An examination of the narrative structure of the book Nafsah al-Masdur shows that the narrator, using the technique of auto-addressing narration, sometimes deviates from history and addresses himself with the hadith of his own self. This auto-addressing narrator, also known as the interlocutor narrator, appears in literature for various reasons, including: untimely events, emotional pressures, adjustment of social status, the flow of troubled thoughts, and political pressure. In Nafsah al-Masdur, which is more of an internal complaint than a historical text, we are faced with an interlocutor narrator. The aim of this research is to analyze the characteristics of the interlocutor narrator in Nafsah al-Masdur, and the author tries to classify and analyze this type of narrator and the reasons for its existence in Nafsah al-Masdur using a descriptive-analytical method and with the help of theoretical sources.
Keywords: Intellectual flow, situational comparison, colloquial narrator, autobiography, breath of the speaker
Introduction
In every literary work, whether fiction or non-fiction, the presence of a narrator is essential. Sometimes the narrator is the author himself and sometimes he is the author's creation. The science of narratology believes in a kind of mutual relationship between the language and the emotions of the author and the narrator. In other words, it can be said that the intensity and rarity of the author's various emotions, including sadness, happiness, longing, excitement, anger, etc., are expressed in the language of the narrator, and consequently, a writer who creates prose or poetry can see the reflection of this relationship between the narrator and the author in the text he creates. Many Persian texts, whether fiction or poetry, have this condition, and the type of feelings of the author/poet are manifested in the language of the narrator. Short, rapid sentences, increasing beats, fast rhythm, repetition, and summing up are among the linguistic features reflected in the language of the narrator from the overflowing of the author's various emotions. This type of narrator, which reflects the author's inner feelings, is called a colloquial or self-addressed narrator. The reasons for the existence of this narrator in some texts include various social situations, the author's mental state, the occurrence of an unexpected event, self-addressing with the intention of soothing thoughts, self-talk with the intention of punishing others, the speaker's regret and sorrow for the past situation, psychological pressures and various emotions. There are many examples of poetry and prose in Persian literature in which this two-way relationship is clearly visible. For example, Mehdi Hamidi Shirazi, in a four-part poem entitled "In the Waves of Sindh", depicted the defeat of the last king of the Khwarazm Shahi and his pursuit by the Mongols.
Materials & Methods
Nafsah al-Masdur is a Persian technical prose text that is based on the arrangements and beauties of the mind and the nuances of speech. Many studies have been written about the composition and style of this work, and this study was formed with the aim of examining the type of narrator and his motivations for writing in the narration of Nafsah al-Masdur. One of the most important results of the present study is that in Nafsah al-Masdur, due to the memory-like nature of the narration, the author and the narrator are one. In this text, the narrator is considered a type of colloquial narrator in literary criticism and narratology, because firstly, he himself participates in the events and is at the center of the narrative wherever he travels. Second, for reasons such as creating a complaint narrative of the addressee himself, creating objective images with a detailed look at the descriptions, numerous narrative inconsistencies in the text, expressing nostalgic events with longing for the past, comparing the current situation with the past, and the flow of confused thoughts are among the characteristics of this narrator.
Discussion & Result
The female report in the book Nafthah al-Masdur is the report of a virtuous and distinguished secretary who is caught in an unequal war. In Nafthah al-Masdur, as its name suggests, the author seeks to express his pain through lamentation and complaint. He wants to write a few chapters about “complaining about the fate of the fallen and the rising.” Lamentation, which expresses the author’s personal feelings, is one of the lyrical poetic genres that form the foundation of Nafthah al-Masdur. The subject of Nafthah al-Masdur’s lamentations is the separation of loved ones and friends, the migration of companions and companions, and separation from the king’s court, which is at the source of a reliable spring and the source of all kinds of prosperity. In fact, the main subject of the narrative in Nafthah al-Masdur is the story of the author’s current situation, and he first tries to express his problems. During these internal monologues, he sometimes mentions historical issues in passing and without introduction (Zakiri Kish, 2015: 2). In Nafsah al-Masdur, the author has made himself the subject of his work: “I wanted to write a few chapters about the complaints of the fallen and rising fortunes that never sweetened the taste of the intended meaning, so that a thousand unpalatable syrups did not follow.” The historical information in this book begins as the author writes to himself in an internal self-talk: “Since the day you bid farewell to Iraq, Colonel Najm al-Din Ahmad... you have done... write the good and evil that you have seen from the expressions of time and the heat and cold that you have tasted from the cup of time.” “As is clear from Naswi’s words, the book of Nafsah is part of the events of her life. It is a narrative that is narrated by the first person singular narrator. The characteristic of this type of narrative, relying on the concepts of point of view and focalization, gives Naswi’s characterization a hero-centered appearance” (Ghiori and Khazaneh Darlu, 1401: 118).
Nafsah al-Masdur is a text derived from the author’s experiences, which he expresses by going through bitter events that have affected his spirit. “Nafsah al-Masdur is a narrative in the style of memoir. By narrating his biography and memories, Naswi becomes a historical and social figure whose individual memories and experiences acquire a general and universal aspect when narrated” (ibid.: 122). In this narrative, the author creates a narrator who seems to be the author himself, unlike the short story (some of its types), because we previously announced that Nafsah is a memoir-like text, in which the author and the narrator are one person.
Conclusion:
Nafsah al-Masdur is a Persian technical prose text that is based on the arrangements and beauties of the mind and the nuances of speech. Many studies have been written about the composition and style of this work, and this study was formed with the aim of examining the type of narrator and his motivations for writing in the narration of Nafsah al-Masdur. One of the most important results of the present study is that in Nafsah al-Masdur, due to the memory-like nature of the narration, the author and the narrator are one. In this text, the narrator is considered a type of colloquial narrator in literary criticism and narratology, because firstly, he himself participates in the events and is at the center of the narrative wherever he travels. Second, for reasons such as creating a complaint narrative of the addressee himself, creating objective images with a detailed look at the descriptions, numerous narrative inconsistencies in the text, expressing nostalgic events with longing for the past, comparing the current situation with the past, and the flow of confused thoughts are among the characteristics of this narrator.