliography of French Travel Books in the National Library of Iran) by M. Jaktaji. M. Zamani’s Kitābshinashi-yi Farhang-yi ’Āmmah va Mardomshināsi-yi Irān (A Bibliography of Folklore and Anthropology of Iran) yielded numerous entries on research conducted by Iranians, together with Persian translations of foreign scholarship. This book and the two periodical indexes Fihrist-i Maqālāt-i Mardumshināsi, Intishārāt-i Mu ’assasah-yi Mutaāli ’āt va Tahqiqāt-i Ijtimā’i (An index of Anthroplogical Articles: Social Sciences Research Institute Publications), and Fihrist-i Mundarajāt-i Majallih-hā-yi ’ilmi va ’Ulum-i Ijtimāi-yi Irān (Contents Pages, Iranian Science and Social Sciences Journals) were the major sources I used to obtain references to journal articles describing research conducted by the Iranian scholars. I also utilized the public catalogue of the University Research Library, UCLA, as well as catalogues published on Iran by institutions such as the University of Chicago, Harvard University, the New York Public Library, the British Museum, and the Library of Congress.⁷ Bibliographies and references cited in the footnotes of folk narrative collections and studies provided additional material.

The working bibliography for the purpose of this dissertation consists of three major categories: 1) travel journals and notes; 2) research conducted by Iranian and Western philologists; 3) narrative studies and collections by Iranian and Western scholars. To maximize the variety of sources examined and to obtain a broad perspective, I include in the bibliography works by travellers of various nationalities, from different periods, and with diverse backgrounds and interests. However, for practical purposes and due to the huge quantity of material available in this category, I had to be selective and limit the list to a few examples from each period, country and/or group. In selecting sources from the second category, I concentrated on those philological studies which include narrative texts in both dialect and in standardized orthographies or translations. The sources in the third category are subdivided into two groups: (1) narrative collections and (2) research conducted by Iranian and Western scholars on Iranian folk narratives.

Most of the material included in the working bibliography is available in the UCLA University Research Library (including Special Collection), the Wayland D. Hand Library of Folklore and Mythology in the Center for the Study of Comparative Folklore and Mythology, and the William Andrews Clark Memorial Library. Other material was obtained from other institutions through the interlibrary loan service. Political circumstances and postal restrictions made it impossible for me to obtain many recent publications which are only accessible in Iran.⁸ The accompanying bibliography lists only those sources actually consulted and surveyed.

In examining the different kinds of source material, I looked for specific and differing kinds of information. When perusing works by travellers and philologists, for example, I was mainly concerned with the kinds of data recorded, data-gathering methods utilized, and ways stories and storytelling were conceptualized. When considering written reports of research conducted by Western and native scholars on Iranian folk narratives, I expanded on the above list and also noted information about researchers’ apparent preoccupations, methodologies, motives, objectives, the presence or absence of analysis, and means of classifying data. For narrative collections, I was mainly interested in discovering whether or not the collections were preceded by introductions or accompanied by documentation, and if so in determining what kinds of information were included concerning Iranian folkloristics, data-gathering and recording techniques, sources, and classification of narratives.

The specific objectives of this dissertation are as follows: 1) to describe the history and nature of Iranian folk narrative scholarship, with an emphasis on the nature and significance of the data contributed by travellers and philogists; 2) to characterize the objectives, preoccupations, and approaches of Iranian and Western scholars engaged in collecting, recording, and/or analyzing Iranian folk narratives; 3) to discuss and investigate the trends dominating contemporary Iranian folkloristics; 4) to explain how and why the data provided by non-folkorists—such as travellers and philologists—constitute a fundamental part of the data base upon which contemporary folklorists can and do draw.

To accomplish these objectives, I introduce chapter two with a brief historical sketch in which I discuss factors responsible for the large numbers of travellers to Iran, followed by a discussion of their objectives, motives and interests. In characterizing the data presented in works authored by travellers, I discuss the factors that influenced their conceptualizations of folk narratives and storytelling, and describe the kinds of the data they recorded, and comment on their data-gathering techniques and approaches, as well as their attitudes toward the data. I conclude the chapter by providing an evaluation of the data provided by travellers.

In chapter three, I characterize Western scholars’ contributions to Iranian folk narrative scholarship. I make reference to, and draw examples from, the writings of researchers in such disciplines as Iranology, anthropology, folkloristics, and philology. The focal point of the chapter is the work of philologists, particularly their objectives, motives, and methodologies, as well as the data they present and the ways in which they utilized data recorded by travellers.

In the fourth chapter, I discuss native scholars and the evolution of folkloristics in Iran. First, I characterize factors responsible for the foundation of Iranian folkloristics. Next, I examine scholars’ concepts of folklore and folk narratives and their methodologies, preoccupations, and objectives. I also review and assess predominating trends in Iranian folklore scholarship.

The dissertation concludes with a chapter in which I describe and evaluate the accomplishments of Western and Iranian scholars, and suggest new research directions for Iranian folk narrative scholarship. I present in appendices selected examples of the kinds of data recorded by travellers and philologists, and a bibliography of sources consulted for this research.

In transcribing Persian terms, I follow the romanization tables used at the Library of Congress. Dates of Persian sources are given in terms of the Persian solar calendar (hijri), followed by the date converted to Christian era (for example, 1327/1948). Each Persian title is transliterated according to the style recommended by the Library of Congress, followed by an English translation (given in parentheses). In translating quotations from Persian sources, I make every effort to keep the translation as close to its original Persian as possible without disturbing meaning and to insure fluency or exactness.

NOTES

1. See for example, A. Boulvin, Contes populaires persans du Khorassan, 2 vols. (Paris, Travaux de l ’institut d ’études Iraniennes de l ’université de la Sorbonne nouvelle, 1975); and I. Osmanov, A. Bertels, and P. Aliev, compilers, Persidskie Skazki (Persian Tales), (Moscow, 1958). The introduction to the latter work is by D.S. Komissarov and has been translated into Persian by A. Azmudah as “Qissah-hā-yi Fārsi,” in A. Azmudah, translator, Haft Maqālah az Irān-shināsān-i Shuravi (Seven Articles by Russian Iranologists) (Tehran: Markaz-i Nashr-i Sipihr, 1972), 71–79; and F. Machalski’s article “Notes on the Folklore of Iran,” in Folia Orientalia, 12 (1970), 141–154. The information presented in these and other similar sources, regarding folkloristics in Iran is generally limited to the chronological enumeration of the foreign and/or Iranian scholars and their contributions, with hardly any analysis or in-depth study.

2. Arthur Christensen, Contes persans en langue populaire, (Paris, 1916); and C. M. Gibbon, “Some Persian Folklore Stories Concerning the Ruins of Persepolis,” Journal of the Asiatic Society Bengal, 5. No. 8 (1909): 279–297. The latter source is stated regardless of the negative results of search by its author. Gibbon acknowledges that his efforts were fruitless for locating in the travel books on Iran references to the stories he recorded. Yet for the purpose of this discussion, the mere consideration of travel books as sources of reference is of importance.

3. F. Vahman, “Jam’ Āvari-i Afsānah-ha-yi Irāni,” (“Collecting Iranian Folk Narratives”),...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half Title
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Original Title Page
• Original Copyright Page
• Dedication
• Table of Contents
• Editor’s Preface
• Acknowledgments
• Chapter I: Introduction
• Chapter II: Early Contributors
• Chapter III: Western Scholars’ Contribution to Iranian Folkloristics
• Chapter IV: Development of Folkloristics in Iran: Native Scholars and Folk Narrative Scholarship
• Chapter V: Conclusions
• Appendix I: Travellers’ remarks regarding Dervishes, professional storytellers and entertainers, coffeehouses, and Iranian modes of entertainment
• Appendix II
• Bibliography